Misery, Monsoons and Musings

I went to see the new film Inception this week, starring Leonardo Di'caprio. Not one of my wisest decisions. For the first time in a number of years I felt myself wishing it to end. It was very drawn out and to be honest, not a lot happened. The special effects were very impressive, as one comes to expect these days, but the narrative of the film as a whole was not entertaining. There was a distinct effort to confuse the audience with the premise of the film, no doubt hoping to distract us from the fact nothing was really going to happen. Misery had beset me, if only because of the knowledge that this last minute decision foray into the cinema to see this drivel had cost me almost £8.

The following day I set myself the task of progressing the conversion of my garden shed into an office, a project that I wrote about recently. I am pleased with the progress, having finished the two smaller sheds for bikes and tools. The interior of the "office" is now well on the way to completion, requiring just electricity and a door. But the whole project has been hampered by the deluge of rain that is Scotland's monsoon this year. Thanks to the jet stream being firmly parked over the top of my house there isn't going to be a hose pipe ban any time soon.

I'm convinced the starlings and sparrows have been gathering in twos at the shed door on hearing wood being nailed together, in the hope they will get safe passage when the forty days are up.

Every day since my friend Pauline left the country on her world cycle, it has rained. At one point in the office project I had to move a very large rain water collection barrel. In order to move it without giving myself a hernia I had to empty it first. We're talking many gallons of water here. Once moved it was connected back up to collect the run-off from just the shed roof, an area of only four square metres. Thanks to the Great Flood reenactment taking place every day, it took just 36 hours to fill!!

But there is hope. At least for me anyway. Shortly I will leave these sodden shores and venture to Spain to meet up with Pauline for three weeks of what I hope will be sun-drenched cycle paths along the Camino route, between Bilbao and Santiago de Compestala, a distance of 470 miles. I'm very much looking forward to the adventure, but also to be meeting up with Pauline on her European leg of her global expedition.

There will be no further office project work this coming week however, as I will be musing scripts and viewing films as part of a 5-day writing course at Edinburgh University. The UK film and TV industry is very quiet at the moment, partly due to the holidays, but more to do with the major cutbacks by the new government and subsequent worries by major companies. At times like this I turn my attention to personal development, this time on the writing side. I'm hopeful that not only will it improve my ability to write a story, but it may also inspire me to pen something original.

Maybe it's time for a reworking of Noah's Ark, set in Scotland!