My eating and film watching friend Gareth and i watched an Italian film called My Son’s Room. it was ok, but nothing special, a family drama. Then i read that it had won the Palme D’Or when it came out in the early naughties. Unbelievable! Still Gareth makes a mean chicken and cashew dish. he is a good cook, and also comes up with some good jokes…well you know there’s all this fuss about Prince Harry and his book Spare (plenty of copies going spare in Waterstone’s)…in it he says that he killed 27 Taliban as if he were playing chess; makes you think did he also take the Queen out??

just over a week ago my car took its final trip, i sold it on ebay to a salvage guy called Dave from Devon.

to the year. did a gig in newcastle first thursday of 2023 for Cal Herbert. what a nice bloke. got to gig there with the mighty Julian Lee who’s wordplay is something else….it’s playword. also saw and met Kelly Rickard a welsh lady who lives with the geordies, she was good. As i book the occasional gig myself it’s good in that sense for me to meet these newbies as well as more experienced acts who’ve been hidden away.

I stayed with Fran and Keith: slept on their tiny living room floor, but made sure i’d brought a massive duvet with me. the following night i went to visit Jules – who is one of three people i am still in touch with from my Couchsurfing days.

The one man show i had booked in for saturday in Redditch was cancelled as only 3 people bought tickets….postponed i should say. Oh well, as my voice is still a little ragged it’s good to rest.

Then the next weekend – Jan 13/14 – i went up to the Comedy Station in Blackpool, for the wonderful Mr Blackpool himself, Ryan Gleeson. Great couple of gigs, especially the saturday- even though it had a few lively lads at the back. Ryan’s a lovely fellah with a great comedy mind- he’s frequently adlibbing and riffing on stage, coming up with gems. Jen his wife was of course there as well, doing all the drudgery whilst Ryan basks in the glory!!!

It was bloody windy on the streets of Blackpool though. Still, i was very lucky with the trains the last two weekends. Cos when i went to N’castle there was a strike but i drove. Then, in Blackpool i trained it and there wasn’t a strike, but the extreme wet weather receded for both days i was travelling.

Stayed in Gerald and Kay’s B&B….they’ve had tonnes of other comedians stay there, and their photos embellish the wall…

So, i have a new agent. Nuff said.

Been reading about Twm Carnabwth the leader of Rebecca’s Riots…

the last thing i wrote seems to have disappeared. i was on about my pet hates within films i.e. daft cliches.

well, after writing that i happened to catch Dawn of Justice on telly. the film where Superman fights Batman. i happened to come in where Clark Kent walks in on Lois Lane in the bath. Guess what he does next? Fully clothed he gets in the bath with her. This was the next thing on my list of dafty film cliches. who the hell would want to get in the bath fully clothed?? I suppose, with Superman, you can let him off as he will dry his wet clothes off in a few seconds just by using his super hot eye lasers. But us mere mortals, i don t think we’d get ourselves soaked just to give someone a kiss. i wouldn’t get myself wet to save someone from drowning me.

I’m not that into writing blogs here anymore, not sure why. when i was a kid i used to keep a diary, or, at least, when i was in my 20s i endeavoured to maintain a weekly journal. but it’s case of seeing any point in it. i mean, yes it’s a good way of noting things for the future, to remind oneself of things that you’d otherwise forget. but it’s all vanity, it’s nothing compared to this veil of tears.

anyway, i have been meaning to put cursor to screen for ages, but like i say, the idea of it has not appealed. what can i talk about that’s meaningful? a few films? a play i read? coincidences?

I was on a train heading to Norwich a couple of weeks ago, and the conductor made an announcement where he referred to the rear of the train as the ‘rare’ of the train. Which made me smile because the only other person i recall pronouncing it like that was my mother. And i remember correcting her – but maybe she was right in a sense, maybe there is a colloquial way of expressing it different to the official one.

Around that time i developed a tickly cough which, over the next few days, got worse and worse. By the monday i was waking up in the middle of the night unable to breathe. was this covid? Strep A? i didn’t have any other symptoms. i did a gig on tuesday in Yorkshire with my voice juts about hanging on. But then woke up on wednesday completely voice-less. so i cancelled wednesday’s gig, which in a way was a relief, as it was a no money gig all the way back in south wales. then on the thursday and friday i had gigs up north again. was desperate not to pull any of them – i’d already lost one gig a moth before when the car broke down – so, thanks to salt water gargling, honey and other medicines, i managed to make it through. the thursday audience ,in chester Live Rooms, was a peachy one, very nice, very understanding, and the sound man cranked the volume on teh mic up max.

By the way i bought a new car…Fiat Panda.

hired a car a couple of weekends on the trot. went all the way to swindon and then canterbury, Windsor let me stay at his, and then the following night i stayed at alison and ed’s in heren bay. Oliver Double was the MC at Gulbenkian theatre, canterbury. great gig. Oliver was on form 0 ain t seen him since 30 years. he’s a lecturer in comedy at canterbury.

On the saturday morning i had to dash up to gresford, near Wrexham. Anna Hardy had organised a birthday party for gabriel her son. it was quite big scale – there was a wrestling ring complete with wrestlers, i had a pretty dire time of it. though teh kids stayed with me for 25 minutes i can t say i was a very good kids’ entertainer. it was a mess. but then again there was no barrier between me and the audience. the adults sat in one side of the big hall, they probbaly thought i was shit. but then, it’s not for them i did it.

ON saturday night i compered the first night of a new club in eeer Craven in Sutton, Yorkshire. it was a big long room, but i did the job. Scott the organiser was a lovely bloke. stayed in pauline’s flat.

on sunday i did Ludlow, and delivered a painting i’d sold on ebay – the buyer lived in Wellington, The ludlow gig featured yet anotehr perfomer from the distant past. Alistair McGowan, local landed gentry, was doing the middle spot . he invited me back for a chat in his house, we had a hot chocoltae made by his lovely wife Charlie. Alistair has done very well for himself – what an amzing tudor house – could it be mock tudor( he is a comedian after all). An amazing big house.beautiful. Alistair is a jolly nice fellow- and one can only admire his surroundings. i noticed the photo of him meeting price charles.

Wales lost three nil to england. Terrible, but the worst damage had been done in the preceding game. Iran beat us 2- 0. the goalie being sent off for a dangerous move. Unbelievable! Bale and Ramsey were ineffectual. Oh well… we got there anyway, after 60 years. See you there in another 60 years.