5865/18885
18888 days of life so close now. I can almost touch it. You’re only 18888 days old once and I intend to live that day to the full. None of the others though.
I was feeling a little bit better today, but unable to get any work done as we had some shopping to do and then I went into London for lunch with a friend and then to meet producer Ben to discuss 2019 RHLSTPs. And then on to the Royal Institution to take part in what must be my last performance of 2018, an ambitious attempt to film and live stream a Wifi Wars.
I walked around London to get from place to place and it was largely pleasant to be back, even with the crush of Christmas shoppers, though I was struck by how many more homeless people there are in the city than there were a year or two again. And it has never been the case that this wasn’t a problem, but it’s become significantly worse. And there’s no prospect of it getting any better, with Brexit seeming certain to make things tougher for the vulnerable, but Brexit also distracting the government from every other fucking issue - and then utter childish stupidity in parliament distracting us away even from Brexit. They’re all stupid cunts. The hypocrites pretending to be upset about misogyny and liars saying that a different thing got said than clearly got said. I increasingly feel that we need to totally reinvent our political system and do away with the tradition, the ludicrous public school banter and the fractured party system. Alas you would have no control over what would be sucked into the vacuum that this weakness has created and it would almost certainly be much much worse. It’s hard not to be pessimistic about what this country is doing to itself. Even the supporters of the Brexit compare it to a World War. But it’s actually much more like Me1 vs Me2 Snooker - an unnecessary battle against ourselves where victory and defeat are the same thing.
Anyway luckily the dumbness of Wifi Wars took my mind off of all of this. I had fun competing against my wife in a game of “Almost Pointless†a new version of the popular TV show as devised by Goblin King Rob Sedgebeer, which made NEARLY NO SENSE. Except I did manage to get three answers that were Almost Pointless and so won, so maybe you have to be a genius to understand it.
Then I played Donkey Kong Junior Maths against the winner of the other video game challenge and I can honestly say I haven’t been so full of adrenaline for a very long time. My heart was beating so fast that it slightly hurt and for a moment I thought I might die, playing a below par video game where two monkeys attempted to solve mathematical problems by plucking numbers from vines. In some ways it would have been very apt. It was terrifically exciting to play this dull game competitively in front of a crowd.
I won the first round, but was defeated in the next two and so as usual plucked defeat from the jaws of victory, but Wifi wars was the real winner tonight. Rob and Steve the hosts did a great job, but Rob’s insane dedication to create the programming and equipment necessary to beam this out to the world was the most impressive thing. Some incredible things have happened in this room over the centuries, but nothing like this. Michael Faraday would have shat his pants.
Another RHLSTP on the road has been added. On 15th February 2019 I will be doing the podcast at the wonderful Komedia in Bath.
Get your tickets quick - Birmingham and Brighton are already sold out (though we might add an extra earlier show in Brighton with a different guest - why not come to both shows?) There are loads more dates being added for next year and I will let you know as soon as the tickets are on sale.
