I’m often running in something that will be needed but has been forgotten, and I’m usually going to get in before the delivery that has forgotten it. This has led some of the venue managers to misthink. “Al arrived at 6am with staple guns and staples and then a load of wood and banners came at 8am. We didn’t need Al to come at all. The tools should just have gone in with the materials.” If I find out the load has gone missing something I’ll usually be able to get it to the venue before the load. Some venues are getting very extra about it when things come though, and they can’t understand the time scale.
The guys at the Eiffel Tower in particular are annoying me now. Absolutely no help at all accessing the site – they seem to think the security bods will let me in without an upgrade pass. I had to nick a broadcast one, with permission, kinda. Then every time I ask a question I get a monologue. “I’m bringing something in to you. Might be worth mentioning it to local security to expect a van.” That one led to a monologue about how security worked from someone who has always been inside one compound rather than someone who is attaching different bits to himself the whole time and flitting between calm and active, French and English, firm and soft, charm and certainty, all in the name of detail to smooth this huge event. “Let me do my job so you can do yours,” I said to him. I totally held my ground as he seems to insist on making work for himself by obstructing me, and then moaning that I’ve made work for him. We parted friends and I got the code to his lockup so now I can make small drops without disturbing anyone. And I’m happy I held my ground with him even though it was harder. I know and trust myself in this work.
Sometimes though it is right to check. I was given a “drop everything and take this frane to Eiffel” type deal so I dropped everything, left the warehouse, thought better of it, parked up and sent photos to Scott. “I’ve got about twenty of those frames just gathering dust,” he said. “Why the hell are they sending you with another one? I don’t need it.” I didn’t take it.
Many venues now have made sense of how to use me. For the venues where I have the passes and the location of their container and the combination, I can be trusted to go there on my strange peregrinations and to leave a photographed delivery. It’s easy when you know how it all works, but every venue works differently.
Tomorrow, apparently, I’ll have to drop by half 6. Last thing I feel like right now. It’s been a long hot day into evening and bed is calling.
AlBarclay 