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My joy at being able to drive anywhere in the country in the time you are expecting it to take was dealt an early blow. We were on good time to meet our builders, but discovered the road between our in-laws and our house was closed and we were forced on a diversion that added 30 minutes to our journey. Why did I leave the city? Why?
The work was provisionally meant to finish by the beginning of July, but it now seems certain that it will still be going on when we return from Edinburgh, though we’re hoping we will still be able to move into the house then. We met some ladies about curtains and my entire contribution was to say, “I have no idea or thoughts about any of this.†Though I was able to contribute the fact that I would like some kind of system that would allow us to shut out the light, probably by drawing some kind of cloth over the areas where glass was present.
We then drove across to another village to meet a very polite man who might have stepped out a Dickens novel and his smiling and quiet wife to discuss carpeting. What I was looking for was something that might cover up the floorboards.
I wish I had more of an opinion and some concept of taste, because the decisions we make about curtains and carpets will stay with us for years. But ultimately I’d just like to be in a house that has these things.
I then had to head into London to do various chores and a gig at the Battersea Power Station. Fortunately not inside the iconic building itself (where I once saw Frank Skinner do an impressive set) but in their “village hallâ€. The complex is a futuristic collection of flats and restaurants and offices and my audience, I presume, was made largely of people who lived here. It feels a bit like something out of “The Circleâ€, and the 100 seater space is brand new and had never had comedy on before. But it worked well and it’s always useful to play to a crowd that haven’t necessarily come specifically to see you personally. Only a couple of people knew about the call and response of RHLSTP (rhlstp) for example.That makes it more gratifying when they’re enjoying it. I discuss the fact that my job is constantly assessed for quality and that individual opinions are of no use to me, as I can tell how I’ve done thanks to this real time feedback. It’s fun to do that when a show is going well, but not brilliantly, because you will get a big laugh for saying that. And that actually helps it go better.
But the overall report from the people who employ me was high satisfaction today (no doubt with the usual outliers and people who thought I was shit and those who thought I was excellent). With three previews to go I feel like the show is in good shape. But weirdly this show has felt in pretty good shape right from the second or third preview. I have nothing to gain and nothing to lose (aside from money) and am very much looking forward to heading to the Fringe. Unbelievably I will be in Edinburgh in six days.
I got a bit lost getting in and out of the Battersea Power Station car park and ended up amongst workmen digging up the road on the way out. I wished I still lived in Shepherd’s Bush, both for ease of getting home and the fact that I am on the Wright Stuff in the morning and the car is coming at 6.45am to pick me up. It was scarcely worth going home. But I did anyway. Cos that’s where my family live.
