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We had a fun family day (though I still managed to get some work in in the evening, cos I am a dick), which felt like a holiday and the start of Christmas. In the morning we headed to the Lyric Hammersmith to see their brilliant production of Raymond Briggs’ “Father Christmas” for the second time running. Phoebe had been rapt by this last year (but she was just coming down with a nasty bug so we weren’t sure if she’d just been zoned out with illness) so we were looking forward to seeing what she’d get out of it now she was 12 months older. And once again she was entranced by this lovely play. She watched it all intently and almost exclusively with the most serious look on her face. Other kids laughed when the puppet dog attacked Santa or shouted out answers to his questions (what’s this? WINE - oh dear, the speed with which you recognised that says a lot about your parents) but she just took it all in, sitting still for the entire hour, which is unheard of and only waving her arm around when the smoke machine shrouded her in fog.
Then we headed out for some lunch and ended up at the Indian restaurant that we’d chanced across in the rain on my birthday, called Indian Zing (not sure about that name, but it's a very classy place). The waiter had recognised me from my Metro column last time and he greeted us all again with a hint of sorrow that the column had now ended. We had an amazing meal and risked an alcoholic drink each. The waiter then gave us another round for free because of his enjoyment of my writing. Perhaps it was a mistake to stop. That was about £8 of value after just 5 years of writing. It’s pretty cool when you get these little appreciations of your work, especially in unexpected quarters (like the Debenham’s security guard) and I wonder if I made a mistake walking away from the job. But it’s been nice not to have to wrack my brain for stuff to write about (I know I have written a lot of blogs, but it’s slightly different). I would highly recommend this restaurant though, even had I not been plied with free booze. We were the first people to arrive for lunch today, but by the time we left it was pretty packed.
Then we went to the park and drunkenly bought a Christmas tree from the garden centre there. I was dubious that we’d be able to easily carry it home, but we stuck in on the pram and it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience. Phoebe prefers to walk now anyway. And having seen a play about Father Christmas, had an afternoon drink and bough a Christmas tree, it did feel like the holiday season was upon it. It’s fun having a child for all this stuff alone. She doesn’t understand quite what is going on yet, but then normal life is strange enough, so a man coming down a chimney to leave presents beside a dead door tree is not surreal for now. But even so she must get that something unusual is going on. Not so much her parents being drunk in the afternoon- that happens all the time- but the general air of something special.
We played in the big kids playground, with Phoebe boldly coming down a fairly precarious slide with little to no fear and me having to nip off to wee in a bush near the playground and hope I didn’t get arrested. I didn’t get arrested, but imagine if that extra beer from someone who liked my work had led to me going to prison.
And tonight another Christmas tradition as I hosted the Leicester Square New Act of the Year Award. It’s the one gig that I allow myself to do whilst having a drink (though I didn’t go crazy this time), partly because it’s important that the MC doesn’t eclipse the acts (hold on, is that why they keep booking me?). There were some really good new comics on the bill, in fact all of them were very impressive and I wouldn’t like to have chosen the winner myself. To those who didn’t get the prizes, don’t worry I have never won any new act competition or indeed any stand up award, and look how things have turned out for me….. OK, maybe that wasn’t the most reassuring thing to say.
If you're looking for a great Christmas gift for an 8-12 year old who likes reading and laughing then I can recommend the work of the amazing Catherine Wilkins. I liked them so much I married the author. Available in a variety of languages if you have French/German/Polish/South Korean family/friends! Hoping she can go the full JK Rowling so I can dedicate the rest of my life to self-playing snooker.
