Mark Watson the Comedian

Yesterday was another emotionally gruelling occasion for those who follow the blog and await its so-far-daily appearance. Some experts have claimed that last night’s entry, posted around 11.56pm, was in fact the latest and most precarious yet.  ’Could this be the night?’ tweeted one terrified follower as the dreaded midnight hour approached. Meanwhile, I was at a table signing books, uncomfortably aware that I was spending less and less time doing a recognisable signature and more and more time glancing queasily at the time on my phone. To ramp up the drama, several regular readers had come to the show, and were watching in a tense huddle as the minutes ticked by, unable to help. Eventually these witnesses saw me desperately grab my phone and tap out the few sentences which passed for a blog last night. I was still at the mercy of my wavering ‘app’ – if it had failed this time, there was simply no time to put a Plan B in place. But we got there. Just.

None of us wants to go through anything like that again for, ooh, at least three days, so here is today’s blog, safe and sound, in the afternoon.

Today it’s not my work but the work of Mr Rick Procter, one of the fine team charged with coordinating the movement of our iPod around the country. As you’re aware, all the time we’ve been getting on with other business on this blog, an MP3 player has been making its way around the British Isles, being loaded up with music as it makes its undulating course to its eventual owner, competition winner Anna. It’s been a while since we had an update on this stupid and commendable project, and in that time, the iPod has had quite some adventures. A full account is below. Fulsome thanks to Rick and the rest of the coordinators, and to everyone – now quite a number – who’s taken part.

If you don’t know what the iPod Challenge is, by the way, you can probably safely skip the rest of today’s blog; it’ll be dull. For the rest of us, it’s rather inspiring.

One talking point emerges from this, which is that the Dutch reader Jorick – one of the original shortlisted people for the award, and therefore very much a part of this process - has not been seen or heard of since the competition first ran in March, at least not by us. There will be a prize for anyone who can provide information as to the whereabouts of this enigmatic one-time-visitor to the blog. WHERE IS JORICK? FIND THE DUTCHMAN, PEOPLE!!! FIND HIM!!!

Normal blogging, i.e. pretty desperate stuff done on my phone, returns tomorrow. I hand you now to Rick.
——-

There has been a busy flurry of activity recently in the iPod Challenge Human Chain, and we in MP3 Logistics HQ thought an update was a while overdue. So, here’s what’s been going on…

The last iPod-Chain-related post on this blog was when The Prize iPod Package successfully made its way over to Northern Ireland and back, thanks to Heather Jones (@joneshs). This feat was something I found tremendously exciting and satisfying, especially as a chain organiser – though the credit must go entirely to Heather and the two fine ladies she met up with, Tara (@TaraTierney) and Kathryn (@trianglegirl42). Click here for details of this meeting, as well as Heather’s encounter with none other than Tim Minchin.

The iPod was then handed over to Steph Siu (@StephSiu), a meeting well documented in both of their blogs here and here, including a couple of classic photos including a statue of Charles Darwin with the iPod in his lap – not to be missed.

I myself was lucky enough to be the next bearer of The Package – I arranged to meet Steph during one of my jaunts on the road for work. We were walking towards each other along Watford’s pedestrianised high street and I was a little taken aback when she recognised me so easily, based on my (up to that point rather naff) appearances on YouTube. We chatted over coffee about The Smiths among other things – a band highly recommended by both of us, and MW himself in fact.

Before the next official link, I managed to use another work trip to rendez-vous with Rachel (@pandorapink) one of my colleagues on the MP3 Team, and her twin sister Helen (@iamanicelady). The lovely ladies didn’t actually write in The Notebook or copy any songs onto The Key, but instead we recorded an “advert” for the iPod challenge at half-past midnight in the car park at Kettering’s Tesco – click here to see the result. Yes, it’s rather silly – but we certainly had fun.

After this I arranged to meet up with fellow south-westerner Beth Aspinall (@Doomed1) at the glamourous location of Michael Wood Service Station on the M5. I realised only afterwards that Beth was in fact a finalist in the original competition to win the iPod, launched by MW all those weeks ago. So, buoyed by the experience of shooting the “ad” with the Backhouse sisters, I took my camcorder along. Rather rudely I approached poor Beth, literally at the moment we first met, with the camera shoved her in her face recording her reaction – but she was remarkably tolerant and decent about this antisocial imposition. Again we chatted over coffee (in fact, over smoothie) about jobs, films and environmental concerns, and copied her 2 songs across to The Key. Click here for video evidence of this link in the grand Human Chain.

The following weekend saw the emotional moment when I had to say goodbye to The Package and hand it over to Zoe Dowler (@Zosie). This took place in the beautiful city of Bath – click here to see anther travelogue video documenting The Package’s progress.

As if this wasn’t enough, the iPod managed to reach another 3 people – all within the next couple of days. It was collected from Zoe merely hours after my handover to her by the estimable Kirsty Lawrenz (whom participants of the fabled TYSIC picnic will remember for her impressive piano-themed shoes and tattoo – as well as of course her trademark trilby hat). The very next day, she headed down to Southampton to link in a couple of guys down there, Sam (@SchaferSam) and Carl (@CarlBurktwit). She was so dedicated to the cause that, when emailing to thank her, I commended her as “a true exemplar of the Watsonian way”. She promptly replied, coining the superlative word “Watsemplar” – I’d say she is well worthy of such a term. Click here to see her account of her adventures with The Package.

And so now, to the future… Kirsty is one of those lucky people to be headed to The Edinburgh Fringe (although I can think of no-one more deserving) and by the look of her tweets she is packing at the very moment I’m writing this, so as you read it she is most likely already there. She’ll be handing it to my other MP3 Team colleague Misha, a firm favourite of this blog and organiser of the TYSIC picnic. Misha is planning to link in a number of fellow Watsonians whilst in Edinburgh with The Package, most especially Jorick, another finalist in the original competition. I believe Misha has not yet managed to get in contact with this much-hyped Dutchman – so Jorick, are you reading this? If so please contact Misha either by leaving a comment here or tweeting her @howlieT (or ideally both). The exciting drama of The Prize iPod Package’s nationwide journey continues!