7764/20705
Another £7 park right by Leicester Square, though I have to say the Q Park smells of piss all the time now and when I was leaving the police were standing by a car along with some forlorn looking people and there was smashed glass all over the floor. So maybe it's not quite the amazing deal that I thought it was. Though £7 to go to the toilet in central London is pretty good. (My central London toilet tip is actually the Porcupine pub on Charing Cross Road. Go in the side door and up the stairs and there's no one to even challenge your widdle).
It was a great final Leicester Square Theatre podcast (for this run) but was a closing of a chapter as this is the last time we're going to film it with the crew we've used over the last decade (sadly it's costing us too much so we'll be going single camera from now on) and also Jess from the LST who has been at the theatre ever since we started these is leaving soon for pastures new. So we had a drink after and bid each other adieu, though hopefully we will meet up on other projects.
The shows were special too, especially the first one with the amazing Lemn Sissay, who I suspect a good proportion of the audience were not familiar with. But I have rarely if ever heard a cheer like the one he got at the end. He is a remarkable man who has endured stuff that no one should have to go through, but retained his cheekiness and his poetic heart and achieved some incredible accolades. I don't know why but I knew we'd share a bond - we were born weeks apart so were gestating at the same time, and according to my daughter all babies are waiting to be born on a conveyor belt, so maybe Lemn and I met there.
It's a great idea for everyone - not unlike me writing a blog every day and yet very unlike it. But a great thing for everyone to attempt. Here's one
Born weeks apart but worlds apart
Little boys who loved to laugh
Same smile, same guile, same faith, same heart
Same destination, different path.
And how lovely to see Adam Buxton again and we talked openly about my weird genitals and podcasts and how long it's acceptable to wear trousers - proper profound stuff, not like the trivia I'd been doing with Lemn. It was his eighth time
Adam is playing the Hammersmith Apollo on his tour so I had to acknowledge that he has won the battle of the interview podcasts hosted by the less successful ones from nineties double acts, so I have to retire and he gets all my fans (not that he needs them).
We are not stopping the podcasts and we're not leaving the LST either, but it felt like the end of an era. We had a drink in a nearby bar to celebrate what we've made together over the last 10-12 years. The camera crew were not bitter about losing this job (and there may be the occasional show we want to film properly in the future) but seemingly grateful for regular work over the course of a decade. It's been a good thing that we've been able to employ people for that long and one of the many unexpected triumphs from doing this nonsense!
At least I didn't get my car broken into.
