Day Four

What's with this cold weather? Back to wearing winter clothes. Just as well we're fortified with fine food from Les Yule who's doing the catering out of her home.

Yesterday we had a blessed late start but the payoff was a late finish, with wrap after midnight. Our first round of night shooting - interesting to be in Ponsonby late on a Thursday night and observe life on the streets.

A particular thrill for me was to have my friend Chris on set. Chris in a former life was manager of the boarding house where the real Arthur lived. He was a great father figure for the guys in his Shelly Beach Rd house - even though most of them were older than him. The character of Bob was loosely based on him.

We swapped some stories about Arthur and some of the other great characters we knew back in the day. And Chris was pleased to meet Rawiri and give him a bit of insight into the person who had inspired his character.

Everyone is hitting their straps now, and the production is flowing with much good grace and humour. We could just use a little summer...