Last Day of School

Day 274...

Today was our last day of school for this term and for 2020. We should have been open tomorrow but our government advised that today should be the last day and to take tomorrow as what we refer to as an inset day.

So I had a slightly better nights sleep last night only waking at 4am and dropping back off about half an hour before the alarm went off! But up and into work for the last day.

The day was taken up with the end of term admin, amendments to registers, updating banking and just generally tidying things ready for a new term in the new year.

We (and when I saw we I mean my amazing team) had the job of clearing our room ready for a fresh start in January. We needed to take down and pack away the Christmas decorations as well as organise all our equipment so that when we return we are in a position to move everything into our new storage units. 

And talking of new storage units we have today successfully erected the first of our flat packed container units. Our contractor has done a great job so far and after grabbing a couple of us this morning to move a rather heavy base section he commented that he may attempt putting the roof on today. Now we were expecting the installation of roofs to happen tomorrow and were anticipating the need of extra help in order to lift the section up and onto the part built body of the unit.

I contacted Simon to see if he would be available at all today and thankfully he was happy to oblige. I also chatted with Molly to see if she could help as well as I know how strong she is and she just loves getting her hands dirty. By mid-afternoon we were ready for a roof to go into place so Simon and Molly were called to pop down and lend a hand or two. Well I was blown away as no sooner than they had arrived the roof was on...to the great surprise of us all...it definitely was a case of an extra couple of pair of hands made the job so much easier. We are now all set to hopefully get the second unit erected tomorrow and hopefully a path laid as well.

Once home I took some time to complete some work social media posts as well as update some of our internal records which leaves me in a good position for tomorrow and the completion of the end of term accounts! Although today was the last day of children being in pre-school I will be back there tomorrow to look after our chap doing the outdoor work as well as use the time to complete the accounts and sign off on our Autumn term and the end of schooling for 2020.

And then as I started to write today's post I came across the sad news that actor Jeremy Bulloch had passed way today. Jeremy played the Boba Fett character in the original Star Wars trilogy and we had the good fortune a few years back to meet him at a comic con where we were trooping with the Mandalorian Mercs.

He was a lovely, lovely gentleman who took the time to chat with us and insisted that we didn't pay for his autograph because we were Mandalorians just like him, instead he signed the inside of our helmets. It is a memory that we both cherish and I know that he was so loved within the Star Wars community and will be very sadly missed.

And that is where I will leave it today...tell those you love that you love them and hold them close.

Take care,
xx

Working for Disney...well...almost!

OK so that title may not be quite right but this is the closest I've gotten to working for Disney!

So let me explain. From my previous posts you may be aware that Simon and I have ventured into the world of cosplay and have become official members of the Mandalorian Mercs Costuming Club. Now just to bring you up to speed Mandalorian Mercs are based around the Star Wars character of Boba Fett and Simon, over the past 18 months, has created costumes for us both. This culminated with us becoming official members in June of this year closely followed by our first outing at Star Wars Celebration London in July.

Since July we took part in a comic-con at York and then we spotted an event that we just couldn't resist. To mark the launch of the new Star Wars Rogue One toys the Disney Store in the UK were on the look out for costumed characters to help with their promotional events. Disney Store contacted the Mandalorian Mercs and other costuming clubs looking for volunteers and as we are fortunate to live close to the Disney Store in Nottingham we put our names forward.

So on Sunday 2nd October we got our kit together and headed off into Nottingham and the Intu Victoria Centre. I must admit rolling a rather large storage trunk through the centre's car park and into the mall area was a bit strange...especially when bumping into an old work colleague while waiting for the elevator. And I'm not really sure what our teenage daughter and her friend thought to it all as they had taken advantage and joined us so they could go shopping!

Thankfully we hadn't got far to go between the elevator and the Disney Store and at 10.30am on a Sunday morning it wasn't too busy. As this was our first 'troop' like this we really didn't know what to expect but on arrival the staff couldn't have been more welcoming and pleased to see us and completely put any nerves and apprehension to bed.

