A proud father

Our second day of filming got off to a less than desirable start. We were at Newcastle Airport in the freezing rain, and by the time we'd bundled ourselves onto a Metro train to begin a morning of filming, we were already running horribly late. Shooting on trains is never easy, but when you decide to film a group of men dancing with swords, it becomes impossible! What eventually stumped us, however, was the camera lens entirely misting over, to the extent that it looked like we’d been filming a dream sequence!

For the rest of the day we were running behind schedule; so much, in fact that I was forced to ditch one of our locations. In the rush, I felt we weren't really finessing shots; merely firing them off one by one, whilst trying to prevent ourselves from slipping further behind.

That situation changed at Tyne Mouth, where the choir filled the Market with wonderful, optimistic singing, and I felt like a proud father, especially when I saw them all busily swapping numbers and swearing never to lose touch with one another afterwards. That's exactly what this kind of project should be about; new friendships and new opportunities. From that moment on, the day simply flew by in a happy whirl.

There were disco-dancing ferrets, samba-dancing drag queens, jugglers, drummers and long, spooky tunnels filled with smoke and stalactites. Wallsend Station turned into a salsa club. You haven't lived until you've watched a bloke dressed like Carman Miranda being escorted across a metro track by Nexus staff!

I haven't drunk enough water today and my feet hurt, but we're definitely on the way towards something very special.

I’m slightly ashamed to say, however, that I seem to have spurned (I mean spawned - many thanks to Mr Non Hodgkin!) something of a monster in the shape of a song that seems to be relentlessly catchy. I even heard a grip whistling the chorus to himself as he sailed up an escalator. I'm not sure he realised what he was doing!

Our Disco-Dancing Ferret

350 years ago, Pepys was given a very fine pair of slippers by his brother, Tom. We don’t know what they looked like, or even if he said thank you, but we do know that he then met up with old friends afterwards and sank a entire bottle of wine before returning to work. Pepys really did seem to have hollow legs, or perhaps the alcohol wasn’t as strong in those days! The evening was spent at Sir William Penn's house, where a large group gathered to play cards and chat ‘til midnight.

And so to bed...