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Lovely to wake up in Cheddar and I felt energetic enough to have a crack at running around Cheddar reservoir. Given how little exercise I have done lately I was surprised and pleased that I got round, even if it was a bit of a trudge. I listened to Adam Buxton talking to Claudia O’Doherty. He is getting amazing guests and it’s a fabulous podcast - later today he would win the Podcast Champion at the Podcast Awards and silver in the Comedy Podcasts. RHLSTP didn’t place. There’s a new Podfather in town. But to be fair, he is the best. It’s hard to be jealous of him, because he is such a nice guy. But I still managed to be a bit jealous. So well done me.
My failure to network or foster any useful connections in my life has probably let me down. O’Doherty’s seemingly effortless tale of how she went from doing a Channel 4 Blap to being at the table read of a Hollywood movie is extraordinary. But clearly she’s driven and got her face in front of the right people and good on her for that.
The benefits of being a nice person who gets on with other people just can’t really be exaggerated. Sitting at home playing Civilisation II, whilst hating humanity, is, it turns out, not the way to make it.
But well done Dr Buckles. Usually it could have happened to a nicer bloke (i.e. me) but this time it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke.
After 35 minutes of running my legs were going a bit wobbly like that bloke at the end of the Marathon and so I walked back home. I don’t suppose I will ever get back to the level of fitness I was enjoying in the months before my daughter’s birth. But it would be nice to get some of the way. Running in the country air was marvellous. Hopefully, with the move, I will find myself ploughing up and down country lanes and getting back into shape.
Home to listen to York City’s final game of the season. With the right run of results they could avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth. Of course they went down 1-0 almost immediately. But the team fought back and equalised, only to concede another goal immediately. With York, it’s the hope that is the unbearable thing. They had fought back from bottom place and certain relegation over the last three months and nearly saved themselves. Now they looked like they were going to let themselves fade away at the last minute.
But in the second half they battled on and the other results were going their way. It seemed they might just need an equaliser in order to survive on goal difference. I knew in my heart that they would get the equaliser, but that Guiseley would also equalise in their game in the last minute and send us crashing into the sixth tier of football. I texted my York City supporting friend to that effect.
And sure enough, we equalised. I allowed myself to believe that we’d done enough. We came close to scoring again. I wasn’t sure we deserved it, but it looked like we were going to stay up. But Guiseley equalised in the last minute (just after the team they were playing against had hit the bar) and York couldn’t score in injury time. So the inevitable happened.
I can only compliment York on steadfastly refusing to use their magical powers to get them out of trouble.
I feel our demise was deserved, but it was still a little depressing. But there are worse things to worry about in the world. We left Cheddar to head up to Warwick Arts Centre - a venue that I have played consistently over the years. And numbers were fine. I had over 300 in. I’ve done better, but I’ve done worse and it was a good number to play to.
I felt a bit unsteady from the run, but the stiffness passed. There were a couple of badly timed heckles. I coped well with the first one, but was maybe a little tired and impatient with the second. But overall I was pleased with the performance. I felt like I had been away for ages this time, even though it was actually only one night. I bought my wife and daughter some presents to let them know I had missed them. It reminded me of my dad occasionally going away for a teachers conference when I was a nipper and how he’d buy me a gift to make up for his absence. I don’t remember what the present was, but I remember liking the fact that I was going to get a present. I suspect giving presents when you’re away is just going to be a way to make your child hope that you will go away so you can get a present. But maybe all children are not as awful and selfish as I was.