So going behind the scenes or 'off stage' as I think it's referred to in Disney speak, we were shown to a very small staff room where we could get changed. Abi and the team were very intrigued by our costumes and we explained how we had become involved with the world of cosplay and how Simon had created the costumes, which inevitably led to the trying on of helmets!

Now to change the pair of us into Mandalorians takes about 45 minutes...there are lots of parts to each of our costumes that have to be put on in a certain order, especially when helping each other at the same time! But once in costume we made our way 'on stage' (otherwise known as the shop floor) but not before the store manager changed the video that was playing in store to a Star Wars themed one!

Front of store!

We then spent the next four hours camped out at the front of the store welcoming guests of all ages. We had some great interactions with lots of 'high-5's', 'fist bumps' and photos...lots of photos! The reaction from the public was often that of surprise but always with great humour and a want to get involved from the very young to the not so young! We had lots of photos taken that were accompanied by 'I need a photo for my boyfriend/husband/dad etc', 'he'll be so jealous'. We even had a few 'Snapchat' moments and one guy who filmed us for his vlog! But it was the reactions of the children that were the best and we had some very special interactions that obviously meant the world to some of the younger guests.

One of many, many photos taken

And I even got to have a photo with a little girl who used to attend my pre-school. Thanks Imogen for stopping by to see me :)

It was lovely to see you Imogen!

Mickey Ears were of course worn - how could I not?!

By the end of our day we were exhausted, a bit achy and very aware that despite wearing helmets for the vast majority of the time we hadn't stopped smiling all day.

A big thank you has to go to Abi and the girls at Disney Store, Nottingham for looking after us, making us feel so welcome and their generosity of magic!

Thanks Abi & Maya

Can't wait to do it again!!

WOW! What a Weekend! - Day 1

Well, we are back after an amazing long weekend away in London where we attended Star Wars Celebration; three days of all things Star Wars.

We had an amazing weekend for all sorts of reasons that I shall go into as I write this and subsequent pieces. In fact we had such a great time I am struggling to know where to start! But I think the best thing to do would be to tell you what happened in the order it happened.

Now Star Wars Celebration ran for three days at the Excel centre in London. It started at 10.00am on Friday 15th July 2016 and was open for 3 days, finally closing its doors on Sunday 17th July 2016 at 5.00pm.

Now a lot of fans were arriving on the Thursday to pick up their passes so that they could be ready to hit Celebration as the doors opened on the Friday morning...some even queued from the early hours in order to secure their places at the various panels that were running. But we had decided to travel down on the Friday morning and just take things steady rather then worrying about which panels to see or spending hours in queues.

So we set off from our home in central England and headed South to London.

On our way!

The great thing about the Excel centre is that whilst it is in London it is on the outskirts which makes it very easy to get to if travelling by car like we were. About 3 hours later we arrived at our hotel, which was just to the rear of the Excel. It was a bit early to check-in so we parked up and headed over to the centre. Now the building itself was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel but we soon found out that the entrance was on the opposite side of the building which made it a good 15 minute walk instead!

Arriving at Celebration we were immediately hit by the very friendly and welcoming vibe as well as the number of cosplayers there were. We headed into the main building and had to initially go through 'bag check' before entering the main ticket hall to pick up our three day passes. We then took a steady stroll into the main exhibition halls to get ourselves orientated and find out where the Mandalorian Mercs booth was. We decided to head straight over to the booth to introduce ourselves to our fellow Mercs most of whom we had only ever spoken to via the forums online. Everyone was so welcoming and it was so nice to start to try and put names and faces together. We also collected our official Mandalorian Mercs Vok'Chi Clan t-shirts as well.

We then headed off in the search for food; now there are lots of places to eat at the Excel but there were also lots of queues! We ended up grabbing a couple of coffees and sharing a baguette - now those of you that have followed the 'Get Real' page on this blog will know this was not my usual sort of food and I really didn't enjoy any of it!! But while we were eating Simon decided to text a very old friend of ours who we knew was visiting Celebration just for the Friday, and lo and behold she responded by saying she was at the Mandalorian Mercs booth! We then quickly headed over there to surprise her. We chatted away and the conversation turned to our Mandalorian armour and how she was gutted that we weren't in costume...well that sounded like a challenge so off to the hotel we went to check-in and get changed!

