It has been a fun a varied week, which has found me dashing about from the low highlands of Autumnal Scotland, to end the week in the big smoke of London.
It was Thanksgiving in the USA yesterday, a much looked forward to annual holiday. Though an American tradition, it inspired me to think about just what I am thankful for.
The obvious one is my friends of course. Without them, especially a select few, life would be pretty dull. In that vein I sent a number of good wishes off to various friends that I rarely see, across the pond, wishing I could be there to experience a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. And then, to my great delight, I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at a friends family home nearby, whose husband is originally from the States. Centre stage was a massive turkey; traditional green beans in mushroom sauce topped with "fixings"; followed by pecan pie and pumpkin pie. Fantastic.
The previous day I was in Glasgow with their son, who had a film in the Scottish Youth Film Festival. He had been asked to create a one minute film about What Scotland Means To Me, to launch a year-long competition of the same name, as part of The Year Of Young People in 2018. As well as being a competition, every film entered will be included in the Scottish National Archive forever. At the moment we can look back over a hundred years of films of life back then, and the aim is to provide the same for future generations. Stanley set the bar high, and already there has been a great response and take up.
That same day, together with my friend Stuart, I was conducting research for the Ballachulish Ferries film I've been hard at since July. Earlier in the year we had stumbled across an image on the internet, possibly the last photograph ever taken of the ferry that remains elusive in my search, that of the Glen Loy. The picture showed her without her turntable, beached at Camusnagaul opposite Fort William. But the photo online was of low resolution, and somewhat muddy and unclear.
For months I've been trying to find the original. It is thanks to Stuart that we finally located its location, in the Langmuir collection, part of the Special Collections section of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Imagine my delight as we turned a page in one of the photo books to come face to face with the original! On the back was written "5A", which in all likelihood relates to a negative number, so now the library are trying to see if the negative still exists.
The day before Glasgow saw me back up in Doune with my young students that are taking part in a film course until Christmas. Now halfway through, they are just starting the process of creating a short film, something another friend, John, is giving of his time to help write. The groups wish list for some of the scenes are to have big city landscapes. Doune, however, is in the middle of rural Stirlingshire, the nearest "city" being Stirling itself, but it doesn't fit the grandeur of what they want, so they were a little disappointed. But it just so happens that this weekend I'm filming in London, and as a surprise for them I'll capture some iconic London buildings and landscapes while I'm there.
And finally, just before I'd traveled to Doune I met up for coffee with my friend Alastair, director of 2020 Productions in Edinburgh. As we chatted about all the goings on for each other, it dawned on me just how lucky I am to have such varied, fun work, and a wide network of equally fun, genuine friends.
I truly enjoy what I do to make a living, which is added to by great friends that altogether make my life full and interesting, and that is what I give thanks for at Thanksgiving.
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