Needles to say , neither Michaels , nor Peter Fraisers , nor the book of rod and shadow puppets were still there.
What had prompted my nostalgia , was nearly cutting a finger off in January ..something I have kept very hush hush til now ( otherwise Im sure one or two puppeteers , would have loved rumours to have gone around the film and tv puppetry circuit , saying I had retired because of injured fingers !).
It was a bandsaw accident , and also a narrow escape , -I was lucky the blade was as blunt as it was , or it would have gone right through my knuckle instead of grazing it .
Mind you, if the blade had been sharp I would not have been 'pushing' the wood.... anyhow I will spare you the details.
Except the final irony - the head I was starting to cut out was planned to be ....a "Health and Safety Officer "
No - I have not seen Glyns , or what he does with it ..so this time I would not have been 'cribbing : but as it happens I dont plan to finish that head , at least not this year ( it sits on a shelf near the Bandsaw as a grim reminder to be more careful !)
Anyhow deviating again - a few days after it all happened , and emergency visits to the Doctor etc , I very quickly realised that I had enough range of movement in that finger to still do lip sync and 'muppet' type puppets : and with series 2 of "Mongrels" approaching this was just as well.
Now with nine weeks of filming finally behind me , I can attest that , yes, everything was fine and dandy in that department.
My Big worry back in January was that I might not be able to do Punch and Judy again.....
It was mid April before the swelling in my Finger had gone down enough to let me squeeze it inside Punches head.
And then the scar on my knuckle was so sore that having Punch 'On' wasnt pleasant ..this too has passed now ( and I managed not to let anyone know about it at the Mayfare )
I have done quite a few shows this year and thankfully all is well.
But in those few weeks when the future was uncertain , I got very nostalgic about what Punch and Judy really means to me , and always has.
Hence the look in the library when I visited my Parents.
I was sad not to find the Books , hopefully they are still in circulation , and an eager young 'Richard' has them out on loan.
The other thing I did , which I have never done before , was to go and stand on the beach , next to the Peir where 'Uncle Colin" ( Bennet) had his show.
- Oh I have gone and 'looked' at the spot as an adult before , standing where I did as a child so many scores ( hundreds ? ) of times : at the railings, facing the sea , and imagining where the Show used to be.
But it had never occurred to me to go and stand where the Show would have been and face the other way ..towards the audience , and take in the view .
The view that Colin would have had year in and year out through the rectangle of his proscenium opening.
Im a silly sentimental old thing , but I did shed a tear or two , of happiness , that whatever the outcome of my finger would be , I had been lucky enough to know the same thrill that Colin must have got from performing , and that I too had a 'regular' Summer pitch and a Big Striped Wooden Puppet Theatre like his.
Here is a photo of it taken ten years before I was born:
I decided then on the pebbles at Herne Bay , that if my finger would let me perform again , I would build the extension I had often thought about for my wooden booth ( so you see we come back on topic after all)
Just the sight of that striped wooden box always filled me with such anticipation as a kid ( even when it was all closed up like in the photo ) every now and then I wonder if my wooden box is having the same effect on another generation ??
