"I accept my fate..."

Twas a fine, soft morning for a roadtrip to Wicklow. For today was the day that my fate would be decided as to whether I'm Viking Extra material or not. Despite the early start, my fellow roadtripees were in good spirits as we hit the road and banter was at an all time high after some much needed caffeine! Not very Viking, I know. But we couldn't get our hands on a supply of meade at that hour and, these days being in charge of a mode of transportation whilst partaking in the consumption of alcoholic beverages is somewhat frowned apon! Like most Viking journeys there were some casualties along the way. So I'd like to take a moment to honour those we lost in transit. Namely a pigeon that didn't quite get out of the way in time and made all occupants of the vehicle scream in a very unwarrior-like fashion. And proving that the 6am start was just a little too much for some of us, Tara's usual indepth knowledge of the wildlife of Ireland was subpar as she mistook a cat for a badger. I would like to take another moment to pay respects to the cat(that was not our doing before you think we went on some sort of Viking inspired killing spree bloodbath on the way to the open casting call!!!).

Inspite of our early rise, we found ourselves at the end of a queue that had started from the night before. As one of the lovely staff members of the Grand Hotel informed us that some of the attendees for today had begun queuing after their dinner the previous night. Lucky to be blessed with a sunny day with clear blue skies, our wait was short lived in the sunshine as things kicked off on time. Spirits were high amongst the gathered masses and banter was top notch. I can say this happily, as it was Tara's singing and not mine that got a bit of a slagging. All in good fun though. One dude even went that little bit further to provide entertainment for those enjoying the spectacular views of the Grand Hotel's carpark...Tara was particularly impressed by a well trimmed bush(careful now...actual shrubbery) on the periphery of the grounds. He brought along his wooden flute(mind out of the gutter peoples, I am talking about the actual musical instrument...tut tut). Maybe it was the time of the morning, maybe it was self consciousness after some of the comments passed after Tara's outburst of singing, but not a single person was moved enough to dance. But I'd still like to thank you for the music...whoever you are!

Our teamwork and coordination as extras was tested early on when the car park started to empty and the many different queues were scattered with the movement of exiting cars...when you've been queuing for a couple of hours, things get tetchy when opportunistic folks try to use the confusion to their advantage and try to merge into a queue that would cut a few hours off their wait. Being laidback and, pretty much just happy to be there, we let some of the other people deal with sorting out of the queues.

Once inside, it all went pretty quickly. It was so well organised that no time was being wasted from the second you got into the holding room. Filled out the form(cheeky plug for the blog included but forgot to mention my epic bitchy resting face) and got my mug shot taken(Props to the Extras Coordinator for the sarcastic praise for our queuing ability...he's already a legend in our opinion).

So for now it is a waiting game. Hopefully I have enough skills to impress the powers-that-be to be granted the opportunity to be a fuzzy, out of focus, blur in the background of a scene or two.

#LikeAViking

Title Qoute: Season 1 Episode 5 Raid

Ragnar to Earl Haraldson