Keep the Customer Happy

Well it's been another joyously busy week.

Filming in Weatherfield again. A whole day spent in the bistro.

And then the last three days have been spent rehearsing a new play for Edinburgh in a gloriously Gothic church hall in Oxfordshire. I was a little dubious about having to go down to the wilds to  rehearse, and as I set off on Friday morning having been at home for less than 12 hours I can't say I was in the best of spirits. The joy however of being on a rehearsal room floor is what I have always enjoyed most about what I do. Working with actors, solving problems, being creative and watching good people being funny is a pleasure and privilege and that's what I've just had for three days.

I was able to stay with my good friend Lorraine whom we had by coincidence spent the weekend with only last weekend. This yielded the joy of the three-minute drive from  digs to rehearsal room through some of Oxfordshire's most beautiful countryside in the early morning sun.

It's exciting and challenging working on a new play and particularly when the author is also playing one of the parts. He has the difficult task of leaving the writer at the side every time he steps on as an actor and yet making sure that the play script and the words the other actors speak are the best.

Charlie did a brilliant job at this and he's managed to assemble a first-rate cast. I have known Sam his delightful wife  a long time but both Spencer and Lee were absolutely new to me and are a joy.

We've got a couple more days rehearsal this week both in London and Oxfordshire and then next week we head up to Edinburgh to get the show on. If I haven't already mentioned it, it's on in the afternoons at the Gilded Balloon Teviot,  and it's called “ Wedding Band "  - if you're in Edinburgh do pop in.

I did mean to mention last week an amazing piece of customer service that I experienced recently. Last week coming back from filming I managed to put my elbow on my Kindle and the screen did very funny things. Both Richard and I got our kindles very early on - they came from America and are the second generation and I knew immediately that mine was out of warranty. I logged on the Internet the following morning and bought myself a new one from Amazon. Later that day I wondered if there was any way of remedying mine. I clicked on Kindle support on the Amazon website and within 5 min somebody had called me. I explained the situation saying that I knew the damage was my fault and that the Kindle was out of warranty. The incredibly pleasant person on the other on the phone said that they'd be able to offer me a new Kindle at either £40 or £52 (rather than £111 or £152) as a  replacement. I said that I'd already ordered one and I was told that she would check what she could do and call me back.  In less than 5 min the phone  rang again  and my incredibly pleasant Amazonian told me that they would refund all my order except for £40 and post package would be free. I thought this was incredibly generous of them and was very pleased. My new Kindle arrived the next morning at 9 AM! Now that is customer service  of the highest order. It means in our shop at Amazon for quite a while longer.

Well done Amazon. This