I hope I can get through the next month alive. It's a relentless workload with next to no days off. So after arriving home just after midnight and going to bed at 2am, I was up at 8 to head down to 6Music for another Collins and Herring show.
I was bleary-eyed and not very on the ball, but was not helped out by the public transport system. London Underground seemed to have chosen to close nearly all their lines. Shepherd's Bush central line was closed. I jumped on a bus that I thought would take me to Holland Park (which was shut in any case, not that I got there), but which turned off the road much earlier than I had expected. Not only that by the next bus stop was out of commission so I would have a long walk back to where I needed to be. I decided to change plans and get off at Latimer Road and head to the centre of town on the Hammersmith and Shitty line. Except that no trains were running beyond Edgeware Road, so I had to get off at Paddington and change to the Bakerloo line. I was half an hour late when I got to 6 Music, but luckily the show wasn't starting for another half an hour and Collings had had some good ideas for the show.
But then my bad luck seemed to be continuing as when I got out my iPhone to check something the screen was blank and nothing was working. I knew the phone was charged up and I hadn't dropped it this time. I was pretty pissed off. Even holding down Home and the on/off button didn't seem to help.
Luckily all this made for good stuff to chat about in the show and my tired frustration was hopefully amusing. The Nerd Army were full of advice on how to mend the phone and it turned out that I hadn't been holding down my buttons long enough. Within 20 minutes my beloved phone was back on line. That and the ridiculous "Collins and Herring dun dun" sting made me happy despite all my woes! And it was a most enjoyable show for us at least - available at the usual places if you want to hear it.
Had time for a quick lunch with my girlfriend before driving off to Hastings, where there is apparently a largish BNP presence (I had seen on one website how the local party was harking back to the greatness of the Battle of Hastings, perhaps not aware that this was an extreme example of immigrants coming over here and taking our jobs). But there were no problems at the gig, just a rather lovely crowd in a small and hot room having some fun. I was pretty exhausted by the end of all this and glad I had elected to stay in a hotel tonight, rather than risk the tricky drive home.
If you're quick and in London you can buy 2 tickets for £10 the Lyric Hammersmith Sunday night! Call Box Office 0871-221-1729 quoting 'Comedy'. Bargain! Sarah Millican, Nina Conti, Sara Pascoe, Isy Suttie! Me!
