Lurgy Continued...

Reader, this illness malarkey is getting a bit dull. I stayed home from work today because my head feels full of cotton wool and I keep feeling like my bones might break beneath me, so I'm going to be royally skint for a fair while. The Lad was going to take me out to the cinema but once I'd got my make up on and skinny jeans zipped up, I was too knackered to do anything other than lay on the sofa and watch season two of Made In Chelsea (and then get weakly jealous of them). Now I'm in bed, because sitting upright felt too difficult and my head got really heavy and fuzzy.

I am not feeling quite myself.

I need to get better, because tomorrow morning brings a meeting with a potential new agent and then searching for a present for my eight year old cousin's Communion (don't want to get here anything too religious, because I'm not and it would be hypocritical, but feel a bottle of whiskey and some fags might be pushing it). If I get home early enough, I've got lots of emailing to do too, I just hope I have the energy for it after the excitement of being in Central London of a day! I may have to slink back into bed and just sleep through the afternoon to be honest. Or watch Caggie and crew go spend loads of cash on MIC.

On that note Reader, I'm going to doze off and hopefully dream of being born a biscuit empire heir,
Ash
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Anniversary, long distance.

Reader, yesterday was mine and The Lad's third anniversary. Three whole years of being together! Neither of us can remember if it marks the date we first kissed or the date he asked me to be his girlfriend 'so...Erm...do you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend or something?' 'Let's see shall we?' (Yes reader, I was the ice bitch from hell when we got together), but the anniversary is still quite a big deal I reckon. Last year we went to Brighton on a mini break together and ate lots of cake and played on the beach all day. This year, not only are we both skint but I'm away on tour, so we couldn't be together over the weekend. And, like on valentines day, I was somehow surrounded by couples again! Bad luck. This time round though, they're all rather lovely couples that I actually know, rather than random pashing teens in central norwich. Better luck! And one of the female halves of one of the couples made me a gorgeous veggie carbonara, so I will of course be forever be in her debt! Then I watched jaws. You know, cause, sharks.

We are going to celebrate, but we only have one evening to do so, when I'll have been travelling all day and will have to to go the call centre the next day to attempt to earn a bit of cash so my phone bill doesn't bankrupt me, so it may be a bit of a tame one. No swinging from the light fittings at the electric ballroom etc. Probably more like eating pasta and watching a film in bed and catching up after not seeing each other for a week and a half. Which is rather nice really isn't it! Maybe next year we'll do something really exciting. If he's not sick of me by then, obviously!

Today is Easter Sunday (a whole weekend of excitement), so I celebrated by eating a caramel egg in bed then making my cast pancakes. I now feel like a rather bouncy inflated whale toy. I did have an actual Easter egg from home, but since I have no willpower, I broke the egg and pulled it through the little window at the front (because if you don't open the box, the calories don't count, blates.). No willpower at all. Not a trace. If i can, I might pop into church at some point today and light some candles for my family. The last vestiges of catholicism are driving me in! Note to self-call grandmother...

Right, I'm going to go wrap up and have a nice long walk on the beach,
Happy easter folks!
Ashx

The hotel inspector...

Reader, I had a wicked time over the past few days. We're back in east anglia for a bit, and we've had a couple of days off from the show, staying in a nice hotel and recharging before the next leg of the tour. The hotel we're staying in is a premiere inn, which I thought would be pretty basic, but compared to our last hotel, It's luxury!

The last one was just outside of Manchester and it made all sorts of grand claims like 'swimming pool' and 'cocktail bar'! The swimming pool was closed due to an 'electrical fault' (god only knows what that means, probably that they couldn't filter out the wee and used plasters or something) the bar didn't even serve diet coke on tap, let alone pina coladas and the whole place smelt of sulphur and cabbage. Add to that a overly sarcastic front desk manager, dirty towels, mad art in the halls that looked like free posters from the local post office, scarily hot showers, old tea left from the previous occupants in the room's teapot and a 7am false fire alarm and essentially we were in faulty towers. Luckily, the new place is clean, quiet and nicely put together so we've had a perfectly chilled few days of watching films, doing face masks and eating rather nice food.

It's felt like a bit of a holiday actually, complete with the obligatory Easter holiday rain and so much pick and mix that we all felt slightly pukey. The holiday's over now though, off to a new venue tonight for the show and then going to a seaside cottage till Tuesday. What a hard life I do live!

Right Reader, I'm off to do a bit of a work out, all those neon sweets I've been munching on are going to do dreadful things for my thighs and I've just brought a (possibly ill advised) pair of high waisted hotpants). Bugger!
Ash
X

Beaten by psychic Sally...

