Sunday was a sofa day. I thought I was better…but then i felt a bit more poorly. Lewis came to look after me, he brought me a goody bag of grapes, smoothie, Ribena (yay for cosy juice!) and chocolate for when i’m fully better! So I was better in that I had migrated from bed to sofa…but still couldn’t be upright for too long. Thank goodness for Sky +. Watched some of the Girls Aloud Show from the O2 and then on Comedy Central it’s Sofa Sunday, with Scrubs all day. I watched Scrubs from 1pm-6pm, and then they started to repeat the episodes…what’s that about! Then watched Saturday’s X Factor and then bed. Wasn’t really up for eating much although I knew I should have been.

10 and a half hours sleep is amazing. Straight through. So I had been told not to go into work but knew I would go nuts! So I watched Jeremy Kyle in the morning, got ready and went into work for 1pm. Despite the ‘What are you doing here?! Go home!’s I felt very welcome. 1pm-2pm: Lunch Break; 2pm-3pm: Staff Meeting; 3.15pm-4.45pm: Meeting with Dan over Coffee in the Bistro; 5pm: Hometime! A nice relaxing intro back! The evening I spent catching up on Neighbours and Home and Away and worked on ‘All About Abi’.

Now it’s Tuesday and we have much sickness in the team…please pray for us!!! Ben has Shingles and a Cold (which we have decided is flu, purely so we can say he has Flingles), Andy has been at the Doctors this morning with stomach pains, Claira has been signed off work for another month and I’m still recovering. We would muchly appreciate your prayers as we continue to rehearse!

Tags: 10.5 Hours Sleep, All About Abi, Bistro, Chocolate, Comedy Central, Cosy Juice, Flingles, Girls Aloud, Grapes, Home and Away, Jeremy Kyle, Neighbours, Prayer, Ribena, Scrubs, Sky+, Sofa, X Factor

Tuesday

Had a nice lie in and spent the morning getting ready to go out! We had our office Christmas Dinner at The Quays, round the back of Basildon Festival Leisure Park. We were provided with ridiculous hats and crackers with the most bizarre ‘presents’ inside. I got a small plastic silver trumpet, that was the most normal! Had tomato soup for starters, turkey for main and profiteroles with fudge sauce instead of chocolate! Interesting, but nice! Rachel, Ollie and I then went to the cinema to see ‘Four Christmases’. Hmmm. Wasn’t as good as i’d hoped, could have been funnier, but wasn’t too bad. Think I’ll stick with Love Actually and The Holiday as essential Christmas Chick Flicks! Spent the evening doing some internet shopping and of course watching Holby City (aaaah dilemma. She finally kissed him, but then she’s been flirting with his son and she doesn’t know he has a son….what to do!).

Wednesday

Slept in. Slowly got ready whilst a coffee morning went on downstairs. I came down for the last 15mins or so and met some lovely people with some fascinating stories! Helped clear up and had a couple of chocolate biscuits mmmm. Then Rachel picked me up at 12.45 and we went to the office for a meeting on how to make MTC shorter. We managed to remove 8mins from the schedule…and add 5. Then we travelled all the way to Basildon (took like 10mins!) and had to wait for an OAP fitness class to finish before we could set up. We had 30mins less than normal to set up, but of course we managed! Were able to suspend the mirrorball at the front of the stage and have two lights on it. Looked fab! Dinner was lasagne and apple pie. Was a little nervous that all the lines has fallen out of my head during the two days off, but not to worry! My biggest battle was getting the voice in my head to shut up! Few technical hitches but hopefully no-one noticed! Rachel nearly slipped over on stage and i got wedged between two flats, and almost walked into a flat but no major disaster! We were all packed and loaded by 11pm, and was home by 11.20pm, result!

Thursday

Today has been looming in the back of my mind for ages. My designated essay writing day. I actually quite enjoy writing them, it’s just the thought of it that fills me with gloom. So i stayed in bed for as long as possible. Got up at 10.45am, took my time getting ready – baggy jeans, hoodie, no makeup, no hair straightening day (and as it turned out quite accidentally, no deodorant day :s), had breakfast, tidied my room, emptied my bin, put out some washing, decided to go into town to get some bits and see if the library had any helpful books, came back from town and it was lunchtime, had lunch – spicy butternut squash and sweet potato soup with fresh crusty bread….mmmmm so good! Stacked the dishwasher, then it was 2pm and I really couldn’t put it off any longer. Switched on the study computer…checked my email, went on Facebook, rang Mum, ordered Delirious tickets…then finally did some research! Printed out 24 pages of stuff and photocopied pages from books, then sat with my 3 different coloured highlighters (Green, Orange and Yellow if you’re interested, I can’t find my pink one) and went through everything. Moved into the conservatory to start writing…and my computer connected to an unprotected wireless network!!! So…facebook, emails etc….then started writing! Managed an hour and a half then it was time for neighbours! (not much of interest to share) Then spoke to Lewis who is poorly Poor thing. Then dinner – dessert was Tiramisu which I’ve never had before and it’s quite nice! Then back to work. Have now got all my content, just needs rearranging and sense making! Have eaten lots of dark chocolate today. I don’t like dark chocolate. But i’m discovering if you eat a lot of something you start to like it. Like now i don’t need sugar in my coffee.

