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Another day of programme associating in London. I leave the house at 8.30am and get back at about 6.30pm so this is as close as I get to experiencing what life would be like if I had a proper job (though I’d probably have to leave the house at least an hour earlier and get home an hour later as my current “working" hours are 10am to 4.30pm.
It certainly makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have a job where a) I can doss around and do nothing most of the time and b) see my kids for a decent amount of time each day. I have a very lucky life, but I sacrificed a lot of my twenties to get to this point.
But I’d probably have basically sacrificed my twenties regardless.
It’s been fun working with someone else again, though the job is very draining of mental energy and I usually feel pummelled by the end. I wouldn’t like to do this sort of stuff all the time, but it’s a nice holiday away from my own projects and we’re laughing a lot. But I’ve turned down some extra days because they are at the weekend and I don’t want to be away from the family and we’re on holiday next week so I can’t really help much on the last few shows. I feel they’ve got their money worth out of me though. We’ve basically totally overhauled the scripts in these few sessions.
It’s good to know that there’s work like this out there if I need it. Hopefully I won’t ever need it and can just plug on with my own projects til I die (at the age of 122). It has made me realise that I need to view my own writing work as more of a job with set hours though. Not that realising that will necessarily make it happen. But I waste A LOT of time. Just so much. I find it bizarre that people consider me prolific as so much of my time is wasted. Maybe if I could focus in a bit more then I could be prolific and actually be producing something good. You never know.
My driver today took me on a different route via Westminster and it was a bewildering delight to look over ancient and modern London as we crossed the river. I always forget about
Lambeth Palace, on the roundabout just across from Westminster (it’s the roundabout that I believe features in National Lampoon’s European Adventure and it’s insane that I always remember that but am always surprised to see the magnificent palace that is beside it. I looked up the building to remind myself what it was and as I am listening to Wolf Hall on audiobook at the moment it was especially delightful to realise where I was. All the places in London that I have never visited, even though I lived there for a quarter of a century. I must go and have a look in here when we’re allowed to see stuff again.
We are continuing to watch Succession (though it’s really not a show you can splurge as each hour takes a lot out of you) which shows what I should maybe be aspiring to. There’s some incredible writing on this show and it grabs hold of you without you even noticing. It’s been bugging me as to who Kendall Roy reminds me of and today I finally realised that he’s very like Ross from Friends without the goofiness. My wife said it’s like a gritty reboot of the 90s sitcom, like they’re doing with Fresh Prince.
RHLSTP with the wonderful Isy Suttie
is now up here or wherever you get your pods. Listen to
her ace podcast - I am a guest later in this series.
