... knackered...
I know, I should have gone to bed when I got home. But I need to unwind first, with a glass or two of wine, which is very nice but has left me feeling delightfully spaced out (on half a glass? Heh...) So let's see what sort of mess I can make of this entry.
Got to bed last night at 12.30 (am) - but had a real problem dropping off. I have a horror of being late for or missing things, like appointments, trains, flights, etc: couple this with the fact that I don't hear Ken's alarm and I didn't know if Kai's borrowed one was going to work or not, and you have the recipe for a somewhat disturbed night. And it was too hot. But I did get to sleep sometime around 2, and Kai's alarm did wake me at 5, so I was up and ready nice and early.
Just as well because the taxi was early too. Nice driver, warned me to expect ludicrously high taxi fares in London (he was told one customer had to fork out £35 for a 30 minute journey). With this in mind I took more cash out of the hole in the wall at Victoria...
Ten minutes late leaving Briz. Pleasant run. Bit of a crawl at Junction 12. (Did you know that if you want to visit The Oracle, you have to turn off at Junction 11? I didn't. Wasn't actually aware we had an Oracle. Is it anything like the one at Delphi? Am I repeating myself from a previous post or am I afflicted with déja vue?) Got to Windsor and hit the morning rush hour: coupled with the hordes heading to the Chelsea Flower Show and we were about 30 minutes late getting into Victoria. Normally this wouldn't matter too much, but the coach was due in at 9.20 and I was due at the house at 10...
There were no taxis at the rank outside the bus station - nor any sign of any turning in. One did pull up: I went to ask him if he was free, he said no, he was taking a break, and where did I want to go to? [confused blink] On my saying East Dulwich, he growled he'd just come from there and wasn't prepared to go back. (Miserable git - hope his exhaust falls off...) So I took the other option and leapt into the path of a black cab...
Whose driver didn't know where Glengarry Road is... [sigh] Why does this always happen to me? I go somewhere I'm a stranger and end up having to use my A-Z to direct the blasted taxi drivers! [growl]
Finally arrived about 10.30 (I think - my time sense is even hazier now than normal), met everyone, and dived straight into the photoshoot.
Now this is where it gets embarrassing, because the only name I can remember at the moment is that of the model, Amanda, a really beautiful young woman who's studying animal osteopathy at college with the aim of working with horses when she qualifies. (She shared the taxi back with me - great chat!) But there were three professionals from the publisher (a great bunch! Made me feel very welcome), the terrific photographer and his lovely (male, and I mean lovely as in friendly, cheerful and talented) lighting assistant, and me. The publishers had prepared a list of the photos that had to be done, 40+ in all, each of which had to be set up, a polaroid taken (took about 3 minutes to develop each time) to check the composition, then the actual shots photographed. It took quite a long time for each shot, but the results... beautiful.
And to my relief I was actually able to help a fair bit - I hadn't been too sure how much use I'd be, given I'm not art trained or a photographer, but I feel my presence was justified as a consultant (and assuming they use it, the centrepiece for the dining room spread is all my own work!)
Some of the crystal props they'd borrowed/rented are just incredible. The turtle for the bathroom opener is black onyx - but the scales on its back are a mosaic of different types of opal. There was an extraordinarily exquisitely carved jade Buddha (big one, a good six inches high and heavy with it). And [droooool] they'd found the most gorgeous celestite egg-shaped half-geode, I'd estimate about 5 inches high. (Oh, I could have walked out with that one. We've never been able to afford celestite, celestial blue and absolutely beautiful but far too expensive for us.) But the pieces I took with me were useful too, and should appear in the book: my jade dragon pendant was particularly popular (and looks a damn sight better on Amanda than it does on me!) My jade chopsticks looked lovely in the kitchen setting too.
So all in all a successful day, if a tiring one. I enjoyed it a lot. First photoshoot I've actually participated in, but I had a fair idea of the procedures from our other books (we loaned some of our pieces for the first crystal project, but have acquired more and better since), so nothing was too much of a surprise. No objection to doing this again! (Heh, and lunch was tasty too - a big soft baguette filled with big chunks of delicious chicken mayo and smoked ham...)
And the Briz taxi driver... um... overestimated a little. Fares to get to the house and back were £17.80 and £15 respectively - which I think makes them cheaper than equivalent Briz fares! Heh, whatever, it means that the total cost for the round trip, taking taxis everywhere, came to £65. Which I think is pretty damn good, given that the train fare alone would have been just under a hundred quid Briz-Paddington - no idea what it would have cost to courier the required pieces. I think we all benefited from this!
Trip back was OK, I suppose, though given the rather noisy infant behind me (not complaining, she can't have been more than three and a half and I know from experience how fractious wee 'uns get when it's way past their bedtime: given what a monster she could have been I was quite impressed with her behaviour, and her mum's management) and the right comedian (and I mean that nicely!) we had for a driver I was very glad I had Nappa with me...
And Kai wants to hear alllllll about it tomorrow... It's rather a pity he couldn't come with me - he'd have been great as a model for the childrens' rooms section...
Lie-in tomorrow - deserved, I feel.