In order to get all our armour safely to London we had bought a rather large black trunk...in fact we had bigger luggage for our armour than we did for our 'civilian' clothes! Although it must have looked rather strange rolling this large trunk through the hotel foyer and into the lift...thankfully we weren't the only guests with unusual luggage as most of it's clientele appeared to be Celebration guests.

This was probably only about the second or third time that both Simon and I had got dressed into our armour together and the first time we were taking it out in public. It probably took us a good 45 minutes to get kitted up as we had to figure out which order to put things on making sure that we could assist each other with tricky belts and gauntlets etc. But once we were all complete we headed off once more to the Excel centre and the long walk round to the entrance.

Instantly we became aware of what great fun being in cosplay was; we were stopped for photos, high fives, knowing looks, smiles and compliments and all before we got inside the building.

Although we had our passes we had to go through 'bag check' once more, or more specifically 'prop weapon check'. Both Simon and I as part of our armour have fake blasters; all made from bits of Foamex, MDF, piping and general household objects. But security (quite rightly) was tight and very specific about what items would and would not be allowed into the building. The guys on the prop check were great and very efficient; they simply placed a coloured zip-tie around each of our blasters to identify that they had been checked and given the OK. We were then free to make our way through the exhibition halls to the Mandalorian Mercs booth and this is when we discovered a slight hitch with our kit! Operating a touch screen mobile phone with leather gloves (me) is impossible and only just possible for Simon with his cloth gloves, this resulted in a very short and to the point text to our friend to let her know we were back and in full kit just for her.

We even threw her in the jail cell!

See it is us really!!

We then spent the rest of the afternoon between hanging out at the Mercs booth and exploring what else there was on offer. Simon was extremely happy that we got to meet James Bruton of XRobots.co.uk over on the Bladez Toyz stand. Simon has been watching James' videos of building robots and stuff for ages, and it has been these videos that have inspired and helped Simon with the armour building process over the last year.

But before we knew it it was 7pm and Celebration was closing for the day, we had had a fab first day and spent a substantial part of it in our armour which hadn't been our intention at all. It was much later than we had planned by the time we got back to the hotel and changed out of our kit...even taking it off had to be carefully planned as help was needed for each of us to get out of certain bits! Our plans for a meal quickly became snacks and red wine in our hotel room followed by falling asleep to the TV...it's hard work this being a Mando!

Black Thread and a Heat Gun

So here we are into the New Year and my last few days off before work starts again and what do I find myself doing? Well it involves black thread and a heat gun!

I have spent the afternoon sewing (by hand!) and Simon has been heating and moulding foamex....so let me explain.

In July of this year Simon and I will be attending Star Wars Celebration in London; this is a 3 day event celebrating all things Star Wars. As Simon this year celebrates one of those 'milestone' birthdays we thought we ought to do something special to mark the occasion and as he is a big Star Wars fan this seemed the ideal thing to do, plus we get a three night stay in London without the kids!

Now almost as soon as I'd booked the tickets Simon commented that if we were going to do this then we ought to throw ourselves into it and go in character/cosplay...to which I said that's fine as long as I don't have to wear the Princess Leia metal bikini!

After an initial look at buying cosplay outfits it quickly became apparent that to do it properly would cost an awful lot of money unless we made it ourselves! Now this really appealed to Simon's artistic and creative side and gave him the chance to go back to his childhood and actually 'make stuff'. But what should we go as? Well we decided that we ought to either go as the same characters or one's that complemented each other but if we went as the same then it would have to be something that could be either male or female. This is when Simon came up with the idea of being Mandalorians, or to help clarify think Boba and Jango Fett from the movies and you'll get the idea.

