Ok, so two days to go and we took a trip to Great Burstead on our bikes (and the train) to see the physical Signpost in the workshop...well, what was ready at the time. The guys there have been doing a great job in such a short time frame (for which we apologise!) and they are getting there but there was still quite a way to go. But, it was really good to see the main body of the post upright and to  see its actual size and feel its presence. When I was first thinking about the construction of the post I wanted to have a similar imposition as a totem pole, for it to be oversize and really quite different to, but still recognisable and functioning as, a sign post. We wanted it to be noticeable (some of our other work has been placed a bit 'apologetically') and to draw people in and for it to be a focal point. Seeing it there, even in an unfinished state, we could feel all of these things being realised and as well as being very pleased with it, we were really relieved. They've actually designed the interior very differently to how we'd originally envisaged, and made it mainly out of MDF instead of soft wood as we'd originally intended, but applied a veneer to make it look like its been hewn out of a single piece of wood. It is all bolted to a metal frame which is connected to the base to give it extra stability. All this extra work bumped up the price, but with some amazing budgetary gymnastics by Damien, we're just about coming in on target.

The guys there explained how the base all fits together, how the access panel works, where the power cable fits through and so on. We are very grateful for all their hard work, especially as we know they'll be working late tonight on it. When its all fitted together and had a couple of coats of polish, it'll be brought down to our place in Ian Rumsby's van for us to fit all the electronics inside, put the turf on and test it.

The photos in the gallery below show the unfinished post upright in the workshop (with Barry thinking he was out of shot), with close ups of the base design, DVD and jack socket window, and the unfinished finger with 'Colchester 26'.

The last few days have been super hectic, and by the end of the day my eyes have been sore from too much time spent staring at screens. We've been testing and checking our renders of the sounds and subtitles for each recording, and then each route, and then everything as whole. But we've now got a finished version and can concentrate more on the other things that need doing...of which there are many.

This morning I went to Pure Joinery in Billericay (formerly Carters Joinery in Shoeburyness) who built the Vibe Cube, to talk through the plans and how they are going to build the Signpost. I was kindly picked up from the station by Jim, who will be making the final working drawing from which it will be made. He, Neil and I talked through each of the pieces that were to be installed in the work and how they might be fitted. After quite a while they decided that the way we had intended for the post to be constructed wasn't going to work so we started from scratch. After some discussion they decided on another way we it could be made without impacting on the overall appearance of it, which mainly came about from a big change in the internal design. but this should make it more rigid and enable an access panel to be incorporated into it allowing us easier aces to the contents and workings inside. It is a tight turn around though as there is less than two weeks to go...ouch!!

On the way back from the meeting I did some thinking about the whole process and how little we knew about building things, the function of materials and how they can be used, their properties and adaptability. But that is what doing a 'pilot' project is all about, learning and experimenting, discovering and solving problems, developing relationships and treading new ground. So even thought I'm feeling a bit out of depth at the moment, I'm a pretty good swimmer and should see us resting contentedly on a nice warm beach in a few weeks. Metaphorically of course, as we won't actually be sunning it on a beach until October when we'll be taking this years holiday...a few days in Norfolk.

Ok, on another note we also sent off the Flyers and posters to be printed at Urban Print in Southend and will be abel to pick those up on Thursday.

Today my Work Pace app has a rather angry red face as it's trying to tell me that I've gone over the amount of hours worked today, in fact it's done that most days that we've been working on this project that has involved computing. Nothing that remarkable there though. I thought about reprogramming Work Pace to be more lenient but that won't help as I really need to keep an eye on my computer usage and try and keep arm and hand pains down to a minimum.

Anyhow, today we've been working on the poster and flyer. We need to have them printed by the 18th so that we can piggyback on the Village Green promotions. At the moment the only difference between the poster and the front of the flyer is the funders and supporters logos, which will appear on the back of the flyer. We've tried to keep it simple and friendly, and to use shapes that people might be familiar with. Also keeping the Signpost white keeps a little bit of intrigue as to the what the actualy Signpost will be like. It also helps as the actual object isn't built yet and don't have any images to use.

At the moment the back needs more work as there is too much text and it's not very readable so needs to be in a larger font. But more work on that tomorrow. Below are images of the Flyer front, flyer back, and poster.

Today I also rang Neil at Carters Joinery, who will be making the post and he said that he has received the plans from William, and will start on our drawing in the morning. I also got a message from Paul Malone to say that the headphone electronics will be ready Monday, so that should be just in time for constructing the post...exciting.