Fantastic Four

When the energy levels plunge, and the fierce appetite goes, and it takes half an hour to get out of bed in the morning it’s time to start admitting it: I’m not getting enough sleep. I daresay I’m supposed to say I’m getting to bed late because I socialise too much or something, but the truth is I’m normally finishing off tomorrow’s homework, or prepping a scene, or memorising some text. It’s all good stuff but the fact remains that I simply don’t have the energy required for this discipline if I’m only getting, on average, five hours sleep each night.

The workload is gradually piling up. I counted how many times my tutors have given us a task or exercise and said we should be doing it ‘every day’. Seven times. That’s a substantial daily workload, and that’s on top of 9-6 classes! I’ve also started doing two cardio fitness sessions each week, one on Monday and one on Friday. These are basically one hour of non-stop moving and non-stop sweat. They’re tough, but they’re so good. As I’ve said, I love physical exercise; it makes me feel alive! And, strangely, it gives me energy rather than sapping it.

We finished our first performance project this week; making short silent films. It was rather fun to screen them with the whole class and see what the other groups had been working on. I was somewhat dissatisfied with ours. We were quite ambitious with the narrative and, having not worked on the script enough, the story didn’t really hold up. But it’s tough writing by committee, and I thought we did work admirably well as a group. Now we start our next project which involves everyone privately creating a character, in detail, and then our tutor will bring us together for improvisation and eventually form scenes with the characters (in the style of Mike Leigh). It’s like a big game of Cluedo!

Bonfire night in London is quite impressive and a busy night for the London fire service. I was walking down a street on my way to meet my classmates, the air thick with smoke; bangs, flashes and explosions going off on both sides and regular distant sirens. It felt a bit like walking through a war-zone, and for a moment I could glimpse a taste of what World War II London might have been like. Strange that our 'remembrance' of the 5th November has become a 'celebration' of explosives. Fireworks are pretty though, that I can't deny.

So I’ve finally settled on a church. There are so many good churches in London and each one I tried was appealing in different ways. I was looking for somewhere really Bible-based, that has musical-worship that I can enjoy, that provides lots of opportunities for me to serve and get involved, and where I feel welcome. This I have found at All Souls. It was the first church I tried and I knew then I really liked it. Going back, after five weeks, felt a little bit like coming home. So that’s where I’m sticking.

Once when I was in Sainsbury’s a loud Scotsman was having trouble at the self-service checkout and I heard the supervisor say they don’t accept Scottish money unless it’s sterling. I was SO tempted to step up and say, in piercing Scots drawl, “Excuse me! Is there a problem with the money?!” and then drop in the classic, “That’s legal tender!” I was tempted, but it was a Saturday morning and the supermarket was very busy so instead I just paid for my milk, grinned to myself and went home for breakfast.