Well the lengthy process of making our costumes is now well under way with great progress being made since we started last July. Please note that when I refer to 'we' I do of course mean that Simon is making them whilst I offer lots of support, the ability to hold something still whilst it is cut or heat moulded and of course provide cups of tea and/or coffee as and when needed.

So what have 'we' made so far then...well...

...his and hers blasters! I get two!! These were made first and involved wood, foamex, piping and a surprising array of household objects...nothing gets thrown away now without first consulting Simon to see if we can make use of it somewhere!

 

We've made from scratch our belts each with handmade pouches...each pouch was covered with pleather (fake leather) and then had a piece of pleather attached over to give each pouch a closing...this meant stitching 16 individual pieces, thankfully this was all done by sewing machine.

Various pieces of armour are also being made, these pieces are our knee armour complete with mini blasters!!

But under the body armour we need flak jackets which we are having to make ourselves. For this we had to devise our own pattern as the ones we found on-line just didn't seem to fit right, so we tried lots of paper patterns before we committed to fabric. This is Simon's; the body part and shoulder pieces were made with pleather and a cotton lining which were all constructed with the help of the sewing machine. This was the first time I have ever used a sewing machine...ever!

I then had to hand sew the shoulders onto the jacket which I have managed to complete today.

The paper attached to the jacket in this photo are the templates for the body armour Simon has been making today.

Here is a collection of what we have made so far including our helmets and gauntlets. Most of this is now ready for the final stages of painting and weathering so that they will match the blasters and look as though they have seen some battle action!

Through all of this construction we are trying to be as true to the movies as we can possibly be and so we have joined an on-line forum run by an organisation called The Mandalorian Mercs. This is a world-wide non-profit Star Wars costuming organisation comprised of, and operated by, Star Wars fans and volunteers. It has proved to be a great source of ideas and encouragement. And much like the Disney community we are making a heap of new friends from across the world and some surprisingly local to us as well!!

We are hoping that once our outfits are completed we can meet the high standards for official entry into the Mercs and join in with their future events and charitable fundraising initiatives.

I shall keep you posted as we get closer to the completed outfits!

The Force is Strong

This year has seen a number of close friends celebrate one of those milestone birthdays that we like to mark with grand celebrations. While sat at one of these celebrations I asked Simon what he would like to do for his 'milestone' birthday next year...perhaps a weekend away he suggested...

Now one thing that we would both love to do would be to visit Walt Disney World during Star Wars Weekends but as these fall during school term time it really isn't an option for either me (as I work in education) or the kids! And there is no way they'd let us visit WDW without them!!

Then I had a bit of a brainwave. I thought I remembered hearing during reports from this years Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim that next year the celebration would be happening in London. So a quick Google search soon revealed that I was right...July 2016 Star Wars Celebration comes to London for 3 days - woo hoo!

I tentatively looked up the ticket prices expecting something extortionate but was very pleasantly surprised. A few minutes later and 2 sets of 3 day tickets were booked...eek we're going to Star Wars Celebration.

Little did I know what I'd started...

...we could go in costume...he said..

...wouldn't it be cool to cosplay while we're there...he said...

...I'm not wearing a metal bikini...I said...

Suffice to say costumes have been decided and the lengthy process of making them ourselves has begun. Please note that when I refer to 'us' making them I do of course mean that Simon will be making them whilst I offer lots of support, the ability to hold something still whilst it is cut and of course provide cups of tea and/or coffee as and when needed.

For those Star Wars fans out there we will be going as Mandalorians...think Boba and Jango Fett and you'll get the idea. So we are still in the early stages of creating our costumes but we have a template for the helmet and work has begun on our guns, I think I even know what colour scheme to go for! Suffice to say we have a corner of the house that is starting to resemble a work shop and plans are afoot to make a work space in the garage so that the task ahead can be tackled effectively.

The fun begins...

I shall endeavour to keep you updated with the progress over the coming weeks and I would imagine months!! I wonder what the theme for this year's Halloween party will be? Mmmm....I wonder.....