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My mortification from my This Week appearance had more or less died down today.
I had fun this morning playing hide and seek in the garden with my daughter (who is 28 years old) and then hiding inside her little play tent with her for about half an hour, waiting for someone to come in to the room. Given I was only half in with my legs sticking out, it would’ve been easy to see us,but we still had fun conspiring and whispering with Phoebe occasionally running out to pick up a toy to hide with us. In the end it was us, a pram with Baby the doll in it and tiny elephant. And finally someone came in and Phoebe jumped out and said boo. It was a big build up for a weak pay off. But we enjoyed it. There’s no one I would rather spend half an hour, half in a child’s play tent than her.
But not much time to enjoy country living as I had another festival to drive to and then drive immediately home from - this Saturday it was off to East Anglia for Latitude. Luckily I set off early because an hour away from the destination I got a text to tell me that my stage time was actually one hour earlier than I had been told it was. I was still an hour early for the actual slot, but got to park behind the comedy tent to ensure I wasn’t held up any longer, which would also mean a quick getaway afterwards.
I didn’t even get out of the back stage area this time (except when I went on stage). I chatted to a few comics and watched the end of Andrew Maxwell’s wise and philosophical set - after a beautiful but unpleasant description of squashed testicles he boasted that he uses poetry for evil. Thank God for that.
As usual the comedy tent was packed but it was hard to gauge the audience response due loud music from a nearby stage, plus the high canvas ceiling swallowed the laughs. But it seemed like people were having fun. I wanted to do mainly new stuff, but my mind went a bit blank at times and my Penguin game didn’t work properly and I ended up playing safe and ending on the Ferrero Rocher routine. I had fun and it went down well, but I wasn’t flying. Maybe unsurprisingly after such a tough week. I hadn’t known I would be in the middle of moving when I had taken this gig. I doubt anyone else made such a brief visit to the festival this year.
I enjoyed the drive back through the countryside and as I approached our temporary home found myself feeling surprisingly relaxed. I didn’t have to endure the tough drive through the city and the scenery around me was calming and beautiful. There was none of the usual tension. It felt like we’d made a good choice. And I was home by 7.30, which was more to do with the afternoon slot rather than living in the countryside, but even so felt luxurious.
