The big gig and all the other work that preceded it has wiped me out. Apart from having to do a quick edit to an article I had written I had the day off today and didn't get out of bed til after midday. I think I'd earned the rest. I have not been getting many days off and work weekends. But I am going to take it relatively easy this week.
The day after an exhilarating gig can be a bit like a hangover (and admittedly I did have three beers after the show, so there might have been a touch of actual hangover about it), but there is something slightly depressing about the comedown from the adrenalin and the applause. Also when you've been a bit tense about an evening, then the relaxation can be a bit of a swing. Despite lots of lovely emails and comments about the evening I did feel a bit blue. It's days like these that make me realise why so many people who work in show business go a bit mad or do a Tony Hancock. It can be difficult dealing with the veering highs and lows.
But luckily I was mainly happy to be relaxing. I headed down to the Westfield shopping centre in the evening to do some retail therapy. I didn't end up buying too much, but picked up
Pompeii by Mary Beard (annoyingly Amazon is selling it for half the price I paid). As you may know I am a bit in love with
the ancient city of Pompeii and think it serves as a useful reminder that our lives and civilization are not as solid and eternal as we sometimes imagine them to be. But I realise after reading just the first 50 pages of this book that I actually know very little about the place. Beyond what I learned about Caecillius and his family when I was studying Latin at school. There's been tons of surprise revelations for me already. I didn't know, for example, that not only had the Allies caused a fair amount of damage to the ruins with their bombs during World War Two, much of which has been lovingly restored, but also when discovered most of the villas were in a very dilapidated state and many of the roofs have been subsequently rebuilt, partly to protect what is underneath. I hadn't considered either that over the centuries robbers have burrowed down to the ruins to loot and plunder. Nor that some of them might have been killed in the process and that their bones might have subsequently been discovered.
As I mentioned when I visited, what is also quite exciting for an archaeology nerd like myself is that about a quarter of the town has not yet been excavated, so who knows what other treats are waiting down there. I presume that most of the main features of the town have been excavated and that it's just villas and shops that remain hidden, but what secrets will be uncovered? Maybe I'll give up comedy and go and join the diggers and find out.
It looks like it's going to be a fascinating and illuminating book. I haven't been reading enough of late and it's been a while since I have read anything even vaguely academic. But I am aware that my brain is in danger of atrophying and that I have forgotten almost as much as I have ever learned and I'd like to try and stop the rot before it's too late.
I know I make a very good job of pretending to be stupid, and I'm a bit worried that all these years of practice will make me actually stupid and now I am in my 40s my nights should be spent indoors reading about history rather than out at the pub destroying valuable brain cells. There's enough stupidity in the world at the moment and I think we all have to do our best to eradicate our own personal contribution to this problem.
