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I woke up to the unpleasant news that Donald Trump has ended up getting his hands on (someone else's) Nobel Peace Prize. Thank God all the people he's killed in wars didn't live to see this. Of course he's delighted, like only an idiot could be. However if anyone has a British Comedy Award they don't want, please send it on to me.
I am sending Trump my House of Games Champion of Champions trophy. Hopefully then he will look kindly on my political and business ambitions.
I went into town to do three Book Club podcasts at the Podcast Room. It's one of my favourite things to do, an afternoon of chatting to authors about books I've read. I finished Fergus Craig's new one about 45 minutes before I began. It's nice when it's fresh in your mind!
On the tube from Finsbury Park there were some slight delays and the driver made announcements about it. She was one of those drivers who likes to put a bit of personality into it, as well as keeping everyone properly informed. Most tube drivers do the bare minimum and are a bit grumpy, but she was chatty and whilst sharing the frustration of the delay, pointing out that she was optimistic that things wouldn't take too long. Her optimism proved correct and we were going within a few minutes and she cajoled everyone in and explained she was going to wait for some stragglers on the platform. Would this stuff be fun if everyone did it? Or is it just the unexpected display of humanity that makes it entertaining. I was the only one who seemed to be laughing along with it. Comedy, light and dark, should flourish everywhere - even in a fragile tube shooting or stalling through weird and unnatural underground tunnels.
You can't be that chipper all the time, but most of us aren't that chipper any of the time. You should try and elicit the occasional smile from a stranger. That's very much what I've attempted in my career and very occasionally achieved.
