Exeter

Yesterday, after our Robin Hood panto rehearsals finished at noon, we rushed back home to grab our bags before heading off, by train, to Exeter.  And take a tip - if you travel from Scotland, DON'T go by Virgin train.  We booked first class to allow us to hook up to the internet but the whole trip was an absolute scunner.  We had to change at  Preston and then again at Birmingham.  It dragged on for hours and the service on Virgin was STAGGERINGLY bad.  Signal dipped in and out, carriage was messy and the food service in first was virtually non existant.   A biscuit and a cup of tea?  PULEASE.  Messy carriages and poor air con.  Joy.  NOT!!!

Then, when imposed starvation got too much for us, we headed to the buffet and bought cheeseburgers... which were soggy and cold.  D'you know what?  We'd rather have walked to Exeter.  CRAP service on the rails.  Crap service to the power of ten...  Hey ho: we live and learn and will NEVER EVER EVER travel Virgin again.

When we finally arrived, bedraggled, in Exter, we checked into our hotel... and thank God it was fun therefater.  A wedding was taking place and we met the beautiful bride and her handsome groom and suddenly our hellish travel experience faded into insiginificance.  We wish the happy couple a long and beautiful marriage.

And so it came to pass that we got up this morning, thirteen days into our self imposed detox, and went for a jog around the city before starting filming at 9.30am.  As part of our day we visited John Holt furnishings (check out johnholtbeds.com) and Harveys, both of whom supplied some great furniture for today's makeover project.  We've finally come to the end of the main filming block on the ITV show we're currently working on and the house we 'repaired' looks fabulous.  Two great suppliers of quality kit made our day (and our reveal) a whole load easier...

Ditching the dreaded Virgin train system, we elected to fly back to Glasgow, and, thanks to Flybe, we were home in Scotland in jing time.  Our house seems VERY quiet without the film crew who have been with us for the best part of two and a half weeks.  The production company, 'Love', made our involvement an absolute pleasure and we were sad to say goodbye to them.  Still, we have a few more days with them in January - to tie up a few loose ends - so we're looking forward to that.

And now?  Well, now, we're safely tucked up in our office while catching up on emails and other correspondance.  We'll hit the sack before 1am as we have another week of panto rehearsals ahead.  Wish us luck!  Tomorrow we're rehearsing in the Pavilion as opposed to the East End rehearsal space we've been occupying for the last week.  So that'll really get us into the swing of things.

We'll report more later.  In the meantime we hope this finds you all hale and hearty,

Best wishes,

Colin and Justin, Killers of Catastrophic Kitchens xx