Where are we ?
Voiceover work. I must say I have never known it so quiet but we have been involved in some nice work, last minuters for CNN, interesting Audio Visual Productions ( I do the Audio only bit) and some well written radio commercials. As the markets appear to be coming back I hope that the advertisers will return and we can get back on track with... the career !
Writing for Sailing Today. So far we have had ‘Springing On’ in the May issue, ‘Pile Mooring’ in the June issue, ‘Sailing Onto A Mooring’ in the July issue. Then ‘Sail Trim – Closehauled and Reaching’ will be in the August issue, ‘Sail Trim – Downwind Sailing’ will be in the September issue and ‘Anchoring With Confidence’ will be in the October issue. We work some way ahead with these things.
Speaks and Talks. I am speaking at BAREMA (The British Anaesthetic and Respiratory Manufacturers Equipment Association) annual dinner later this month. I have a number of WI talks coming up and a couple of Auditions. I have also given a few talks to Sailing clubs, notably Reading Offshore Club and Henley Offshore Group which were great fun. The Lord Illiffe – Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron thanked me for my offer to give them a talk but said that they tended to pressgang speakers from their midst. I knew this but had been trying to point out that as far as I knew none of his members could possibly speak on my subject as i was unique. Not unique enough for the RYS, apparently. Finally I am in touch with some international medical conference organisers and they have shown interest in my speaking at their events. One of them emailed me recently from Milan and I was reminded of something that happened there many years ago so I wrote and told them about it. I share this with you now...
Ah, Milan. Great coffee, great buzz. I had a car accident in Milan many years ago. I had borrowed a friend's Jaguar XJ12 - outrageously quick - and driven from Lausanne, outrageously quickly, to deliver something to a man in Milan. New to the city I was navigating with the map on the steering wheel - what I would have given for a satnav ? And I kept seeing these signs for 'Senso unico' or something similar. I discovered that the driving technique was based on nerve. Poke your bonnet into a space that didn't exist, keep going and you would get through. The Italians would cut it fine but would not crash into you if you stuck to your guns. So, emboldened at my ability to take on the locals and their fearsome reputation and having delivered the package to some office in the back streets, I was driving positively through an intersection when some chap came flying out of nowhere and clouted my right hand front side. The bonnet on his car buckled, a wheel was twisted and steam came out of his engine. Offence being the best form of self defence I was out of my car like a shot berating this idiot for his careless driving. I noticed that the Jaguar, built like a Centurion tank, had sustained a small dent, more like a stone chip, that was it. The other driver was frankly feeble in his protestations and certainly no match for my indignation. A crowd gathered. I noticed that my hubcap had rolled off down the road. A child had gone after it. Keen not to be robbed as well as crashed into I pursued the child, only to find that he had gone to collect the cap and bring it back to me. After some to and fro and not happy with the way the discussion was going vis a vis blame, on account of the fact that the other driver seemed to be indicating that he wasn't expecting me to be coming from the direction in which I had, I insisted that the Police be called. It was then that I noticed one of these 'Senso Unico' signs facing up the street whence I had come. A hasty change of plan and details were exchanged promptly with apologies and assurances that this would be dealt with by the insurance companies. I don't know if his car was driveable but I purred off in leather clad luxury. At least I now know the Italian for 'one way.' I have not been back.
Duncan
Voiceover work. I must say I have never known it so quiet but we have been involved in some nice work, last minuters for CNN, interesting Audio Visual Productions ( I do the Audio only bit) and some well written radio commercials. As the markets appear to be coming back I hope that the advertisers will return and we can get back on track with... the career !
Writing for Sailing Today. So far we have had ‘Springing On’ in the May issue, ‘Pile Mooring’ in the June issue, ‘Sailing Onto A Mooring’ in the July issue. Then ‘Sail Trim – Closehauled and Reaching’ will be in the August issue, ‘Sail Trim – Downwind Sailing’ will be in the September issue and ‘Anchoring With Confidence’ will be in the October issue. We work some way ahead with these things.
Speaks and Talks. I am speaking at BAREMA (The British Anaesthetic and Respiratory Manufacturers Equipment Association) annual dinner later this month. I have a number of WI talks coming up and a couple of Auditions. I have also given a few talks to Sailing clubs, notably Reading Offshore Club and Henley Offshore Group which were great fun. The Lord Illiffe – Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron thanked me for my offer to give them a talk but said that they tended to pressgang speakers from their midst. I knew this but had been trying to point out that as far as I knew none of his members could possibly speak on my subject as i was unique. Not unique enough for the RYS, apparently. Finally I am in touch with some international medical conference organisers and they have shown interest in my speaking at their events. One of them emailed me recently from Milan and I was reminded of something that happened there many years ago so I wrote and told them about it. I share this with you now...
Ah, Milan. Great coffee, great buzz. I had a car accident in Milan many years ago. I had borrowed a friend's Jaguar XJ12 - outrageously quick - and driven from Lausanne, outrageously quickly, to deliver something to a man in Milan. New to the city I was navigating with the map on the steering wheel - what I would have given for a satnav ? And I kept seeing these signs for 'Senso unico' or something similar. I discovered that the driving technique was based on nerve. Poke your bonnet into a space that didn't exist, keep going and you would get through. The Italians would cut it fine but would not crash into you if you stuck to your guns. So, emboldened at my ability to take on the locals and their fearsome reputation and having delivered the package to some office in the back streets, I was driving positively through an intersection when some chap came flying out of nowhere and clouted my right hand front side. The bonnet on his car buckled, a wheel was twisted and steam came out of his engine. Offence being the best form of self defence I was out of my car like a shot berating this idiot for his careless driving. I noticed that the Jaguar, built like a Centurion tank, had sustained a small dent, more like a stone chip, that was it. The other driver was frankly feeble in his protestations and certainly no match for my indignation. A crowd gathered. I noticed that my hubcap had rolled off down the road. A child had gone after it. Keen not to be robbed as well as crashed into I pursued the child, only to find that he had gone to collect the cap and bring it back to me. After some to and fro and not happy with the way the discussion was going vis a vis blame, on account of the fact that the other driver seemed to be indicating that he wasn't expecting me to be coming from the direction in which I had, I insisted that the Police be called. It was then that I noticed one of these 'Senso Unico' signs facing up the street whence I had come. A hasty change of plan and details were exchanged promptly with apologies and assurances that this would be dealt with by the insurance companies. I don't know if his car was driveable but I purred off in leather clad luxury. At least I now know the Italian for 'one way.' I have not been back.
Duncan
posted by Duncan Wells at
15:04
0 Comments
