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Not sleeping well in our greenhouse with the bedrooms the size of the tiny beds inside them. Ernie had a disturbed night, woke up confused, maybe even partly asleep and I heard him moving around. He was stumbling around - it seems in hindsight, looking for the toilet - but then gave up looking for the toilet and weed through his pyjamas on to the floor. The toilet smells so badly of other people’s piss that no one will notice. Even when I shepherded him into the nearby loo he did the rest of the wee on the bathroom floor. He was upset and crying, but I cleaned up the wee and comforted him and then sat on the sofa with him lying on top of me with a bare bottom. He fell asleep and I hugged him and laughed at his bottom reflected in the glass of the fireplace. Even though it was a traumatic incident for him, I felt nothing but love for him and holding him in my arms as he sweated and dozed is one of the loveliest experiences of my life. Before I had kids I think I might have imagined that such an event might have annoyed or disgusted me or that cleaning up wee would be horrible and that only the worst kind of human could get pleasure from embracing a bare-bottomed five year old. But being a parent is all about empathy and understanding and being surprised. What better way to express the confusion of waking up somewhere strange and unfamiliar by just letting your bladder empty. It was quite a sight. And the thing you realise, though we won’t necessarily remember, is it’s happened to us all. And our parents (hopefully) responded with reassurance and love. And most importantly they got just as much out of it as you do when it’s your turn, so there’s no need to thank them. I wouldn’t mind, but Ernie is 28 years old.
Work is good, but family is best. And there’s a lot of crossover for a comedian.
We did get a bit of a sleep in and then we let the kids have extra iPad time whilst we watched Succession. It was fabulous stuff, but it made me consider how funny it would be to blow that 40 hours of brilliant drama by just suddenly shifting genre and maybe getting the cast to break character and sing “Build Me Up Buttercup” in various show locations over the closing credits. Apart from Kendal of course, who’d never break character but would have to react to this as Kendal would, filled with angst about the fourth wall breaking, realising he was just a character in a drama, being unable to cope.
We had a bit more of a relaxed day, starting with sitting in our hot tub (which might make a good alternate bedroom if it wasn’t quite so wet) then looking round the site properly for the first time - it’s a shame our cabin is so pokey and covered in piss as otherwise it’s a nice place. The hot tub isn’t that hot and the shower is almost too hot to use (on its lowest setting), but we’re making do.
We’re not here that much and there’s a rabbit munching on the grass behind our lodge and the neighbours who sat on their balcony talking til midnight left this morning, so it’s not all bad
We’ve got Bridget Christie, Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson and Peter Baynham added to the roster. Still some gaps to fill and lots of tickets to sell. More news soon.
Check the guests and ticket links here. 
