Make This Letter An Heretic

Well, I've run out of time! And there’s only one Geoffrey sketch for me to post on this special day, a sketch of the role I love above all his others, the performance that drove me into a different leg of the trousers of time: it’s Francis Walsingham from Elizabeth (1998), of course! (One of my fellow Rushies, lovely apple4b, referred to me as “walsie girl” back in the day and it stuck - or I adopted it!)

Whoops, forgot to post my previous sketch here too so there's a double-whammy of sketches in this post! And I am soooo running out of time on this challenge of mine. I need to try to find time to do a sketch literally every other day to try to cover as many more roles as I can before July 6th... It's not looking promising.

And all my previous sketches in the “Countdown to Geoffrey Rush’s Big 7-0″ so far are:

• Nigel from "Finding Nemo" (2003)
• Casper from "Candy" (2006)
• Ezylryb from "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" (2010)
• Virgil Oldman from "The Best Offer" (2013)
• Inspector Javert from "Les Miserables" (1998)
• Stephen Price from "House on Haunted Hill" (1999)
• Leon Trotsky from "Frida" (2002)
• The Marquis de Sade from "Quills" (2000)
• Harry Pendel from "The Tailor of Panama" (2001)
• David Helfgott from "Shine" (1996)

Who's next? Who knows! I realise I have yet to do either Barbossa or my beloved Wals, but there are still so many I've not done. Have to put names in a hat to chose the next one...

Once again I have forgotten to update my journal!

Well, I've decided to take a break from writing for a week or two as my brain has imploded and needs a rest. I still have lots of ideas and drafts for my fic which has at times been all-consuming. I know where everything’s going but I think I need to just... not write for a little while. It'll help me recharge.

The fact we’re very short staffed again at work is not helping (is it always a thing wherever one works to be short staffed?? Like, the turnover of staffing everywhere I have ever worked never ceases to amaze me...) Long story short, I can’t keep on top of my day-job-stuff so I keep doing the computer bit of my job at home, which I shouldn’t be doing, but I don’t want to fall behind with it. So... I am not unhappy, just a bit frazzled. I have a few extra days off this weekend (Hatfield House visit on Sunday! w00t!) so that will let me breathe. And maybe I can then stay on top of my shit. I need to learn some time management.

Also, random note, you know how Tumblr tells you when someone has used your gifs? Like someone used my really bad quality Mary of Guise gifs (from the "Elizabeth" movie) on a totally unrelated post, but it’s made my brain go “ooo, let’s draw Wals and Mary together!” and I’m like “brain yes I’d love to, but I can’t right now.... unless you haven’t noticed we’re a little busy at the moment”.

Anyway, how is everyone? ^^;

I have recently come back from a few nights in Heacham near Hunstanton in NW Norfolk, had a great lil break doing lots of walking, bird watching, and reading my book on the beach.

Naturally, though, the first thing I thought about when I came back was "Hmm, so when am I going away again?" So today I booked lots of holiday dates in today at work and I have over a week off in October so NORTHUMBERLAND IS HAPPENING! \o/ The Elizabeth movie location pilgrimage will continue from a base near Bamburgh, with of course another stop off at Durham Cathedral on the way up to Northumbria, and hopefully a visit to Raby Castle either on the way up the country or back down again. I need to get plenty of pennies saved for all the petrol and castle entry fees. I have National Trust membership and can get into English Heritage places free thanks to my trusty Cadw membership so that may help a little. 

I am soooo excited. Northumberland has been on my radar a while but both the pandemic and its distance away from my home have made it not very feasible. Hopefully pandemic-wise things will be looking up by October, and I do at least have the time booked to do it all at a leisurely pace.

On that note, my poor Cadw card has had no use for months thanks to the pandemic so whenever Wales opens again, maybe I can squeeze in some trips there as well. So many castles, so little time.

So UK lockdown rules have relaxed slightly from today. I'm not at work, but I have resolved not to go anywhere anyway as I dread how busy it’s likely to be. Also I'm waiting for a parcel which I was told could be delivered any time between 11:45 and 15:45 — as it's already nearly 3pm, I imagine the latter of that estimate is going to be correct. I can guarantee if I'd nipped out earlier though it would have come sooner. It's a new mobile phone as my old one is holding charge for shorter and shorter times, and technology has also moved on a lot in the 2+ years ago that I bought it so I just fancied an upgrade. I'll definitely recycle my old one.

Anyway, since I've had to stay put, I have filled my time by writing a short, smutty fic which is sort of a pastiche of the season 1 finale from "The Tudors", but re-imagined with my Elizabeth-1998-Walsibeth OTP. (Y'know the final scene where Henry and Anne ride into the woods for a sexy tryst but it ends in frustration and dissatisfaction? Well Wals and Bess could teach them some lessons...Lol.)