Flapjacks. Not just pancakes anymore.

So the past few days have been spent grinding out details. One of our biggest concerns has been rehearsal venue - we'd booked a place that was too pricey in the hopes of finding something better when we arrived.

First on the list was the local Quaker chapter, where we met with the manager, a man named Eddie that I think Ricky Gervais wrote. He took us through the lovely building, which he kept insulting and describing stiffly as "the new one" until finally dropping the detail that it had been rebuilt in 1645 after "the old one" burnt down in the Warwick fire of 1644. Brand spankin'.

Then he showed us the gardens, which were everything Pride and Prejudice promised.

An Excerpt from The Garden Scene:

(loud cawing is heard in the distance)

Vicky: Was that a peacock???

Eddie: Ah yes, they fly in from the castle. Nasty birds, they are. Et all the flowers. But me dog scares them off.

(Vicky and Molly, ignoring this, both praise the garden's beauty)

Eddie: Yeh, it's nice an all. 'Course, underneath it is the Quaker cemetery (dumbfounded silence from V&M). Oh, they don't let us bury anyone here any more. Just the odd ash sprinkle on the lawns. (M quickly steps back onto sidewalk) See that bump there? 

And we DID see the bump. In the end, Eddie gave us a list of other venues, even suggesting renting pub space, which he seemed to find distasteful. We shook our heads at the thought of rehearsing in such company, declined his offer of coffee, and left vowing to visit every pub in town. 

This next bit... I'm a little nervous to write it in case I jinx us. Long story short, we went to The Rose and Crown, a nearby pub, and unless we both completely misunderstood, have secured a lovely rehearsal space for the price of a drink every hour we use it. We spent a good fifteen minutes coordinating our schedule with the very assuring and confident R&C employee, so we both feel pretty solid about its legitimacy. I'll let you know what the best Warwickshire cider is. I'll hopefully be trying them all, one at a time, every morning at nine.