Day one of Cancer is... filming. I picked up Gilles at 5:30 and we went to the studio to pick up the equipment. The first few days of any shoot are always a little scary. You have to dive into the new topic. Make certain all the equipment is working flawlessly. Every detail counts. Admittedly, this is how I feel right now, a little nervous. As most of my friends, clients and stakeholders know, I'm a little bit 'extra' nervous on this one because I really want to do a good job for all my friends and family, notably mom, who have known cancer's wrath. This is really a film that I am making from the heart.
The trip was fine. Left the studio at 6:15 AM and headed North through the mountain roads to join the A41 highway. The weather was beautiful with the sunrise coming just as we joined the highway. Northbound we went through Dijon, Reims and Calais before getting on the Eurotunnel where the Kangoo we are driving did not, we thought, make it through the car section so we went over to the truck section. In fact, we did clear the height; it was just the antenna. The guys at Eurotunnel were cool though and let us on without paying the height penalty. The trip across the Channel has really become uneventful. Drive on to the train, listen to the emergency announcements in English and French and off you go. I remember taking the 'Chunnel' when it first opened and there was an air of excitement. No more.
Perhaps soon we'll be able to say this about cancer. Maybe a cure will be found and we will someday consider cancer a concern of the past. That's what we're going to try to find out.
Travelwise, the big event of the day was being hit by two stones. As we were driving out of Reims, after a quick visit of its unique cathedral, we were getting a little hungry and ready for a sit down meal so we started looking for a restaurant. Little did we know that we would be driving right past a gypsy camp with three kids engaging in David rock throwing target practice. Sure enough, Gilles says to me: "looks like we are about to get hit by some rocks." At this point I had not seen the kids but when the two stones hit the Kangoo roof, there was no doubt that these kids spent more time doing stone throwing practice than studying math. Obviously, with all our film equipment and a sense of innate calm, it was useless to get into an argument we could not win. We knew full well that we would accomplish nothing by confronting the kids and a camp full of testy men. So on we went looking for our restaurant which, by the way, we never found. Gilles ended up eating a burger — not very healthy, we know — and I postponed my vegan eating.
A closing note to do with omens. I am not superstitious but my mom was and for her the first crescent moon was the sign of luck for the month. And the clearer it was, the better. As it happens, as we were driving into the Cambridge area, where we have our first interview tomorrow, sure enough there was a majestic, crystal clear, first crescent. Proof that it was a sign that the production will go well: we missed what I thought to be the hotel exit. Well, believe it or not, after the additional ten miles of complaining that we had missed the right exit, when we got off, at the next exit, what do we find? The hotel was right there, at the 'wrong' exit. Had mom's moon guided us here?