Tags: Apple Pie, Basildon, Christmas Dinner, Conservatory, Dark Chocolate, Essay, Facebook, Four Chrstmases, Highlighters, Holby City, Lasagne, Mirrorball, More To Christmas, Neighbours, Profiteroles, The Quays, Unprotected Wireless

Sunday – MTC Sawbridgeworth

Got up at 10.30am…ah bliss! Slowly got ready, cooked myself fried egg and beans on toast, added a new page to my blog and was then picked up at 12.45pm. Picked up the van from the office and Rachel, Ollie and myself travelled to Sawbridgeworth, listening to Christmas songs and singing at the tops of our voices (Me and Rachel, Ollie just shakes his head in dismay). We got to the church just before 2pm and was greeted by a guy who looked at our van and said ‘wow, you got a load of guys in the back there?’ to which Rachel replies ‘I wish!’ and then hastily feels she has to explain herself ‘erm, to help us unload all the equipment…’ Haha, funniest moment!!
We met Dan and David there and spent the afternoon setting up, working around the pews and immovable lecturn, but wasn’t all that bad. We had a nice little room and our own loo backstage…going up in the world! Dinner was a chicken casserole, bread and blueberries and cream.
Show started at 7pm and went very well. Not as many mistakes as the previous night which was good! Backstage during the show we had many an interesting conversation including the best way of going to the loo as quietly as possible…
After the show we chatted to the people there, mainly from the church itself but heard some really encouraging stories of people who had brought friends/relatives and were interested by it, or it had slightly changed their perceptions of Christians!
Packed down and started loading at 10.40. I was chief shouter outer of the order in which things needed to be loaded, tis great fun bossing the boys about!
Got back to the office about 12pm, nice crunchy frosty leaves to jump on, Rachel’s car to de-ice and a slightly unnerving moment when she found a pair of gloves on her front seat which didn’t belong to any of us…but then Ollie realised they were his!
Home by 12.20, jumped into bed and couldn’t sleep because I was cold, so i suppose got to sleep about 1.15am!

Monday

Alarm went off at 8.10am, snoozed it til 8.30am and then got up, got ready, left the house at 9.30am and the trains worked perfectly and i was in Chelmsford by 10.10am! Did some Christmas shopping, met Lewis about 10.50, we had coffee and then spent a few hours Christmas shopping – including eating a Marks and Sparks Christmas Sandwich (pretty good, but not as good as the Sainsbury ones me and Lois used to have whilst Christmas shopping for Superdrug makeup. aah, those were the days!) Left Chelmsford at 3.40pm, back at Bob and Julies just after 5pm, watched Neighbours (so predictable, yet shocking at the same time!!), had dinner (Gammon, veg and jacket potato mmmm and a raspberry/chocolate/creamy cakey thing) and watched Love Actually. Ahhh feel christmassy and warm and slushy inside!

Tags: Chelmsford, Christmas Sandwich, Christmas Shopping, Frosty Leaves, Gloves, Love Actually, Neighbours, Sawbridgeworth

Woah, they’ve changed the layout of WordPress….confuse me why don’t you! Can’t handle change…

So, Wednesday.

Opti-Weds, bit of a short one this week, Taste were away (except Matt), few people ill, so it was Me, Ollie, Matt, Lucy, Ami (who was ill and threw up) and Jeni (who was very tired). So we did some bits and pieces, I did the worship session which I think went ok, we read the first chapter of the book ‘Don’t Waste Your Life’ by John Piper, which was very good, prayed in groups and then left and I was home by 2pm! Did some stuff at home and then decided to go for a run! Yes you did read that right! Well it was run/powerwalk on the way, and powerwalking on the way back. Was quite envigorating though. Had a nice bath to reward myself. Spent the evening doing bits and pieces and then bed!

Thursday

Randomly woke up in the middle of the night to see I had a text from Rachel telling me she would pick me up at 8.15, so had to change my alarm a whole half an hour earlier. Ugh. Anyway off to Rayleigh for tech rehearsals! Set up the whole kit and spent the day going through all the bits of the Christmas Show with lights, sound and mirrorball!

Got back home just before 6pm, had dinner and a nice lazy evening.

Friday

Not so early today, in Rayleigh for 10am (after some issues getting the van out: ) and a full run through of the show. By the time we had sorted technical problems out and packed down it was 4pm, so back to the office, then back home by 5pm! Really not much exciting stuff to tell today and I don’t want to give away any of the secrets of the show! Watched Neighbours…tut tut Susan and Karl!, had dinner and coffee profiteroles for pudding…quite nice! Then watched a double bill of Hollyoaks…ooh the Warren/Mandy/Louise storyline heats up! Then went to the bathroom and all the lights went out…powercut. Ooh how exciting! We found a torch and lit some candles, not sure i’ve ever been for a wee by candle light before… but the power came back on all too soon!

