They never did say "blimey"

What a disappointment.

"Oh no!" chirped Liz. "They only say 'blimey' in Mary Poppins!"

They did, however, greatly add to my laudatory lexicon.

Here are just a few words of British praise:

Brilliant!

Superb!

Splendid!

Sublime!

Ace!

Fab!

One of my favorite moments was when we were chatting about Chad from The Gravity Group.

"Would you happen to know," queried Liz, "is that short for Chadwick?"

It stuck.

Poor Chad will never live that down.

Unless he'd prefer the alternative: Chaddington.

So what does the Fab Four look like? Here they are with Mrs. Koch:



From the left, that's Terry, who shot all the footage. He's from New Zealand. I worried about his health, frankly, until he told me that during certain portions of the shoot he'd hold his breath while the camera was running. Anything to keep the camera steady and the ambient sound to a minimum.

I'd wondered how he could lose his breath just sitting in a chair.

Terry enjoyed sampling German Fries, which Mrs. Koch talked him into ordering when we ate at The Chateau in Mariah Hill. Mrs. Koch grew up in that tiny town, just north of Santa Claus. And her parents owned the original Chateau, so she regaled us with childhood stories.

Of course, across the pond, they'd be called German Chips. For them, fries are chips. And chips are crisps. It's all very confusing. And fattening.

Next to Terry is Liz, the associate producer. Born and raised in London. Doesn't drive a car. Eats porridge for breakfast. Cute as a button.

They all signed my hard hat (excuse me ... construction hat) while we said good-bye in the parking lot (pardon me ... car park). Here's what Liz wrote:

Darling Paula
You have made our filming trip simply sublime. You are indeed brilliant.
Liz xx

What's not to love?

Then there's David, the director. Looks a bit like Jude Law, don't you think?

David was serious, focused, and fun all at the same time. Polite, too. Didn't start rearranging a room or office without asking first. And always tidied up afterwards.

When nearly a dozen members of the Koch family gathered for group interview, David started off with a question for Logan, one of Will's nephews.

Logan (I believe he's 11) is never at a loss for words.

Until David's question.

After a long pause, Logan piped up, "I could not understand a single word you just said!"

David laughed, "Would it help if I spoke more slowly?"

"No, I don't think so."

The interview was off to a rollicking start.

Here's what David wrote on my construction hat:

Dear Paula
Thanks for being simply splendid.
Lots of love,
David x

You all know Mrs. Koch. We were at her house mere hours before she was to leave for a three-week trip to China. The crew chuckled when they saw her "Queen of Clean" name tag (oops ... that would be "badge") and asked if she'd do a bit of dusting during her interview.

She shrieked with laughter as a response.

Instead, she straightened pictures on the wall.

Last but not least is Alastair, the Scottish sound recordist. Scotty was my favorite character on the original (and only, as far as I'm concerned) Star Trek series, so Alastair's brogue was music to my ears. He was forever looking for whatever might be humming or buzzing in the background.

Several times he'd get to telling a story at such a fast pace that I couldn't quite follow. But the twinkle in his eyes kept me smiling.

Their last evening here, I sneaked them into one of our gift shops so they could each pick out a souvenir shirt.

"Be sure to wear your Holiday World shirts one of the days you're filming at that Six Flags park," I innocently suggested.

Here's a photo of them shooting Chadwick yesterday:



Since Chad's walk along the track was a long one, David communicated by two-way. Chad's was inside his jacket. He said it was surreal hearing a British voice coming out of his chest.

Listen to your heart, Chadwick...

The crew was gracious enough to sign a few more hard hats, and Chad took them back to have all the engineers at The Gravity Group sign them. Add Will and Mrs. Koch to the mix and it would seem we'll have the potential to raise a lot of money for charity.

We'll auction at least one of them on eBay next year.

Meanwhile, the program will air next April or May in the States. It'll debut in Britain in late January.

At our directors' meeting on Monday, I suggested a staff trip to London to see the premiere.

Will has yet to declare that a splendid idea. But I'm sure, deep inside, he thinks it's just brilliant.