Tuesday, February 28, 2012

{part 14}

{parts 12345678, 9 10,  1112, & 13}

"hi, i'm nancy. you two look very interesting--"

i looked up from my laptop and stopped chewing my croissant. because what did that mean?

it was the very beginning of day eight. we were in the hotel restaurant eating brekkie and discussing what might possibly be in this thing the scottish call "black pudding" while i tapped out a little blog post and uploaded a few pictures. then all of a sudden, there was this woman towering over our table and telling us we looked interesting. for some reason, it rubbed me the wrong way.

"beautiful" is a nice thing to be called. or "lovely." "interesting" feels more like a reference to my clear eyebrows and big ears.

as soon as i was done thinking about how i didn't like to be called "interesting", i thought to think about how i had no idea who this woman was. she smiled too much. she stood a little closer to barclay than to me. she was holding a clipboard. who even uses those anymore?

it's amazing to me how quickly you can think things, considering all of this passed through my mind before nancy could finish her sentence, which ended this way:

"would you like to be in an advert? it's for walker's crisps."

oh. tv interesting. that's maybe better than just plain interesting. better than a kick in the pants.
{cultural clarification: advert=commercial, walker's crisps=lay's chips}

i looked at barclay first, because i'm more likely to throw yeses at people while he's more likely to think something's a scam and politely tuck his yes away into his coat pocket as though it were a wad of hundred dollar bills. but he was already looking at me waiting for me to look at him, and when i caught his eye he smiled and nodded in this way that he does when he knows i want to say yes to something and he might think it's silly but he's ok with it all at the same time.

so the yes was said and we gave the lady our number and she told us more details and then she said something polite about how she should let us finish our breakfast. which, you know, that was nice. i didn't dislike her anymore.

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so we finished up, ran to our room to drop our stuff off, and met the crew outside of the hotel. the director, who we met right off the bat, was a short and fat yet stylish man with large sunglasses who talked exactly the way you're imagining he talked. he was surrounded by about a million, or 30, bustling men and women with mics and cameras and walkie talkies and other miscellaneous equipment and clipboards and game faces. they whisked us away to a lighthouse by the sea and took funny footage of us saying ridiculous scottish phrases in our clumsy canadian accents, laughing too much and {me} saying too often, "oh crap, i think i wrecked the commercial."

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the director asked us if we didn't mind "acting romantic with each other" and we said we didn't mind it very much at all, which delighted him. so, if you're in scotland, you might soon happen to turn on the tv and see barclay awkwardly biting a single chip out of my mouth and then saying some funny little scottish thing, and me doubling over laughing, covering my mouth so that this beautiful country isn't subjected to my uvula.

we did a bunch of different takes, and then the director put his hand up and said, "we got it!" and everyone clapped and shook our hands and thanked us and made us sign stuff and one guy gave us money and we felt like movie stars even though all we really are are a couple of chip eaters.

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we finished off the bag of chips that had been our prop and said goodbye to the director and his scurrying crew, saying that we'd had a great time but we had a train to catch.

because we had and we did.

38 comments:

Brenda C. Boylan said...

Neat!

Caitlin said...

This has to be one of the coolest "abroad" experiences I've ever read about! So awesome. And I have no idea why you're so hard on your appearance, you are so, so, so pretty.

Anonymous said...

I wish things like this happened to me!

kalie brynn. said...

oh my gosh. but really, who goes to scotland and ends up being in a chip commercial, or, any commercial at all? you do. that's just...it's just so fantastic. you should turn your story into a book. like one of those travel memoirs!

larisaa said...

You're a celeb! How fun!!! I would be all offended if someone told me I was......interesting. But I guess she made up for it.

Unknown said...

That's so funny/awesome/random. I thank you for clarifying advert and walker's crisps. I was like "whaaat?"

Sarah Rooftops said...

Ooh, I'll keep an eye out!

The Magnificent Lou said...

You two are too cute. Love this story & can't wait to see the advert, er, commercial.

amyschmamey said...

This is fantastic! I love your ability to tell stories. I really hope to get to see the commercial. My hubby's band got a song on a Kleenex commercial once but actually being in one is way cooler. I like how you hated the woman at first too, and it is really funny how quick the mind can process thoughts.

erin e flynn said...

how fun! i hope we get to see this ad! =]

Suzy Marie said...

Wooooow! I SO hope it's Britain and not just Scotland because I want to be able to point at the tv and say "I know her!!!!" Well not know you, but you know what I mean. How exciting! :)

Carmen said...

SO COOL! You HAVE to tell Andrea S. about this... she has a penchant for getting filmed in other countries.

nova said...

I didn't know you guys actually DID the commercial! That's fantastic. And so random.

ktpland said...

I've loved every one of these little posts about your amazing adventures & now you're in a walkers crisps advert! Does it get any better?! Will look out for you on tv but don't know if it'll be shown as far down south as London! X

Jessica said...

This is the coolest, most random thing ever! I can't wait to see it!

Shelley said...

oooohhh famous!!!

Unknown said...

You will be a British institution in no time!

I am going to keep my eye out for the advert I hope it airs in england too so I can see it :)

Suzy Krause said...

haha i didn't actually realize till i read your comment how that came across. i am pretty hard on myself i know, but i think i don't always realize how flippantly i say stuff. i don't want to be one of THOSE people. noted. :D thanks for the kind words.

Suzy Krause said...

i suppose it's all about being in the right place at the right time? :) go out and stand somewhere conspicuous for a whole day maybe?

Suzy Krause said...

hahaa my friends are always commenting on the stuff that happens to me. but i think it's just a matter of keeping your eyes open and being out and about lots. right? :D
if i am ever cool enough to have a memoir published...oh. that'd be the best.

Suzy Krause said...

she did. i feel much better about the whole thing now. :)

Suzy Krause said...

i know right!! same language, yet...not. weird.

Suzy Krause said...

let me know if you see it first!! and wave to me.

Suzy Krause said...

aw garsh. i can't wait to see it either. i'm so nervous that we'll get cut out of it and then everyone will think we're making the whole thing up!! :(

Suzy Krause said...

aw thanks amy! :) i think having your song in a commercial is way cooler. cuz then you'll get stuck in peoples' heads. right?

Suzy Krause said...

meeee tooooooo....

Suzy Krause said...

if you do see me, totally make a big fuss and wave. i'll feel all the love across the ocean and it will be a beautiful moment. :)

Suzy Krause said...

someone else said that too!! i really should ask her. i'm very curious...

Suzy Krause said...

oh yeah we did. and this has something to do with the mysterious 100,000 bucks i mentioned on twitter a while back too...

Suzy Krause said...

well thanks! i'm just so jealous that you get to LIVE over there full time!! you could be having these adventures like..every single day...
sigh.
take me with you...

Suzy Krause said...

hahaha, it's pretty random, it's true. we laughed about it for the rest of the day.. :)

Suzy Krause said...

hahaha, it's pretty random, it's true. we laughed about it for the rest of the day.. :)

Suzy Krause said...

oh yeah. all i need now is a limousine...

Suzy Krause said...

k, this is nuts--going through the comments, i can't believe how many readers are from scotland or england! and i never saw a single one of you when i was there! BOO.
next time, we're having a party.

Sarah-Rose said...

That is so exciting! I very much hope I get to see it.

Jen Glen said...

Oh yeah! I was going to ask if it was possible to google it or youtube it or something b/c I so desperately want to see it...and if you can post it on here....YEAH!!!! Even better - it's March today!!

Suzy Krause said...

mmeeeee toooo

Suzy Krause said...

hahah oh yeah, i'll post it. i think mid-march is probably when. but we shall see!