8088/21019
Another dry January completed. That's at least 7 in a row. And 49 consecutive months of no booze. Plus one day of no Soleros. I ate no Soleros. Or ice cream of any kind. No withdrawal symptoms yet.
Just because I have a glitzy showbiz life, playing to a half full theatre in Bishops Stortford one night and then a nearly half full theatre in Radlett the next, I am just a regular guy. I spent the day taking the kids to Stevenage (again super glamorous even in my downtime) as Phoebe had a football match to play. It was a very exciting match and in the second half Phoebe was moved from midfield to attack and scored two goals in five minutes. Her team was 3-0 up and she was searching for her hatrick.
Then the other side came back and scored two quick goals and the final quarter was a thrilling display of attack and defence, but Phoebe's side came out victorious. I suppose it's a lie that the only place I feel like myself is on stage. I am very happy being a dad. But I suppose like stand-up, it's a sort of performance, so we're still no nearer to finding the real me.
I am very proud of Phoebe, who is a star footballer. But Ernie is OK too. He found a really massive hula hoop in his packet of hula hoops. So they've both got their talents.
Is it a world record?
Even if it is, Ernie couldn't resist eating the evidence.
But it wasn't! Look at this one that Liam Winston found in 2015. Anyone beat that?
Once again I wasn't sure if I had played Radlett before, but the man at the bar told me I had and that it was OK to forget as I was getting old. Once again it turned out I'd been here in my 50s. Radlett was in fact
my worst selling gig on my Oh Frig I'm 50! tour. So tonight's sales of over 100 mean I've almost doubled in popularity. If I keep going back every 8 years I could be selling this place out by the time I am 95.
Sometimes show 2 of a tour can be a bit downbeat as the adrenaline all goes into the first show, but I think I actually did better tonight. I felt even more alive and ottery than yesterday.
And while I coped again as a one man show, the drive home showed my need for a tour manager. The A1 was unexpectedly shut near Hatfield and my sat nav was not aware. I managed to follow the diversion fairly well and it looked like I might be home by 10.30pm, but I took a slight wrong turn and ended up going back south on the A1, back to Hatfield again and had to do the whole thing again, adding a good 15 minutes to my tired drive. If every gig was within an hour of my house I might be able to just about do this alone, but if I make the gigs that are less than an hour away more than an hour away by incompetence, then I think I need a proper man to do it for me. Or if no proper man is available, Bollings will do.
