Chaos in All Good Things

My head is reeling with all the organising I’m trying to do, combining last-minute jobs (and cancellations) in various parts of the world with theatre shows I’m committed to here in the UK and other places, needing to purchase flights and hotels and not knowing exactly when I’ll need them and for where - and all when I haven’t been paid for my recent jobs so have no money. Oh joy....

Seriously, what is the deal with November 15? I am triple booked on that day. One thing was easy(ish) to give up, but it’s being extremely difficult to choose between the other two. Especially since they’re in different countries.

Just listen to this for the very likely schedule ahead of me:

Saturday, 6 Sept - fly to Hong Kong for work.
Friday, 12 Sept - fly overnight back to London after work, arriving at 6am.
Saturday, 13 Sept - check straight back in onto a different airline to fly at 10am to Qatar via Dubai for work, arriving at 11pm that night.
Saturday, 27 Sept - fly at 03.30am from Qatar to Dubai, wait two hours, then on to London to arrive just after midday and catch a train straight to Canterbury where I’ll miss the matinee but will at least get to the evening show (after the job which was meant to end on Thursday, giving me plenty of time to get back, added an extra day without warning).
Sunday, 28 Sept - go to a show at 2pm in London, miss a different evening show to instead head straight to the airport from the theatre to fly to Singapore overnight for work.
Sunday, 12 October - fly overnight to Sydney to see my family.
Thursday, 16 October - fly to Melbourne for a run of shows starting that night.
Sunday, 26 October - return to Sydney for a run of shows starting on Tuesday.
Monday, 3 November - fly to Singapore, check in again for a separate flight back to London, arriving on Tuesday.
Tuesday, 11 November - fly to Milan for a run of shows starting that night.
Saturday, 15 November - fly back to London early in the morning for an evening show.
Sunday, 16 November - fly back to Milan early in the morning for a double show day and the rest of the run.
Sunday, 23 November - fly back to London after the last show.

It’s beyond insane. I’m not sure if I’ll make it back to London on the 15th - still trying to prioritise - and the Hong Kong and Singapore jobs might cancel. That’s the most stressful part. I desperately hope they want, because I’ve got to pay for all the rest of it somehow, but seriously, all that flying? Especially flying 12 hours back from Hong Kong to London, only to get on a 7-hour flight to Dubai a couple of hours after arriving at Heathrow.... I don’t know how I’m going to do it. But I can’t get a flight directly from HK to Dubai/Doha because I’m doing jobs for two different companies and the one loathes the other....and also, the HK job might end a day or two earlier or cancel altogether. Bloody hell.

Thank God Milan is so close. Plus, that’s one of my favourite flights in the world, because you land straight after the Alps so you fly extremely low over them. Stunning views!

The cast and crew for the show I’m catching up with in Singapore and Australia left today for Tokyo, the first leg of the tour. I’m gutted not to be going. I can’t remember the last time I missed a show. Maybe early April? It must be. But at least it looks like I’ll be keeping ridiculously busy and the 36 days between now and when I join them in Singapore will pass quickly.

Plus, recently released tickets mean I get to see my favourite dancer at the Royal Opera House this Friday night, much to my delight. I had tickets to see him on Saturday and Sunday, since Friday was sold out, but flying to Hong Kong meant I’d miss him altogether. I’m so excited! Haven’t watched him dance since Tel Aviv, and other than 28 September, I won’t again until December. Also, I’m looking forward to catching up with him since I haven’t seen him for a few weeks.

Okay, now maybe I can go to sleep (nearly 2am) after having written all that out instead of having it whirling around in my head.....

(And it would really be helpful if I could stop having such bad claustrophobia and panic attacks about flying - at least for the next three months!)