4 March 2012
I left “Magic” in the studio just after midnight, his task to burn me off a copy of the story so far to take home to review.I was fragged and had to catch the plane back on Friday which meant a 7.30 am leave for Poznan as I’d elected to work another late session in the studio rather than move to the airport the night before the flight.
I think I surprised the breakfast room staff as it was the first time they’d met the creature of the night from room 202.First stop the studio and pick up “Magic” and the DVD copy then off into the recent dawn ,Aki at the wheel of the Flintstones Clown carrier, to bob,weave and wobble down the road towards Poznan.The Chrysler was fuel efficient and part of a fleet of Aki’s forever breaking down vehicles. An automatic as well meant that when the foot went hard down on the gas pedal it seemed to take forever to respond and an increase in speed to actually arrive at the wheels from an engine that was moaning at the increased demands.More used to sedate school runs than races to airports and Aki’s pumping right foot it may have been a good economical choice but I would have preferred something with a bit more bite about it..
We’d allowed more than the normal travel time but as traffic grew and slowed and overtaking manoeuvres drew a few breaths, valuable minutes began to leak out the equation.
We stopped briefly to grab a takeaway coffee and that was probably what saved us.
Minutes later we came across what appeared to be 2 cars neatly parked on the highway.
It was as if a big angry giant has picked them up like toys, smashed one into the back of the other so they both resembled crushed cigarette packets and then put them back on the road again.
We slowed to a crawl, the first vehicle on the scene, and checked out the status.Both cars obvious total write offs.
The guy in the rear vehicle was still in the driver seat staring forwards while the guy in front was climbing out of his write off looking dazed and bemused and a little unsteady.
There was no sign of any blood or anyone else in the cars just shocked looks on the faces of the two drivers.
I’ve no idea what happened ,whether the one in front had just pulled out a junction and the one behind hadn’t seen him and ploughed into him, or if the car in front was turning and again been missed by the other guy.
Either way the incident had happened seconds before we arrived on the scene and I was glad we were on a different time and event line.
As no one seemed hurt we continued on our way. Minutes were still leaking and other cars were now slowing and gathering.We left the incident in the mirror and entered the outskirts of Poznan.
I was concerned we’d rankled out karma by not stopping and checking out the accident as it seemed every light turned on us, at junctions, roadworks and train crossings. It was bad enough crawling along behind ever increasing numbers of heavy trucks and drivers who seemed to be reluctant to reach whatever destination they had as they drove as if going to their own funerals.
I was getting very wound up by this point and has started gesticulating in Scottish.
Aki kept saying “No problem, 5 mins” as every chunk of 5 minutes went by, the lights glaring red and roadworks scattered like prepared ambushes on the “short cuts” he knew along with every other HGV driver in Poznan.
I was 15 mins off the flight being closed and as we pulled up to the terminal not only did the traffic lights at the entrance to the choking car park insolently change but the Clown car started to kangaroo and the engine died.
We were 300 metres short of the terminal.The petrol gauge said empty, “it’s always like that, broken!”.Key turned, car hopped, revved , moved and died after jumping the light.
If I missed this flight I was trapped in Poland for the weekend. Time to evacuate.
Speedy goodbyes and I ran as well as a 53 year old man who recently got out of a 2hr seated position in a clown car could.More of a staggered jog really.
Into the terminal to the dreaded security humbling and somehow got through without having to beg or explain in Polish that I needed to get a flight.My heart was racing, I was sweating under my parka,stressed, dehydrated and prime heart attack material.
I broke into the air-side circus and plunged through a near empty passport control to join a queue already moving to a plane.
I held out my boarding pass and was told this flight was to Stansted.Edinburgh was at the next gate where nothing was happening.
The flight was delayed.
I drowned a litre of water following the expanded sigh of relief that drew glances from other passengers. A chance for the first time to relax all morning.
Unbelievably as I was standing in the usual queue on the tarmac waiting to board I saw my Ruud my friendly Ryan Air pilot. Good coincidence, noted and felt I was back on track again after the last 3 hours of spiritual off-roading.
The extra 10 quid for guaranteed seat was worth it as I had early boarding and on my own at a window in an emergency exit row. I forgot the ear plugs again but lost an hour in a wooly hat leaning against the frame, the rest of the trip reading about MI5 in the book I’m still trying to finish and which will fall apart before I reach the end, it’s been in so many tour bags.
Breezed through passport control and customs, only one on the bus to the pre paid car park and in the Volvo, past the automated number plate recognition system and home 55 minutes after we landed on the tarmac at Edinburgh.
I was pretty frazzled when I got back to the studio and threw the DVD on for a few minutes to check if it worked ok on my system.
Immediately I noticed the intro we had spent hours putting together wasn’t working and was too long and the wrong feel for that point.A wave of dismay appeared on the horizon so I quickly decided today was the wrong day for trying to find perspective.
I’m just too close to it all just now and need to walk away for a few days before I head back out on that curve again.I know I will have to go back as there is still so much to do.
It’s slightly annoying that so much energy is going into this and the demands on time and travelling should be used in other areas.
I am going to have to let “Magic”, “Obi” and Aki get as far ahead with the film as possible and offer my input from here.We all know what has to be done but the next time I go over to Gora I have to know it’s finished and we are just tuning, tinkering and polishing rather than in full blown assembly on a movie I had been hoping would have been completed well before now.
What we have looks great and there’s a lot to be added that will take it to over 2 hours.We know fans will love it but we are hoping to break it out into other areas as well. It’s just been so untogether and the lack of cataloguing of shots and the scattered audio sources have made it a difficult project and what should have been completed in a couple of months is now approaching a year in the making although it has been left on the proverbial shelf for some quite long periods during that time.
The “making of” interview will be a full blown comedy in itself!
We will be throwing some clips up on U Tube in the coming weeks so you can get a taste of what we have managed to brew so far!
I’ll watch the story so far tomorrow with a couple of friends and see where we are at. I’ll let you know! 🙂