18.55. I was chatting to Simon Coates, dweller in the caban in the garden, thinking it was 1800hrs, that I really should go and get changed, wondering why people seemed to be turning up so early ... the danger of a stopped clock. Simon gently pointed out that it was in fact 18.55. I dashed home, changed, ran up to meet the guests at the barn car park. Time has a funny way of…

This morning (23rd April), Louise shared her reflection on our R&D week process. It moved me to tears because perfectly captures all the ups and downs and discoveries and journeys that I wanted to share it with you.

With many, many thanks, Louise, our wise and wonderful Dramaturg!....

A Reflection on Process - An offering - from Louise…

All our ideas on little notes. Too much, much too, too much.

We knew it, really. But wanted to try. Put it into a structure.

It’s R&D after all (hold that thought)

Typed it up.

Did stagger through. We gave it a good shot, some flowed, some was beautiful, we missed the guests, we giggled and relaxed, held it…

We started in the middens, wandered o gwmpas y mynyddoedd, visited the quarry museum, saved Sam's fingers, toasted at Sam's cafe, composed songs, arranged objects, rearranged objects, re-composed texts, secured keys, ate together (no toasts) and sat together on Chris.'s bed til 3am, writing out elements of our work so far on little cards, in categories: courses; toasts;…

We started in the middens, wandered o gwmpas y mynyddoedd, visited the quarry museum, saved Sam's fingers, toasted at Sam's cafe, composed songs, arranged objects, rearranged objects, re-composed texts, secured keys, ate together (no toasts) and sat together on Chris.'s bed til 3am, writing out elements of our work so far on little cards, in categories: courses; toasts;…

The exploration gets underway with sounds, words, drawing, stories, questions, traces ... recapping, layering, lists, ideas for tomorrow:  a sense of the shape of things emerging, in pieces... The day ends with a list of what we do know, or things that we think we will develop further, and what we don't (yet) know. It is encouraging. We recap with Louise. We…

Arriving ...Jony, Chris., Sam .... settling ... eating .... chatting ... planning ... exploring by torchlight, tin can lights ... focusing on the fragment, the objects ...playing ... creating tasks for ourselves .... up til 2am, awake by 7, we have begun!…

The thing about doing a risk assessment is that it makes you assess... risks. Ours were mostly electrical. So today, we re-did the electrics.

And while Gethin was doing that, and Ed reducing the risk of the giant wire fencing ball hanging in…

Yesterday afternoon, my lovely Waleslab project collaborators, Sam Fox and Chris Dugrenier arrived from the midlands for a pre R&D week visit.

It was our first meeting together. The meeting of minds, interests, skills, ideas, perfect. Complementary. The weather: Not. Mountains shrouded, wind, driving rain. After a bit of lunch, we set out for the barn. Borrowed…