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I finally got my gig at the O2.
One of the many exciting things that were planned for 2020 but then put in mothballs was a RHLSTP at this iconic venue, sponsored by Ian Oxygen who invented the gas and the phone network.
My initial delight was slightly dented when I found out that I wasn’t playing the main venue and then slightly dented again when I found out I wasn’t playing the smaller 2000 seater room. And then dented again when I found out I was playing the bar that is used by Priority at O2 members. But it was still the O2 baby. That’s all the history books would say about it.
I assumed 2020 would be a slow year for history so that my podcast being at the O2 would make it in.
That was my first mistake.
This was also going to be a rare lucrative gig for me, so I didn’t even mind about the history thing.
But then the virus came and it looked like we might have to do the podcast without an audience. And then the virus knuckled down and it became apparent we’d have to do the gig in the O2 offices instead of the venue. That was still exciting enough, to see the place where O2 do all their admin work, but it wasn’t quite the same.
Taxis were booked, plans were made. We were doing it on the same day, 24th March just in the afternoon. Then on the evening of 23rd March lockdown was announced.
The gig was postponed.
Of course, how foolish we were not to realise we could do the whole thing remotely. I’d even got the whole Twitch set up done at that point. But we left it for a future time.
After I realised how easy it was to do my podcast without leaving the house I pushed for them to reschedule and to do the whole thing remotely. And this afternoon we finally did it. The lovely James Acaster joined me at the O2/my desk and we chatted for an hour in what was a very funny podcast, which was full of surprises.
James was as relieved as I was to get paid, because foolishly, like me (and in fact upon my suggestion) he had donated a good chunk of his fee to the Heckle the Virus campaign (I’d added together the money I was getting from 2 big jobs this year and given a significant % to the cause) and then not got the fee.
So it was a welcome pay day for us both but also a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. Priority at O2 customers will be able to watch it on Monday night at 8pm (it will be on your apps) and the rest of you will only have to wait a couple of weeks to see it (estimated delivery July 8th). Acaster was on top form and a bit happier than on his last appearance.
Tonight we got the news that my in-laws have paid to be tested for Covid 19 antibodies and my father-in-law has had it. This is surprising as they both locked down very tightly as they had someone at risk living in their house and he hasn’t had any symptoms in the officially recognised period of Covid 19 in the UK. But what is interesting is that he was pretty ill and wiped out over Christmas and had symptoms that you would peg as Covid if they’d happened 3 months later. It’s possible of course that he got the virus with no symptoms later, but a lot of people seem to be suggesting that they had something unusual and Covid-like earlier than would be expected.
And we were a bit ill in January too (I also had a very brief illness that made me feel very tired in March) - might we have already had this? It would be a relief to know that it’s passed through us, even if it’s still possible that we can get it again, though given my mother-in-law tested negative it’s not a guarantee.
Might it have been in the country earlier than we knew? Wouldn’t more people have died? Or might they just have got mixed up in winter flu deaths and the outbreak was not large enough to put pressure on the NHS. It seems mildly unlikely, but it’s a weird coincidence if the Christmas lurgy was something else, but the actual disease left my father-in-law unaffected.
He does have a 5G mast on his house though, so it could be that.
