Rehearsals for the play have been going well. Mostly we have the lines down, as well as where to walk and when to do what we need to do. Now, when we’re not on stage we hang out in the back. We even change back there when the transition is especially short. Fortunately none of mine are overly quick, but a couple of the others have to literally leave the stage in one outfit and return two minutes later in another. For the actual show we will have dressers back there to help as needed. As I said I have time slip upstairs to change, fortunately. One of my changes is from a suit to a towel. Just a towel with wet hair. I could make this change backstage but I don’t have a sink downstairs. More significantly the other two changes are into suits with ties. I could change downstairs but the tie would be a problem. It’s hard enough to tie one normally. Doing it in the dark, without being able to check a mirror would be inviting disaster. I’d end up with it tied around my ear or something. 

Last Sunday, we were doing a full run through of the play. I was all changed and just waited back stage for my que. Now the most important thing while waiting is to not make noise. Backstage is part of the production. Any noise backstage will be heard by the audience so the rule is no noise, no chatter, not even whispering. So as I said I was backstage waiting for my que. The only thing was, that I kept making noise, a big faux pas. Worse yet, the harder I tried to be quiet the more noise I made. I grabbed a Kleenex. It was the last one so the empty box flipped off the table, landed on the floor and sounded like a drum. I went to the dressing room to change costume. I missed the rod with an empty hanger and it fell to the floor. Not any hanger either. The only big wooden clattery hanger I had and it missed everything on the floor, the shoes, the clothing, the box, and my feet, hitting the only clear spot of hard floor in the room. My shoes made noise, squeaking and clicking as I walked around, something they’ve never done before. I bumped things, I tapped things, I had to cough. It was absurd. Finally I decided that I would sit in a chair backstage and do absolutely NOTHING. That would make sure I would stay quiet. So I sat absolutely still in the dark in a chair listening to the actors on stage. After about five minutes I shifted a bit and my elbow hit, of all things a stack of aluminum ladders that I didn’t even know was hiding behind a dark cloth next to me. 

At that point I had to go upstairs, into the bathroom, close the door, wrap a towel over my face and laugh. Sometimes things just have to be done.

At my other job we had some great news. We landed a big contract, big enough that we’re dedicating several engineers to work on just this project. We’ve even rented a large construction site trailer, so they can work undisturbed by the normal goings on around the office. The day the trailer arrived they closed the back parking lot so the truck would have space to manoeuvre in order to get the trailer into position. I think the major reason though, was to avoid damaging any of our cars. Imagine the call to file a claim on that.

“Hello ICBC Claims. How may I help you?”
“Yes, my car has been damaged.”
“Oh that’s too bad. Could you tell me what happened?”
"A house landed on it.”
—silence—
“Hello, are you there?”
"Yes, sorry, um, don’t you mean you crashed your car into a house?”
"No, a house landed on my car,”
"Seriously?"
"Well, it was a mobile home.”
"That's not what that means.”
“No seriously, they were moving the house and it fell on my car.”
“Right, OK then was anyone hurt?”
“No, it just the car, well and the shoes.”
“Shoes?”
“Yes I had a pair of fairly expensive red shoes that seem to have disappeared. I think they were destroyed with the car.”
“OK then, oh I should have asked this first. What is your name?”
“West. W.W. West.”

So it’s best that they kept us out of the back lot.

Doug & Marsha

PIC: Sorry, we've been so busy we haven't had a chance to get any. But rest assured spring is here and it's beautiful. Although we have had some strange weather, including one day full of rain, hail, sleet, snow and a little bit of sun included too.