Clairesallotment's Blog

On Sunday morning at just before 8am we all left home to drive to Gatwick airport, to get on a flight to the Isle of Man where we would all be taking part in one days filming of a HUGE film called “Our Robot Overlords” (for those of you that don’t know, my hubby Mark co wrote it with Jon Wright). We left the car at the airport and after all the security and check in stuff we got on our plane. Now I’ve flown a fair few times to various places (Spain, Gran Canaria, Cyprus, St Lucia, Portugal), and on various size planes, but they always have engines. This little plane however had propellers!! I’m not a nervous flyer, but this did make me a little apprehensive, as I was wondering if we’d actually get off the ground. The plane was small and only seated about 70 people, but was only half full. We did take off, very successfully, and were on our way to that little island in between the Lake District and Northern Ireland. We landed 1 hour later at the Isle of Man airport, which is very quiet, and unassuming. Everyone on the island is very pleasant, and helpful, to Mark and I it seemed a little like the town Sandford in the film “Hot Fuzz”. The cab driver told us all sorts of interesting facts about the island on our little journey to our hotel. For the rest of the day we took it easy, as we knew that the Monday would be hectic. We watched the tennis and were overjoyed when Andy Murray won. Fab job!! After a sleep (there’s nothing better that your own bed) we had breakfast and walked down the road to the Castle Mona Hotel. It used to be a hotel, and looked like it was very beautiful, but is now closed and very run down. The outside looks very dull, and looks like it’s made of grey breeze blocks. The crew were all busy, and we went off to the costume department to be “Chaved up!!” All will become clear when you watch the film. We had a fantastic day filming, very tiring, and hot, but worth all that when you see the final film. Jon is a brilliant director, very calm, and makes time for everyone. The kids in the film were brilliant, and a few other cast members that we saw. I’m not going to give away too much as it’ll spoil it for you. We finished filming about 7pm and went back to our hotel, ordered room service, and all had an early night as we needed to get up really early the following morning to fly home. Tuesday at 4.45am!! Yes that’s right, this was the start of the longest school run in history. We all got up as the cab was picking us up at 5.15am, we just got dressed, washed and brushed our teeth and then off to check out. When we arrived at the airport there were only 2 other passengers there, and a few staff. It’s bizarre really when you’re always used to having to arrive at the airport 2 hours before you flight, and then when you go the a quiet place like this it’s just 30 minutes. We could have stayed in bed for an extra 45 minutes or so. Never mind. We had breakfast, and then got on the plane again to travel back to Gatwick.  As we were going through security, John Rhys-Davies was in front of us, the kids know his as Sallah in “Indiana Jones”. We landed back at Gatwick in good time, got straight in the car and drove to school, stopping off to get the kids their lunch. When I was doing this they were getting changed into their school uniforms in the car (I’d put it in the boot all ready for them). When I returned with their lunch, it was time to drop them off. I said to the schools, I’d have them in school between 9.30am-10am, and sure enough George was in at 9.35am, and Emily was in at 9.50am. So right on time, then Mark and I went home and had a cup of tea. We were all knackered by 8.30pm, so we all went to bed, and slept really well. There is nothing better than your own bed. I just love ours very much.