Good lord it's been a while. Spent this weekend in Bristol. Who had the idea to build a city on a bloody great hill? Dave Peaock and I spent most of Saturday trying to find our way around Bristol, then finding Aardman's offices, then getting lost again. Like most animation companies, they don't advertise their presence, so they're not easy to find. We were there to meet Sara Fell, producer of Planet Sketch, and have a wander round the offices where it's made. Met all the crew, saw all the computers and then we couldn't get in the main set where they're shooting a feature film, so we didn't get to see all the models and cameras. The most unglamorous setting for a major production company I've seen. Sara was constantly apologising. Fun time though, and I'll get the pics off Dave to post here.
Spent Saturday in Weston Super Mare, home to Helen, another producer at Aardman, and played mini Golf with her, her husband Adam and yet another Planet Sketch Producer, Alex. His wife and young son were there, so it didn't feel too immature. It was though. Helen lives in Weston for its kitch value. She gets a good return on that. A seaside town like every other and like no other.
All in all, drank a lot, ate a lot, met Christina (producer of Chop Socky Chooks, another Aardman series) and had a great time.
In other news. I've been selling and buying property lately. Sold my whole portfolio - my flat, the downstairs flat, and I'm going to sell the house I'm living in at the moment. I'm buying a flat in Winchmore Hill, after a long and fruitless search in Hampstead and Highgate (I pulled out of one sale, a lovely flat in Highgate) after realising that I couldn't cram my life into an expensive shoebox and come away feeling that I'd made a good decision. The flat in Winchmore Hill is fantastic. Three bedrooms, all large, a large kitchen and bathroom, all on the first floor of an Edwardian conversion. This feels like progress. I can get my life and someone else's in there. Hampstead is a fine area, and my ambition to move there was not misplaced, it's just that I was a city bonus away from affording anything that would be classed as a proper home. The same money I'm spending on a 3-bed stunner in Winchmore Hill gets me a really pokey 2-bed in Hampstead. There's no competition. I can't feel bad, I've lost two investment properties, but gained a lovely place to live. I hope this all works out.
Work thin, but I'm busy on the property lark.
Tired now. Meeting Karl Wooley on Thursday, will have news then.
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