Day 8: The one where everything goes a little bit wrong...

As well as yesterday went, is probably as bad as today went. First thing, I phoned Banyards, as they never got back to me regarding a tree. This time they were really helpful and had a look for me straight away... but alas, they sent me a photo of the only one they had and it was totally wrong- no way it would have worked, it was a tiny little sappling with no leaves at all really, I don't know where to go from here. oh dear.
The plan for today was to meet with Costume Supervisor Sarah and order the 'White Patrol Jackets' from Denny's and then go to Hirearchy to have a look at what they'd pulled-out for us following a detailed visual email from Sarah.
However....
Denny's is out of stock...
So we try another site, Out of Stock,
and another- Out of Stock.
Denny's is the stockist and as they are out of stock until November, it means that all the other websites are out of stock too.
So that put a major spanner in the works, on top of the fact that despite trying to contact that actor, we still don't even have rough measurements for Conrade.
So we decide that as they are both nearby one another, after going to Hirearchy we shall visit Clobber so that I can get Sarah's opinion on the White Nehru-collared shirt I found there last week.
However, when we get to Hirearchy we discover that they never received our email (alas a small and understandable typo in the email address- Sarah spelt Hirearchy the correct and normal way instead of in their crazy pun way), so they didn't have anything for us to look at that we didn't see last time.
So alas, a bit of a waste of time.

Ebay listing for Hogspear-
currently going for £6.20

We then go to Clobber, finding that the shirt/jacket is still there, and at half the price of any of the ones we've been looking at online, we decide to buy it at just £14 and hope to find one similar. Normally, I would NEVER EVER buy a 'one-off' of something that I would eventually need 2 of, however, probability dictates that as I found that item with so much ease in literally the first place I went into, then they should technically not be too few and far between... but then again, I wonder what the rules of probability have to say about the last time I was in Hirearchy and Indian Much Ado came on the radio... hmm.
We then trawled the rest of the vintage shops in that area to no avail.
There's a production of Great Expectations that I have free tickets for on Tuesday night, but it's back in the Theatre I work at in Brighton. I wasn't going to go (despite the set and costumes looking AMAZING) but now that we've got something so specific to source, I figured it'd be a good idea to check Brighton- being the Vintage Goldmine that it is. SO I think, if my uni commitments co-operate, that I will leave for Brighton around 3 on Tuesday, and then return on Weds eve, hopefully with some fruitful purchases....

Just as I was starting to feel a little down about the day, I stumbled upon this amazing website called 'Hogspear' who specialize in Vintage Military wear. They had a lot of ebay items going that would be perfect, and some of them where their current bidding price is ridiculous! This one caught my eye specifically- currently going for £6.20!!
http://www.hogspear.com



I thought this place would be perfect for us to go and have a look around, but I thought the chances were quite slim that it'd be somewhere we could get to.
And where is it?
Dorset,
Shaftesbury,
Less than an hour away.
So I send them a hurried email with all the military designs attached, and instruct Sarah to try ringing them in the morning to see if we can come and visit tomorrow!!
Fingers crossed!
Here is a copy of my email to them:
"Hello Hogspear,
I'm currently sourcing some costumes for a production of Much Ado About Nothing in Bournemouth, with some very specific military needs, and from your website you seemed like the perfect place to try.
I have attached to this email the designs, if you can match ANY of the items, that would be amazing.
There is also this link, to a white Nehru collared jacket that we are trying to find a duplicate of:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwmkTN7T4oK7kvI6hCRtRO3d2n2S4vEQZgI8RWI2mEmnV7FP5XUDao4YW62ZdK58J9l6_9C0j4-j1el4VgGk69z4MFvzWZ6-ItSg1TLorAK1RZ6eyMrpixa-c7Imswp8JtTBBYWm54As0/s1600/P1030443.JPG

I know it's so unlikely for you to have the yellow Skinners Lancers uniforms, but if you have any of the correct cuts of jackets in WHITE (and in a dyeable fabric) that would still be wonderful, as we can buy them and adapt them.
As we're based in Bournemouth- not far away, it'd be brilliant if you could let us know if you've got anything we might be interested in and some rough prices, and the costume team could come and have a look?

Thank you for your time,
All the best,
-Eleanor"