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Old Richy Sunak isn't stupid. He has a master plan and announcing a general election in the pouring rain is all part of that. Don't you worry, the Tories will win out here. And I sort of want them to, because they should have to deal with the mess they've created and I'd alslo like to see the look on faces of all the MPs who are bailing out.
On the other hand it would be nice to see the Tory party destroyed. Even if what replaces it will be a lot worse. Living through history. So far. We might not all get to live through the next bit!
I wasn't sure I'd ever played Doncaster before (apparently I've been here at least twice), but either way I was delighted to sell over 150 tickets here, which even in the fairly large CAST theatre was enough to have a good time. They were a great crowd apart from the man on his own in the second row who didn't find a single thing funny, but still sat through the whole show.
Doncaster is an odd place. I walked through the town centre in a search for some dinner. A man was standing on the pavement breaking up a window pane made of plastic and putting the bits in the communal litter bin. No one questioned what he was up to, even as the shards of plastic flew around them. The biggest business in town seems to be
Adrian Welch who boards up derelict shops and repairs windows. Probably because the bloke I saw is smashing them all up. When the economy favours those who board stuff up, it might be time to change government.
The Mercure Hotel where we were staying has, like most hotels we're staying in, seen better days, but the staff were friendly and they upgraded our rooms. It has the smallest lift that I've ever been in in a hotel. James and I could just about squeeze in with our luggage. A sign said that no more than 5 people could be in this lift at one time, though I was keen to try and see if it was possible to get even four people in there. They should make a feature of their tiny lift. Worth visiting for this alone.
I checked out Doncaster on my blog to see if I'd been here before as it seemed entirely unfamiliar and slightly trapped in the 20th Century.
I had been stuck outside the town on the train in 2005 - I remember Sam and Jessica who will be in their 20s now, so I hope their circus is better now
.I did a gig here in 2011 (and my audience has only increased by 30 or so since then!)
and then returned in 2012, with a gig I do actually remember well (though had forgotten was in Doncaster) where everything went a bit tits up and weird at the end (and I only had 100 in then - wish I put audience numbers in all my gig blog entries, so I could fully chart the minor ebbs and flows of my mediocre career).
It's taken twelve years to come back, but I had some dedicated fans delighted to see me back and showing me pictures of us together, looking younger and happier! One woman had pics from a Lee and Herring tour (not in Doncaster I don't think). Some of these people have the loyalty of a testicle (not the ones that get cancer, but the ones that keep producing your sperm, even if transplanted).
Anyway, I won't forget tonight Doncaster (I probably will). I won't forget the small lift and the man breaking up a plastic window in the street.
