BBQ's, Art Deco Picnics, drugs work, comedy and an entry that trails off badly...
Just a quick update before a more in-depth one soon as I don’t want to forget - my major news can wait, by the way till I am more on the ball with it. It is not dramatic or rock and roll so it’s nothing to get on the edge of your seats about!
Last Saturday we went to a BBQ at London Fields, it was the most sophisticated one we have ever been too as the emphasis was on the food - novel I know, rather than getting pissed which is usually what happens. We had calamari, red snapper, red mullet, haloumi, figs etc. Having said that and despite being very witty early on in the day I got rather drunk, mimed a fisting anecdote to a bemused Matt, lectured a startled looking Rose about the joys of wearing slippers and got over competitive in a quiz naming all the Greek God’s and mythical creatures before I left in a haze of Sangria, charcoal dust and a rather optimistic attitude. So not totally in keeping with the ethos then, but it was good to hang out with slightly different people.
The Saturday before was even more eventful, we went to an Art Deco picnic for a friends birthday. It was the most English thing I have ever done - mainly because it was torrential rain. We spent a good part of the afternoon clutching onto the gazebo to stop it blowing away, before we eventually decamped back to Doctor Becky’s and turning the day into a house party instead. It was a fantastic day/evening/night/morning. It was one of those blowouts that just really resets you - just what I needed and it was really good E, it wasn’t as messy as I thought it would be either - though there is some unfortunate photographic evidence that may point to the contrary. We tried to freshen up by walking around a cemetery at about 9am but it wasn’t happening and we crashed, got in at 10am rather broken and slept through most of the day. It did me the world of good though, I do think this sort of thing is good for a person if you don’t do it all the time. I always find it a good way of mental relaxation and emotional exploration, of being aware but without the anxiety.
On Monday we went to ‘The Hen and Chickens’ a famous comedy venue at Highbury Corner to watch Frankie Boyle. Tickets were only £7 and it was a small intimate room. It was a really good gig and it was interesting to see how TV comedy worked. Basically he explained that he was going to appear on Mock the Week and he had just written a load of topical gags that day and was going to do them to us to see if they were funny or not. He said that a lot of it would be rubbish but the stuff we laughed at he would do on the show. To be honest 99% of it was brilliant. He is by far the best one on the show as it is, just my sense of humour, dark and very very sharp. It was interesting watching the show later in the week to see exactly what they had edited out. I want to go and watch more live comedy, it is an amazing experience - I’m just always a nervous wreck when I go worrying about being picked on in the audience. Hen and Chickens only seats 50 people and there was one seat left on the front row so I let Loulou have it and I sat in the aisle. Naturally he starts questioning her, though she gave as good as she got and at the end of it he said ‘This is the strangest audience I have ever played to’
The gig also helped to take ours minds off Loulou’s operation that was scheduled for the next day at the posh and swanky Portland Hospital. It was a very long day but it looks like it has been a success and despite her being bored out of her tree as she recovers she’s doing really well. Hopefully this will transform everything for her which can only be a good thing.
Having said that, she has just put Metallica on - it is awful, I would like to see me get away with putting Nick Drake on at twenty to midnight - so I think she is nearly back to her ‘best’
God this entry has taken me hours to write, I get so distracted its awful. You can see why Douglas Adams used to get locked in a hotel room to make him write - not that I am comparing myself to Douglas Adams you understand, for a start he was 6ft 5. I have to go to Manchester for work again this week so at least I will get the chance to do some uninterrupted writing on the way up without the twin pearls of distraction of pornography and eBay.
Three people I would kill right now if I had the opportunity;
Alexa Chung
Bernie Eccleston
Chris Rock