Bonkers But Brilliant

I'm currently in a little self-catering apartment near Tower Bridge. It's become Fiona's London bolt-hole whilst she rehearses with Placebo. It's very nice, but utterly airless, with enormous windows which don't open. In this weather, I reckon I'd be throwing pieces of furniture through them, just for a bit of air. 

Fiona also heard a ghostly man's voice talking to her in the night, so I might get the smudge sticks out and give it a once-over.

We've just been down to the river for a little picnic. Marks and Spencer's finest olives, a sandwich from Pret and a lovely vegetarian raspberry jelly. We sat outside the GLA and watched Tower Bridge opening as the sun set. Quite a treat. 

The rest of the day has been about admin. Silly nonsensical things which are necessary, but take forever to sort out. 

Still, I sat for a few hours on the sofa and treated myself to some more Sassoon. I'm reading at a much faster pace after disappearing into my library of First World War literature in the roof and emerging with at least six books I felt I ought to read including AJP Taylor's history of the conflict, which looks a bit dry but ought to give me a necessary overview. It's all very well getting empathetic about the plight of young Tommies in the trenches but in order to nail a musical about it, I've got to understand everything precisely and in absolute context. I love the fact that my childhood obsession has provided me with so much appropriate research material.

We've just watched Tales of the White City, which Fiona reckons is the best film I've ever made. She likes the fact that the stories have breathing space, and absolutely loves Vicar Bob's angry sequence about epilepsy. Every time I see it, it feels just that little bit more daring and eccentric, which I rather like. I sincerely hope that the BBC see fit to give it a broadcast slot. 

When I first handed A1: The Road Musical in at Channel 4, no-one knew what to make of it. There was a sort of bemused stand-off, which only shifted when the piece was sent off to C4 lawyers, who described it as "bonkers but brilliant." I think Tales of the White City definitely fits into that category!