Reader, last night I did a show on the most enormous venue I've ever performed in. It seated well over a thousand people, had a ceiling so high you probably could have done an indoor fireworks display and at one point I'm pretty sure I heard the far off bleat of a mountain goat on the higher seats. The problem was that it was a bit of a last minute venue for us after the funding for another venue had vanished, so they hadn't had time to put us in their seasonal program. And the two local footaball teams were playing against each other. Reader, there were so few people in the crowd that you could almost count them.

It's quite hard when you have such a small audience. They don't laugh as hard as the funny bits (there's a strange fear thing that happens to a small audience, like the other members will judge them if they make noise) so it's difficult for the actors to gage how the show's being taken, there's less energy flowing back and forth and generally it tends to be a bit of a confidence crusher. Luckily, the applause at the end was enthusiastic and there were a number of whoops and hollers (started by one of my old uni friends, thanks Gill!) So we didn't feel too dodgy about the whole thing. Psychic Sally is performing in the same venue this week, and it looks close to selling out. Poor old Dickens! Luckily next week we're in a 70 seater theatre, in a town that's very welcoming to the theatre company (or at least has been in the past) so fingers crossed we'll have a few sell out shows! But first, two days off around Norwich. Bliss! I may go down to the farm to feed the lambs. And have coffee with my norwich based friend. And maybe even get a bit drunk....Hurrah!

Until later reader,
Ash
X

Off again off again jiggedy jig...

Reader, I have been atrocious at blogging recently, for which I can only apologise. It's quite tough to find the time (and internet) on tour and when I'm at home I tend to be trying to fit in seeing friends and family, doing some hours at the call centre so I can pay my phone bill and travel card and hanging out with The Lad as much as possible. As such, things like blogging, exercising and going to the doctors have all been left by the wayside! And now I'm about to go back off on tour for another week and a half. Blimey! What a busy life I do lead. Tomorrow I'll be performing in a completely enormous theatre just outside of Manchester, a slightly terrifying thought given that it's a weekday and the biggest venue we've performed at so far. Hopefully Manchester is Dickens friendly and the theatre will somehow sell out. Come on theatre gods, please let that happen! Just think of the profit share...yes please!

In other news, my 8 year old cousin just had her first big audition, for a yoghurt advert on the telly! And she got a recall! Proud cousin over here. Although obviously will be highly bitter if she wins a bafta at 8 years old. Although I won't show it. I'll just scheme and plot in silence like some medieval royal who's younger relative is more loved by the public than them. The tower of London may get involved. I'm currently very aware that once the tour is done I have nothing lined up acting wise. I am having a slight actor's panic. I have tentatively applied to a show that's happening right after mine's finishing, and a couple of film jobs, but so far, no cigar. Bums. Such is the life of an actor though! Constantly slightly anxious about where the next job will come from and how you'll pay your rent. Ideally I need something really well paid to come along so that I won't have to panic quite as much and can focus on doing workshops at the Actor's Centre rather than trudging into the call centre. I am being slightly ridiculous as the show doesn't actually finish till June, but I like to know that there's more stuff waiting in the wings (as, I suspect, does every actor on earth). Mastercard ads pay quite well don't they? Can someone get me one of those?

The tour is going brilliantly though. Teaching me all manner of things and luckily I have a lovely cast who are huge amounts of fun to hang out with. It's sort of like living The Famous Five (if they were all actors and quite a bit older. And if there were loads more of them). Last week we stayed on a country estate in the middle of nowhere, so posh that they had a hunt and served a hot dinner at 5pm sharp every day (meaning that we'd be starving once the show ended at 10.30 and have to load up on buttery toast and left over apple strudel). Pretty awesome stuff. Being on tour also means you get to experience stuff going wrong, which may sound bad, but it's a great way to teach you how to cope on stage if everything goes akimbo. Last week for example, a rather crucial sound effect didn't come in, so my co-actor and I improvised a ten second scene. Terrifying but brilliant fun.And actually, once it's happened once, you don't get afraid of it happening again. because you know you can cope if it does. And you know that you can have a stiff drink after, and joke about it with the cast. Am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays nice and sunny, because at the end of this week we're heading to a little seaside town, and I have my heart set on sunbathing and having a swim! Typically, we've been predicted snow...

My little brother is back for his Easter holls now too! Already there's been an argument about him wearing a smelly t-shirt and his room looks like something's exploded in it. It's lovely having him back though, he's reached the age now where he's fun to hang around with and he knows lots of handy rude words. Although the fact that my younger brother has almost finished his first year at uni makes me feel incredibly old! Maybe I'll get another tattoo...

On that note Reader, I'm off! I haven't actually packed yet...oops...
Ash
x
p.s. ANOTHER couple I know just got engaged. That's 9 couples since new years and it's only march! Has the government released something into the air?!