Warming Up

Audio book record today and had to battle through traffic to get to the studio and then couldn’t find the studio so was 45 minutes late. We didn’t manage to get everything done (though I don’t think we would have done even if I had been on time) so I will be back on Monday. But we got a lot done - two thirds of the book, an exclusive chat with Deborah Frances-White  and tweets read by the brilliant Alistair Green. It was a long day of “work” - though to be fair this was harder work than I do most days. By the end I felt like I was drunk and it was hard to talk without slurring, but the book felt like it was funny and I got quite hysterical with Alistair as he discussed the guy who said he could run fast and thus would be able to get back Serena Williams’ shots, imagining her being bamboozled by someone being able to move quickly round the court and thinking “Ooo, I am going to have to take this guy seriously." Alistair, who plays a bit of tennis, was sceptical that Serena would be fearful of this self-proclaimed fast-moving non-professional tennis player.

I was expecting to find errors in the book- I don’t know whether it’s too late to change the print version - but only one major one leapt out of me, which was in one of the question chapter headings (which is a bit annoying, but it just about still makes sense). The sound recordist was finding the book funny and the chat with Deborah was full of interesting stuff. We’re only a little over a month away from publication date. Preorder if you like. 

The drive home was a little easier than the one in (and I wasn’t busting for a wee all the way home like I had been all the way in- I hate being 53) and my car decided to prank me by letting me know that the one tyre that I haven't changed in the last month has now also experienced a loss of pressure. Nice work car.

I felt blasted by the non-stop nature of the day. I was back just in time to say goodnight to the kids and have some dinner. And then, just to keep myself on my toes, I decided to do a non-planned fundraiser for the Kickstarter.  Literally seconds before I started I thought it might be fun to allow the people in the chatroom to choose the personalities of Me33 and Me34 and then for them to play a frame of snooker. It ended up being Fist of Fun me versus Charley Boorman/motorcycling me and it was fun to parody my younger selves (and Charley Boorman’s hideous face) and remarkably in the hour and a bit I was on air we managed to take the total from around £16,600 to over £18,000. Watch it here. Thanks so much to all of you for this amazing support. The target is within reach, but as all profits are going to charity it would be awesome to aim for £25000 or more. Join the fun here. As always I am blown away by the generosity of the people who enjoy my stupid online stuff. You are the best.