So good night’s sleep tonight as the tour kicks off tomorrow in Barking. Woo!!! Christmas here we come!!!

Tags: Bath, Candles, Don't Waste Your Life, Hollyoaks, Mirrorball, Neighbours, Opti-Weds, Power Cut, Profiteroles, Run, Tech Rehearsals, Tour

Tuesday

We started the day in the barn, learning monologues, trying my best not to be distracted by David! Then at 10.30am we went to the office as David and Rachel had a NET (National Evangelism Team) meeting from 11am-1pm.So i was sat by myself, on my own, shivering upstairs with my laptop,learning my monologue, working on a video I’m making, trying and failing to print my newsletter and perhaps visiting facebook once or twice! Then Rachel went out in Ivor at lunchtime, I ate the gammon out of my sandwich and carried on working on my video. Then the fire alarm went off! Oooh excitement for a Tuesday afternoon.We trooped out the building and over to the bit of grass the other side of the road (our designated meeting point was the only tiny bit of grass to be in the sunshine!), but it was only us and one other unit out so while i head counted, Lindsay went into the main reception to see what was going on. They had no idea but assured us there was no fire so we went back in with the siren still going and had to carry on working til it stopped! I borrowed (with permission) the radiator next to Lindsay’s desk because its COLD upstairs!! We spent the afternoon talking about the Christmas show, sorting out props and generally faffing, before going home at 4.15pm.
I went upto the library to take back some books and get some new ones, stretch my legs and get some fresh air!
Dinner was pasta and sauce and apple pie and custard…mmmm Then spent the evening sorting out for Wednesday, and more importantly catching up with Holby City (silly anaesthetist, annoying Faye and horrible mean nasty Jac!). Had a reasonably early night.

Wednesday

Alarm went off at 5.05am. Hadn’t slept very well so wasn’t too chirpy. Got ready blurry eyed, Rachel picked up Ollie and then me at just after 6am. We drove to the office, jumped in the van, got a few metres before David saying the oil light was on so slamming on the brakes, Rachel leaping out to check the oil, throwing open the side door to get some more, filling the tank, jumping back in and zooming off. (We’re a theatre company – everything is dramatic!). Not too much traffic, got over the bridge before 7 (Toll prices have gone up!! £1.50 now!) and arrived at Christchurch High School just after half 7 after slight difficulty finding it (They go there every year, you’d think they’d know where it is by now!). Had to wait a bit for Andy (the guy organising us for the day) to come, then we had to move the van, unload into cages,get it all in the lift, then down a loooooong corridor. I think we started setting up at 8.05 and were done and soundchecked by 8.35! Pretty good going. We had 5 lessons, all Abi (and with the first appearance this year of Jerry Springonion – David, very funny!!! all year 9s. By the last lesson, a lot of them had seen it already and were skipping lessons to see us, saying our lines before us – very annoying! We also had a first ‘appearance’ of the teacher in one particular scene (David backstage just going ‘blah blah’ into a microphone – but sounding very much like Pingu), so hard to keep a straight face! Rachel also introduced ‘Mr Sharp’ as another teacher in an attempt to make me smile! Was a good day, the pupils were very vocal throughout, difficult at times, but generally ok!
By the time we packed down, carried everything down the stairs because the lift wasn’t playing ball, loaded and left it was 4.20pm. Hit traffic before the tunnel but was moving all the way. I tried to hold my breath through the tunnel but inhaled a bubble so ended up spluttering everywhere. A fairly violent game of punch when you see a mini developed between me and Rachel, as we were giving advice to David on how to be more ‘alluring’!! Back to the office just after 6, unloaded and then back to Billericay at 6.40pm. Had dinner straight away (Jacket Potato, Sausages, Creamed Parsnip and Carrot, Apple Pie and Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream) then spent the evening finishing my newsletter, tidying my room, finishing my video, printing labels and went to bed!

Thursday

Lie in!! Rachel picked me up at 9.45am…aah nice! We were in the Barn all day, blocking monologues, going through the other sketches and learning and blocking the final one. We watched an episode of Doctor Who in David’s attempt to get me to like Doctor Who…it was called Midnight and was actually quite good! All took place in one room and was all skill of acting…so it was educational! I had egg sandwiches today, yum! We decided we’d worked hard for the day so finished at 4 and came home! Got to the end of Wednesday in writing my blog, but then the computer crashed grr. Watched Neighbours (Yay for Libby and Dan) and the news, then had dinner – Salmon & parsley sauce, new potatoes, creamed parsnip and runner beans, blueberries and mango sorbet. Then this evening I have been writing out my testimony and content for some links that we did in Scotland and I’m going to watch Never Mind The Buzzcocks, pack for going home, have a bath and go to bed!

Tags: Apple Pie and Custard, Ashford, Bath, Cold, Doctor Who, Fire Alarm, Holby City, Monologues, Mr Sharp, Neighbours, Pingu, Testimony