Real Life problems!

Yesterday, my one and only full evening in Manchester before the tour gets underway didn’t quite go to plan.

Our lovely car (which we have only had for 2 months) decided it didn’t want to work anymore so instead of going to peruse the aisles of aldi (god I’ve missed Aldi) and spending the evening watching rubbish telly with Ben,  we spent it sitting in the car park of my gym, waiting for a tow truck to arrive. (Which when it did was a recovery vehicle, a huge thing that would not fit down the road of where we normally park are car anyway)

Having never had a car before and knowing very little we had no idea what was wrong with it and the recovery vehicle man said it was probably the gear box, or the clutch or something that he could not fix so we decided to leave the car there (crossing our fingers that she would be there in the morning)and get the bus home. 

Aside from all the obvious thoughts going through my head like where do you find a mechanic, how much will this cost etc I was also thinking – I HAVE A BLOODY SHOW TO THINK ABOUT!!

It was all very well saying I needed to get it picked up by a mechanic but I was getting picked up myself at 2pm the next day to be taken to Lancaster where I need to do a show.  How dare the universe send me real life problems!!  The main things I wanted to be thinking about were,  do I know my lines, do I have my props,  have I remembered which way I’m facing.  Easy actor problems.  Not my sodding car!!

We managed to call a mechanic who agreed to meet me at the car at 9.30am (the start of what was supposed to be my relaxing morning, going over my script and packing up my stuff for a couple of nights away).  He was great but needed to go away and get some stuff to try and fix it where it was.  Long story short, the gear box is broken.  It needs a new one. Apparently you might as well change the clutch too if this happens…

A few quick phone calls to people who know stuff about cars and the decision was made – take the car. Fix her. Send me the bill and be done with it – I have a show to do!!

So here I am, sat in a Travelodge in Lancaster, wondering if my lovely car has successfully been towed to the nice mechanics garage, wondering how long it will take and of course what the final price will be.    BUT I have to put all of this out of my mind.  After 3 days off, tomorrow we are at The Dukes Lancaster and the audience will be sat in a horseshoe shape.  This means not only do I have to remember my lines, I also have to remember the different places I stand during the version of the show for this theatre layout.  Just when I thought I'd cracked it, it's changing!

I need to focus! Back to Bogus it is. No more real life problems for a while please.