As Mandi was working overtime on Saturday we
decided not to go to my dad’s for lunch in an attempt to spend some time
together at the weekend. I recorded the podcast on Saturday morning while she
was at work so I didn’t have the stress to cope with on Sunday morning, (so
uncharacteristically unstressed was I that I forgot to upload the bloody thing
until much later) and didn’t wake up until after twelve. We went to bed last
night after watching a film, (Mrs. Henderson Presents,
about the founding of the Windmill Theatre) so I was pretty much the most
relaxed I have felt for so long I can’t recall.
Mandi usually does a load of housework on a
Sunday morning before I get up, and by the time I was out of bed the downstairs
area was gleaming (snigger). Please don’t think we live in a 1950s arrangement
in which the woman does the work because this isn’t the case – she prefers to
do it while I’m out of the way because I either do a half-arsed job or by
contrast do it in too much detail, moving furniture around and pulling things
out of cupboards to clean them. As we had nowhere to rush to and Mandi had
mentioned that she needed to do a bit of shopping I offered to do her least
favourite job of cleaning the bathroom. I also vacuumed the upstairs and took
out the rubbish and the recycling; see what a modern man I am?
After taking Jack to the park for a good run
out (in which he destroyed his ball so that’s another quid wasted – someone please
buy my audio books or something) I made fried egg sandwiches and watched an
episode of Happy Days while Mandi was out of the way; she hates the show and
thinks Fonzie was a paedophile. I mooched around the Internet checking my
emails and updates while Mandi made dinner and then we watched another film,
this time it was Arthur – the Dudley Moore/Liza Minnelli/Sir John Gielgud
original which is still as funny and moving as it was when it first came out.
When the film had finished it was time for me
to leave the house for a gig. Once again I was heading to The Cookie in
Leicester (courtesy of a life from Daniel Wright of The Most Ugly Child – great
band that you can have a listen to here) for a night put together by Simon
Waldram, one of the few people who replied in the affirmative when I posted the
question of performing a gig on Christmas Day). The Wild Man of Europe also
made the trip from Nottingham to headline, and Kevin Hewick was in the middle
of the bill. My experience of Leicester is confined to two Sunday evenings when
the High Street is mostly closed so I can’t really comment on the place because
it isn’t fair to judge based on what I’ve seen. The city centre certainly looks
cleaner and less intimidating than Nottingham can, but again Sunday evening
brings out the best in a place because it is unspoiled.
It’s a shame that more people didn’t come
through the door to see the show as it is a lovely venue and the gig ran a lot
more smoothly than a lot of places I’ve been to. Simon played first and
certainly seems to be growing in confidence on stage (even with me in the
building) and works very hard putting these nights on so credit to him for
that. Last time I went to The Cookie I left early because my friend Lisa was
driving and had an early Monday start so I missed Kevin’s set. This time he
played with two other musicians and turned out an entertaining set and as with
Simon they were able to engage with the small but appreciative audience. I’ve
seen The Wild Man of Europe once before (twice if you count a performance on my
radio show) and I still don’t think I’ve seen the complete lineup. Last night
they played as a three piece and sounded excellent so now I want to see the
entire band at some point.
Sadly, the majority of the population of
Leicester missed out on a good gig, maybe they’re all Foyle’s War fans.
===
Details on my audio books and other work for sale and how your donations
can help me to create free entertainment can be found on my Shop & Donations page.
This week’s edition of The Sunday Alternative
is here.
