claytoncast

My recent article in The Stage hinted that 2021 might not have been all that we were expecting it to be, given the number of U-turns we’ve already experienced, and how for many of us, this lockdown has been the hardest. Starting with days ending at four in the afternoon, it’s been very difficult to find a reason to push forward and get up every day. I was facing a week like that last week with days looming empty on my schedule screen. Luckily, late last Monday afternoon, the first completed edit of my new novel “The Hoax” arrived back from my publishers. With the title all about a prank, the logical publication date has always seemed like April 1, and now we are racing against time to make sure that the book is available. That meant suddenly my week had a purpose and breaking the word count down into easily achievable chunks, the last five days have been taken up with refining, clarifying, emphasising, and hopefully improving the text. Karen, the editor for the publisher, and my lovely...

Lockdown. Day 217. Actually, I do not know if that’s correct. I've lost all count of everything this time round. The good thing is that today I have had a sod it morning. After doing my exercises, ten kilometres on the bike and physio exercises with my rubber bands, I’ve taken to a scented bath for an hour. A large cup of coffee and my thoughts. I can’t even take the morning paper in there with me. It’s too full of the real world.  It’s just one of those days when I have lost the will to live. I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had work throughout the lockdown unlike many of my peers and colleagues, but it hasn’t made it any easier. In our business, they say you should never appear in a sequel. Let’s face it. “Lockdown 1” was a global hit. The Blitz spirit, the touching scenes of everyone on their balconies and in their gardens, clapping and banging saucepans for the brave boys and girls of the NHS. The orderly queues at the supermarkets Lidl notwithstanding. That was the lockdown to be in...

Lockdown. Day 217. Actually, I do not know if that’s correct. I lost all count everything this time round. The good thing is that today I have had a soggy morning. After doing my exercises, ten kilometres on the bike and physio exercises with my rubber bands, I’ve taken to a scented bath for an hour. A large cup of coffee and my thoughts. I can’t even take the morning paper in there with me. It’s too full of the real world. It’s just one of those days when I have lost the will to live. I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had work throughout the lockdown unlike many of my peers and colleagues, but it hasn’t made it any easier. In our business, they say you should never appear in a sequel. Let’s face it. “Lockdown 1” was a global hit. The Blitz spirit, the touching scenes of everyone on their balconies and in their gardens, clapping and banging saucepans for the brave boys and girls of the NHS. The orderly queues at the supermarkets Lidl notwithstanding. That was the lockdown to be in. Rousing, p...

When I was at school, I used to hate it when Christmas fell on a Friday, one week away from when we had broken up. A week of anticipation, hidden parcels and mounting frustration. Then finding oneself with only a week left to pack full of enjoyment before the January return to school. It’s a little like that this year. Work done, and only the odd zoom call this week with four days more before we can have what remains of Christmas. We are very lucky that our plans were to spend Christmas at home for only the second time in our 24 years together. Having cancelled a visit to see a friend in pantomime on Sunday, we are not going to Devon to see Richard’s family after Christmas. Yet we are on course for the Christmas we wanted. I’m using this week to send messages to those people I haven’t contacted during the past year. It’s not that I want my address book to be any thinner, But it has sometimes been hard to keep in touch with people one sees. There have been no lunch meetings, no afternoo...

A Time for Home In all the 24 years that we have spent together, Richard and I have only ever spent one Christmas together at home. Three years ago, I gave up the unequal struggle of trying to entertain my Mum for the festive holiday as her health had deteriorated, and we hunkered down in our home for the festive frolics. Only for three days, and Christmas lunch was taken out at a restaurant so it was no great hardship. A time to enjoy a home we love at a special moment in the year. Last year we were busy preparing for a once in a lifetime trip to Australia. Three weeks in Sydney, Melbourne and the Hunter Valley. We had the most amazing time. Such a holiday meant we saw nothing of our home last Christmas. No tree went up, no bundle of exciting packages lying under it. No overstocked fridge, and on the sunny beaches of St Kilda in Melbourne, no need for Christmas jumpers. I think if when we were told to lockdown in March, we had known that we would still be under strict limitations at C...

I’m not a patient person. I never have been. Waiting is not my forte. If I want something, I want it now. At this time of year, it can be an infuriating trait. My partner has often heard me express needs and wants in the months leading up to Christmas and made a mental note how exciting it would be for me to find that item in my Christmas stocking. His disappointed irritation is quite understandable when he finds that two or three days later, the aforementioned object of desire arrives from Amazon. I just couldn’t wait for it. One quality that would stand all of us in good stead at the moment is patience. I heard a wonderful saying yesterday that seemed so apt on a day when the government once again played with our lives, as though we were of no worth. The phrase was “I haven’t come this faronly to come this far.” I’ve had no support from the government, and I am grateful that I am not in a position to be desperate for it, but that’s only because I have been lucky enough to continue to...

 For the last couple of weeks I have been lucky enough to be viable. Creating a virtual conference for a major global brand which will eventually go live this Thursday. It’s been a long, but engaging process with many ups and downs, but I’m very grateful for its part in my life. Otherwise, like so many of my peers, I would have no contact whatsoever with the world in which I work. I’ve been out and about filming and spending days in the studio, and if one tends to ignore the sight of people’s face-masks, and the Covid Marshall vigilantly keeping an eye on our distancing, it would seem to have been work as usual. Yet every day there has been a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I should be at home. I am 63 years of age and the government would term me to be mildly obese. Lockdown hasn’t helped and a hitherto subdued passion for chocolate digestives has risen to the fore. Having the time to cook decent meals hasn’t helped either, and both lunch and dinner have often featured a des...