This is the 8am bus. The driver doesn't like kids & makes hard stops that cause old ladies to clench the railing in fear of breaking a hip. Guess he's not much of a morning person...
The houses we pass in Cottesloe are SO Australian, with wide verandas & silver tin roofs with scrolled supports. I love that the houses have names, written on placards beside or above the door; I can't tell if they're family names or if they're the names of the cities the original residents hailed from.
I have a lot of thoughts this morning.
The terrible blue cloth & its monsterous machine await me. Makes me wish I'd just finished it last night. At least I'll be alone to sew & won't have to speak French til I'm fully awake...
Done! Blue cloth conquered! Maniacal laugh of the victor!
...and then they brought me more fabric... Sigh.
Major miscommunication between me & the only English-speaking frenchie; even though I told her I'd sewed the panels she asked for & even described to her which edge was best to keep visible, apparently she had no idea what I was talking about but said "ok" anyway. So then she freaked out when we rolled the remainder out & it was only 3 meters. I, thinking she knew what I'd just explained, called the crew member who'd gotten the fabric to tell her it was wrong. Which it wasn't. After re-cutting all the pieces for what I had just sewed, I finally said something that triggered a "huh?" in her & she realized I wasn't lazy & HAD done what she'd asked, and I realized I shouldn't trust her when she says ok & the fabric WAS right. Major sigh (of relief, annoyance, exhaustion...).
Luckily we could still use the pieces we'd just cut & I spent most of the next 4 hours sewing them. There was a bobbin mishap for which I emailed my mom in a panic, but I managed to sort it out. There was also a needle miscommunication & instead of calling J, I just searched the convenience stores til I found some - and bought myself some chocolate in the process. I needed chocolate at 11am; that's how stressful my morning was!
BUT I got everything done. And, to their credit, the frenchies were very grateful.
Take that, sewing machine!! Ha ha!
I finally finished sewing around 5 & thought yay time to go! AB & The Scot had gotten tickets to a wine tasting from 6-8 so it was perfect timing.
But oh no, it just couldn't be that easy. Not today.
J & Kat (J's second in command - really cool techie girl) picked me up & we loaded all the frenchies set/props into their dressing room. Then went up to forest chase & watched the frenchies argue about set placement for an hour, during which I had to run back to the Blue Room to get the key for William Street from the Amsterdam artists to get the staple gun for the frenchies. Phew. Stapled the fabric that caused the mornings drama to a board suspended between two trees, while at the very top of a ladder, in the middle of a public square. Don't screw up, don't screw up... The frenchies hung up a bunch of little sandbags but then we had to take them all down again in fear of vandalization. Some punk kid stole some bubble wrap.
AB & The Scot showed up at 6, dressed all fancy, but I was still working so they wandered til I was done. At 7. It was a full-on day.
Finally heading back to the office so I could change, they looked so nice & I looked so gross that I felt like a kid whose parents had just picked her up from summer camp - today I learned how to sew & used a staple gun, mom! :)
Sometimes a glass of wine after a long day is just what you need to make your muscles un-knot. Ahhhhh...
The wine tasting was posh & fun, in an art gallery; AB & I chatted while The Scot took everything quite seriously, rating each bottle with a star system. Turns out the three of us have very similar taste in wine, so if one of us liked it, we'd all try & compare.
Apparently Sarah Palin's sister was there! We heard someone introduce her as such & thought it was a joke but she got really embarrassed so I think it really was her. She's the woman in red between AB & The Scot, pictured. Its weird that aussies even know who Sarah Palin is - I challange all of you to name a single VP candidate who WASN'T elected from ANY foreign country. I can't.
The Scot made friends with one of the wine guys (and a weird weird girl - AB & I had to intervene to get her to leave him alone) who gave us a free bottle of sav blanc! Yum. We took it to an Indian restaurant & drank it with our curry & naan. Highly delicious.
Then we caught a cab home and, sleepy with wine & a busy day, impressions came to me in fragments. Croatian taxi driver, soft-spoken, playing Led Zeppelin. Racing a train & watching the yellow lit tableaus retreat as we pass. The heavy fragrance of unnamed flowers through an open window. Home. Bed. Goodnight.
Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ being able to handle such a crazy day
~ good friends & good conversation
~ this experience
Xo! n.
Posts
Did you dream of monster sewing machines with broken bobbins that you had to operate?
ReplyDeleteI hope not.
Poppo