Diary

Renewed our vows

Location Still in the woods. Feet up at dad's old Avid where Ken Loach cut his McLibel scenes | Mood Worried | Date 11 March 2007
Lizzie and I have made up. She agrees that "a change in attitude is needed". And I said that it was the panic of steering the whole Crude ship on my own for two weeks that caused me to overreact (was that an apology?). Anyhow, we've renewed our vows to get the fucker finished. A good thought from the Guardian. Think there may be the replacement Crude title somewhere in the idea of "like there is no tomorrow":

Hilarious misunderstanding

Location In the woods | Mood Mightily relieved | Date 11 March 2007
Hilarious misunderstanding via text messages to and from New Zealand. My mum had been telling me about the emergency operation one of her alpacas (think llama) had been undergoing. I'd been telling her about the emergency operation my dad (her ex-husband) was about to undergo. Then I asked if she had any numbers for my brother , who is away on holiday, and I thought would want to know about dad's operation.

And where's that going to get you?

Location Tube back from Kensington | Mood A tonne of bricks off my shoulders | Date 17 February 2007
Good thing: Met with Jeh in a swanky pad he was staying at in Kensington to show him the rough cut of the film. His old friend from his car-dealing days in London was there too. I was feeling immensely nervous as it started up.....but..... he absolutely LOVED it. Was laughing all the way through - as was his pal. He said he couldn't believe that I'd made something so professional looking and so "slick".

So much for my last ever flight

Location Easyjet plane | Mood Cruising | Date 16 February 2007
Jeh with mockup planes at Airbus in Toulouse Photograph: Patrick Igonet  

Getting deeply annoyed

Location Feet up on the wobbly desk in the office. Really should stick a 4th leg on it soon. | Mood Abandoned | Date 8 February 2007
Getting deeply annoyed with Lizzie as her holiday in India seems to be ever extending. It started as a week, then became 9 days, now I've just got an email saying it's going to extend again unless I have "violent objections". Two weeks holiday during Crude? What does she think this is, a proper job? She'll be wanting a pension plan and health cover next.

My 5th Crude birthday

Location In bed early on birthday night, ready for edit tomorrow | Mood Slightly less worried than I'm telling myself | Date 3 February 2007
35 today. That's got to be middle aged. I always used to be the whippersnapper (aged 15 in a class full of drum students all 25+, aged 20 in a pop group with seven men all 30+, making McLibel on my own aged 23). Now suddenly I'm the old fart and there's people volunteering at Spanner who are HALF MY AGE. They talk about their modern music and their all night parties and I tune out just like the old granny should.

The last ever flight for Crude

Location Enjoying the last ever view from a plane's window | Mood Mightily relieved | Date 30 January 2007
Sharing a bed & office for the best part of 2 years... Photograph: Charlotte Rushton  

Perv massages and piano lessons

Location Super swanky hotel | Mood Trudging | Date 16 August 2006
Two of the stars of Crude being taken for a ride by the filmmakers Photograph: Sabri Hakim

Stuck in limbo land again

Location Super swanky hotel | Mood Lonely and frustrated | Date 16 August 2006
Rasmia & Noor. Photograph: Sabri Hakim  

Trip to the dead sea

Location Minibus back from Spanner Films' daytrip to the Dead Sea | Mood Euphoria and fear heady mix | Date 11 August 2006
We'd arranged a bonding trip to the Dead Sea today, for Rasmia and Jamila to have a rare good time and, hopefully, trust us a little more. They are understandably very nervous of British people - as their lives have been destroyed by the Americans (and British). So we booked a minibus and a load of kids we picked up at the school video session.