Headed down to Balham to appear on Arthur Smith's radio 4 show, which conveniently (for him) is recorded in his house. Getting from Shepherd's Bush to that Gateway to the South used to be a tricky business, but thanks to the BR station you can now make the trip in a matter of minutes, especially if, as happened to me today, you are lucky enough to arrive on the platform just as the direct train pulls in. You could also, of course consult a timetable to ensure this happens, but that's not the way I roll.
Chances are you don't need to get from Shepherd's Bush to Balham in super quick time, but I did and I was pleased that the gods, for once, had favoured me. Thank Frak for that.
It's hard to believe that it is 7 years since I moved away from Balham. Things have changed a bit in that time. It certainly had a shot at going upmarket and there are signs that some of that took hold, but I noticed that the M&S food shop had closed down and there were some 99p shops which suggested the regeneration had not gone all that well.
But then now I live in Shepherd's Bush which opened up a massive shopping centre at the start of an even bigger recession, so I can't gloat.
The Arthur Smith show was a lot of fun. I was on with the band Gomez and comedians Doc Brown and Henry Packer and I performed in Arthur's living room, in front of a radiator blasting out heat on this hot summery day, to an audience of 15 or so people perched wherever there was room in front of me. Henry Packer got the upstairs landing, so I was lucky. Arthur's flat is reassuringly small despite his many successes. Having spent my money moving into a big house where I can't find anything that I need I can appreciate his cannyness.
Not sure when the show is on, but it's worth a listen. The other comics were very funny and Gomez seemed like charming and nerdy young men, with passionate views on the state of British comedy.
After taking the wrong form into a strangely quiet Shepherd's Bush post office earlier at lunchtime (where were all the mad people?) I applied for my car tax disc on line tonight and was astonished by how quick and easy it is. I had my forms all ready expecting to fill in details of my MOT and insurance, but somehow using some strange new magic (that is clearly unavailable at the Post Office) these were checked automatically in a matter of maybe 2 seconds. It's breath-taking and slightly frightening that the computer is somehow able to check all those records and locate my details without me prompting it. But anything that stops me queuing up at the Post Office is more than welcome. Maybe that's why it was so empty today - everyone is working on line.
I also have started getting the first reviews for my new book "How Not To Grow Up" on Amazon (which seems to send out free copies to seemingly random regular reviewers, which I am not sure is a great policy as they are probably more likely to be critical). Predictably
they are bafflingly contradictory and out of 4 reviews in so far I have 4 different star ratings. But it's still exciting to think that people are reading the book, even if one of them compares it to "Nuts" magazine.
I am not sure if he has read "Nuts" (or indeed if he's really read that much of my book) but I think he's wrong about that. But as my girlfriend pointed out I might now get a lot of Nuts readers buying the book, so it might lead to some sales. I wish the man would let me know which insights in the book he considered accidental, because then I could let him know if they were done on purpose or not. But getting a rainbow of opinion might be a good sign. And I am interested to see how the book goes down with people, because I wrote it almost a year ago and obviously slightly in a vaccuum. So any feedback is appreciated. As is any purchase. I am afraid there are no pictures of large breasted women in football shirts in it though, but if the Nuts readership show enough interest we might introduce those for the second edition.
If you want a few sneaky previews of what's coming up with in the book (or you are too lazy to read for yourself) then there are now five extracts on iTunes.
this will take you to one of them, but there are four others if you search around a bit. You will have to part with cold, hard cash for the privilege, but if they do well I guess there's a chance that they might get me to do the whole book as an audiobook. Hopefully, if that happens, it will be as popular as Collings' one.
