Back to Paris

Easy Jet. Back to Paris.

I’m in the air, recalibrating my body and my mind for a long old job now as we push into and through this massive event.

“The only bigger thing is organising a war,” says one of the lads, and there’s sense in this. Here I am, trying to help smooth issues in supply chains. Trying to anticipate when we are gonna run out of screws or bolts or cable ties, or tools. That’s basically bullets and mortars, shovels and weapons. Big events need a lot of supply. The stakes are lower but the need is still there, and the practical headaches of getting the things that are needed from the place where they start to the place where they should be are all part of my remit.

Stephan in the warehouse deliberately sends things out earlier than scheduled because he thinks it’s efficient, but it means that last minute additions can’t be added. He’s proud of himself for starting early – he starts at 5 – and he shows his pride by causing problems. Then the drivers often offload things to the wrong venue if they have multiple venues on the list. That means that things that need to be in one place get ignored in another place, so while one venue has chucked 25000 unwanted screws into a corner, another venue is getting an Uber to the warehouse and asking me why the hell they didn’t get their 25000 screws.

I have no idea what I’m gonna walk into tomorrow having been away five days. I’m on the plane back and I booked a room in the little hotel opposite the warehouse as I thought there was a chance that my Airbnb room is now occupied. I’ll land, go straight there, get an early bed and then go in and assess the state of things early tomorrow. At least it’ll be the weekend so even though we are getting close to event day the French will still not be working so I’ll be able to get on without too many demands on my attention. I suspect I’ll just have a quartermaster hat on again tomorrow. Maybe a bit of pick-up driving.

Glad to be heading back in having rested. I feel new minted. Healthy sober summer seaside time with Lou, despite the weather. I’ve got some incense in my bag this time and some Palo Santo for smudging. Gonna pace myself, take each day as it comes and find time to connect with nature and sleep.

Or I’ll just work every hour that God made and then collapse on my face until my alarm jolts me up…