Mandi went to work in her studio this morning, (on a Saturday too, we are both troopers), and I have a vague recollection of her saying goodbye before she went. The next thing I remembered I was waking up with a cloudy head, and because I had left my phone in my office, I had no idea what time it was. I hate that feeling, as soon as I wake up I need to know what time it is. There's no reason why I have this need, especially on a Saturday, it's just one of those things. Waking up with no knowledge of the time gives me the same sense of momentary panic that you get when you get your hand trapped in the wooden spokes on a chair, or when you can't find your keys because you've put them in the wrong pocket.

It was three o'clock, if anyone is interested.

It was my plan to do some work on the next script for Moonage Daydream, and perhaps to catch up with the audio blog, but by the time I had woken up my brain I simply couldn't be arsed. I did my usual quick runaround of the dishes and the laundry, and Mandi cam home around five. We had arranged to go to my dad's house for a curry night, so I had a quick shower and it was time to go. About half five I had a couple of slices of toast because I hadn't eaten all day and needed to exercise my stomach. I was a little bit annoyed with myself for not doing anything, as despite it being  the weekend I was going to take advantage of Mandi being out of the house and get some work done.

I didn't realise how long it has been since we had a takeaway curry, I can't actually remember the last time. We had a lovely meal, at the table rather than the usual Saturday night 'on your knee in front of the telly' way of eating. The meal filled me up, but not in that uncomfortable way that makes you have to undo your belt and buttons afterwards. There have been times when I've taken a pair of tracksuit bottoms to change into before eating.

Before we watched a DVD, we watched this week's edition of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, which raised the bar once again. I know I mentioned them last week, and I know they aren't exactly at the cutting edge of comedy, but they hark back to the glory days of Saturday night everybody-sit-round-telly with such effortless panache. Of course they have 'borrowed' bits of every successful formula that came before them, but art is about not being afraid to wear your influences as a badge; Morecambe and Wise, Noel's House Party, (with The Late Late Breakfast Show before it), Game For A Laugh, (based on the American format Candid Camera, which Noel Edmonds had himself used), Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, and even elements of Crackerjack, (Crack-er-jack!) are transparently there for all to see, and for a reminder of the fact that we don't need family entertainments to be all about talent shows.

As the finale of the show, several reunited low rent pop groups from around the mid-1990s were in attendance to perform one of their hits each. They are apparently part of something called The Big Reunion, which I had to Google to find out is a totally unnecessary series in which several low rent pop groups from around the mid 1990s reunite and perform together. The series is on ITV2, which tells you all you need to know. Anyway, the groups all came out and did their bit, having appeared in several heavily scripted and laboured backstage banter segments throughout the show with Ant and Dec in which they all tried to persuade them to resurrect PJ and Duncan to perform 'Let's Get Ready To Rhumble'. So we knew what was coming.

To say that these particular low rent pop groups were not in the same league as some of the better known groups of the time would be an understatement; if Take That are Manchester United, then this was a motley collection of Beezer Homes League runners up. However, (and I'm allowed to be complimentary towards 'pop' acts because pop done well is better than indie done badly), they didn't do a bad job. I don't imagine any of them are in it for anything other than the money, (Kerry Katona was there as a member of Atomic Kitten and I don't doubt that she would have done it for a packet of fags and her bus fare), but for what they are, they were quite entertaining. One of the groups, who totally passed under my radar the first time around, is called 5ive, but there are only four members. My computer is still tainted from Googling The Big Reunion to start with, so I'm not going to search for information on a group called 5ive simply to find out if there used to be five members or if they were ironically named. I had heard of Blue because they were an accessory to the murder of 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word' with Elton John, and Atomic Kitten I was aware of because they murdered 'Eternal Flame' at some stage in their tenure.

All of this pails into insignificance though, because Ant and Dec stole the show from everyone else with their one-off performance, (the first one-off performance since their last one) of their popular hit ditty. Despite the passing of what must be about twenty years, they still had the energy to pull off what I assume were the original dance moves associated with the song, even if Dec looked like he was enjoying himself more than Ant was. (Yes, I can tell them apart - they actually stand in alphabetical order as you look at them on the screen).

If this unnecessary reunion of low rent pop groups from the mid 1990s is going to do a live tour, (think of the money) then I can picture a promoter sat watching telly with his head in his hands, crying his eyes out at the fact that not a single one of the shows will be as good without PJ and Duncan as headliners.

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