Its' been a long day. A long day after a couple of long months. But we're nearly there. Today we fitted all the electronics into the post, the icons to the outside, gave it a dust and tidy. Paul came round in the evening to resolder a couple of the jack sockets as some of the connections were a bit loose. He also PAT tested everything just to make sure my wiring and connections were all in order. Will also popped over to have a look at the final build and was very happy with it...just as we are. So, we're off to bed and have our alarms set for early.

Below are some photos of the cabling inside the post, icons stuck to the outside and the PAT testing device.

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'.

Every day we get closer to the event day, the more the pressure mounts. It's quite frustrating not actually having the post itself as we're waiting for the Joiners to finish making it. They are doing a great job, and we are in constant contact checking smaller points and details. We're also very grateful that they are aiming to meet the deadline which was very tight indeed. With every project I always try and set out to push on at the beginning of the project so that it doesn't come down to the wire at the end, but somehow that always happens. So now we have 2 full days left and the post is 80% completed. Tomorrow they hope to have it finished by the end of the day so we're planning a visit to the workshop to check it over in the afternoon. Then it will be delivered to us first thing on Friday morning so we can fit all the electronics, turf, icons, and test that everything is functioning properly. Then on Saturday morning we'll transport it to the site and it needs to be up and running by 11am. Think we can do it?

So today I went to TAP (who have secured another years lease on their building from the water company!) and to Chalkwell Park to make sure there were plant of flyers around and poster up. I also picked up the information plate from Sign Right (see picture) from around the corner. Not much else we can do now apart from press on with the application and budget for the larger project, which has to be submitted by the 1st October.

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.