I stayed at my girlfriend's flat last night and her neighbours were up what seemed like all night, drinking and shouting and screaming with all their windows opened. Other people in the flats would occasionally scream at them to shut the fuck up, and though that worked for a few minutes they would soon start up their catawauling again. In a week where I have scarcely slept this was the last thing I needed. I had a lot to do today and sleep deprivation was not going to help.
I headed home to record Podcast 68 with AJ Collings. I was running a bit late, but as it turned out that didn't matter because as I sat waiting for the Hammersmith and Shitty train to turn up at Kings Cross who should roll up beside me but the man himself. It wasn't even 11 yet and he'd already done an hour's work at the British Library and appeared on Nick Ferrari's radio show reviewing the papers (though why they asked him and not me is a mystery to me). So neither of us were as wide awake as we could have been and it was a somewhat somnabulant (or whatever the word for sleep talking would be) podcast in the end. Though in the bits we played back I sounded amusingly grouchy and unpleasant and it really made me laugh as I pretty much told all and sundry to fuck off. You can blame those foxy women in Camden (and I use foxy in the sense of nocturnal shrieking rather than sexual allure - they were very much foraging for nappies in dustbins rather than being sexy). I inadvertently came up with the same idea as Chris Moyles, which is worrying, as I parodied an old Alesha Dixon song. But I hope that just shows that Moyles at his most alert is as funny as me when I am practically comatose. If you wish to hear me talking in my sleep then
it's all at the usual place.
My editor got back to me about the 2nd draft of my book and it seems he really liked it. In fact he had only about six or seven very minor edits to make. So I did as he requested and then spent the rest of the afternoon reading through the manuscript to check I was happy with what was there. I got about half way through and it's all reading pretty well. Which means that with a little bit of luck I should completely finish the final draft tomorrow! No doubt the proof reader will come back with some more minor points for my consideration, but it was a good feeling to be so close to completion and to have delivered on time and to have the approval of my editor.
I wish it was coming out sooner than it is, but there's lots more preparation to do, as well as a cover to create, so it will be more than a year (I think) before it's in the shops. You'd better bloody buy it. There's plenty of stuff you'll be vaguely familiar with because of reading Warming Up, but believe me there's a whole lot more that will be new to you! And it is great to know that keeping this blog has proven so helpful in putting together this book. Although I think it's a worthwhile exercise, it becomes even more special when I discover that I can spin this stuff I have done for free into paid work. Without Warming Up it would have been a whole lot more difficult to write this book and I would certainly have forgotten most of the minor incidents that I think really give it its character.
Hooray for Warming Up!
