Finding Characters

Hands in the air to "prove" you don't have weapons

Location In bed with Lizzie in hotel in Warri, Niger Delta. Not good idea to have separate rooms and the cockroaches have put her off another night on the floor. | Mood Angry | Date 16 April 2006
No weapons here

I'm in love! With an 81-year-old!

Location Hotel with WIFI access down the road from our apartment | Mood Euphoric | Date 14 December 2005
Who could help but fall in love with Fernand?

Swopping Francesco for a mountain guide

Location Chamonix, France. Swanky apartment. Ditched the David Lynch one. | Mood Can't get enough of the mountain air | Date 12 December 2005
I've slowly come to the conclusion that Francesco is not the right person for us as he spends all his time sitting round committee tables/conferences talking about climate change, rather than experiencing it. So, after some helpful suggestions from our 124-strong "Crude Insiders" email list (everyone who gave money or is working on the film), we've set our hearts on finding a French mountain guide, who works up in the mountains and sees all the changes.

Documentary poetry with Jeh

Location Hotel room in Mumbai | Mood Soldiering on | Date 27 October 2005
Our hero Photograph: Patrick Igonet  

Someone to represent the future

Location Kitchen table in Spanner office. Too many people upstairs, can't think. | Mood Re-inspired | Date 3 October 2005
The Guy family. Photograph: Charlotte Rushton  

First confirmed Crude character

Location Outside the (closed) Eurostar office at Paris train station | Mood Incredulous to not be cold lying on stone floor in shorts and t-shirt in middle of night. Good old global warming. | Date 14 June 2005
Our plan to save a few quid on non-exchangeable Eurostar tickets has backfired and left us spending the night in a Paris train station. (Could have got a hotel for four hours, but felt too bad spending our sponsors' cash). Lizzie is sleeping next to me, but I'm not sure we should leave 10,000 quids worth of camera equipment unguarded all night. So I'm texting friends in different time zones, finally listening properly to the brilliant Holy Joy album (as heard on McLibel) and updating this threadbare diary.

Paris Airshow

Location Sitting on floor in corridor in weird Chinese-owned hotel in Paris as only place where WIFI works | Mood Annoyed | Date 12 June 2005
Airbus's mockup of their really really big new plane at Paris Airshow.