I may have forgotten how to walk by the end of this holiday and have to be brought home in a wheelbarrow. I am being pretty lazy. It's ace.
In the last couple of days I've been catching up with accrued podcasts and especially enjoying Adam and Joe, who unlike nearly all other podcast pairings (mine included) do not spend the whole time having a go at each other or trying to outdo each other (except in the sublime song wars), but are actually quite friendly and supportive. They are kings of the format (even if it's just the best bits of their radio shows, which as we all know, is CHEATING). I was lying on my lounger in tears of laughter at Joe (I think, they both sound the same)'s story about trying to make his own bermuda shorts when he was a teenager and at Adam(I am pretty sure this was him as he is the one with kids)'s recent tale about punishing his 6 year old son by making him stand in a dark room. People have emailed me about the embarrassment of laughing at our podcast in public when no one else can hear what is going on and I certainly experienced this painful delight today. It's been a while since I laughed like this and I hope Adam and Joe start to get the recognition they deserve for their charming and hilarious double act. And their songs are just unbelievably accomplished and funny.
I also girded myself to finally listen to the infamous Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross podcast that's been sitting on my iTunes every since it downloaded and which I haven't been able to face hearing. I feared I wouldn't be able to face the car crash and there are certainly many many moments of what can only be called dramatic irony as the pair mock one another and foresee their own demise even before the Sachs call has happened. And having listened to it all in context, aside from a couple of stupid remarks it is quite funny. They are caught up in the situation and forget that what they're doing is real, but the joke is very much about them digging themselves deeper into the problem. There's an arrogance behind the show which makes it clear that it was heading for a fall at some point and I can't really condone what they did, but listening to it now, outside all the hysteria and self-righteous indignation, it's hard to understand why it would lead to resignations and suspensions. Listening to the slow suicide note of two professional broadcasters, with the benefit of hindsight was a strange experience, especially as I was in the tropical sunshine at the time.
Later on, just before midnight our time, I listened to the new year
Collings and Herrin podcast. I don't usually listen back to these, but was a little concerned that I had gone a bit far in berating Andrew on this occasion. But I think he pretty much deserved to be berated, even if my own understanding of
the life cycle of the Sun is somewhat unacademic (basically though I am right that the world will be destroyed at some point).
But I was smarting from the
destruction of my beloved Bodum jug and reeling from the rubbish gift that Collings gave to me "live" on air. I am glad to hear that I was suitably ungrateful for his generosity.
But it was interesting to hear because the first twenty to thirty minutes were full of funny stuff and then there's a long period where we're discussing astrophysics from our different, but equally ignorant perspectives and then it gets funny again at the end. In some ways it's much too long and could do with editing, but then in other ways that is what makes it brilliant. I had forgotten most of what we'd said and here on Grenada I feel like a different person to that idiot in the attic and I could almost judge it dispassionately. I thought we were nearly as good as Adam and Joe and it was much clearer which of us was which. The only thing that could improve it is a surprise academic in a cupboard. This week's should have been Sir Patrick Moore.
Tonight at dinner I had a banana flambe for pudding. It is the most delicious food I have ever eaten, consisting of a banana, some ice cream, some rum and some fire. It was not only cool to actually have a burning spoon and to be in danger of consuming flame, but the combination of ingredients was absolute perfection. I have decided that I am never going to eat anything but banana flambes for the rest of my (presumably much shortened) life. Though suspect that it won't taste as good in my kitchen in Shepherd's Bush as it does in an open air restaurant in Grenada. But I shan't let that stop me. And at the very least propose that everything I eat from now on will be on fire!
Can't believe we're half way through the holiday already. That sucks!
