Well, so this is 2010 is it?

Had a pretty low key but still enjoyable New Years Eve.  I stayed in with Elmsy and Darren, both of whom weren’t drinking.  I was drinking Sparkling wine because I am classy.  Not really sure what to do so we watched Return of the living dead and Alien3.  In many ways, a great way to spend New Years Eve.  As a result I wasn’t really all that drunk or hung over the next day.

Went out Saturday and got obliteratedly drunk.  Ridiculously drunk.  Drunk to the point where you wake up feeling hideously guilty, sure that you must have done something awful.  You must have…I had been in the Green Man drinking Cider from 3ish to see Stu before he goes off to Scotland for three months to film his CBBC show.  The show that he got because the producers came and saw Kiosk of Champions and liked him and not me and so gave him a TV gig and not me. 

I am not bitter.

Then later Stu suggested we went up Kings Cross for Dan Atkinson’s birthday, which was great fun and I think I got away without pulling any nonsense.  I am a good drunk and don’t fight or go mental or anything like that so I am not really worried that anything is amiss.  I remember snippets of things like suggesting Tim Key was drinking my drink but wanting him to have it as I had too much to drink on the table.  He explained that the drink was his and I am pretty sure he was 100% correct.  Sorry Tim.  I remember getting to the point where I was too drunk to have a conversation and too tired to want to have one and not being as erudite as possible in explaining that I cannot talk right now.  Other than that I think it was fine.  I’m sure it was…

Thing is I always feel odd socialising with Comedians because I never know how friendly we are.  Don’t misinterpret that as me saying that all comedians are unapproachable miseries, in actual fact I have usually found it the opposite.  Most comedians that I have met are usually very pleasant and polite and approachable in company.  The main thing that I have is never being sure if comedians know who I am even if we have gigged together or spoken in Edinburgh.  I mean, I know it’s a party so mingling is not an issue but presented with a group of my peers, it is very hard to gauge instantly who is someone I can actually chat to and who is someone I should really just say hello to and not bother – as I say, not because they are obnoxious or too famous to approach, but because I don’t know if they remember me or like me as well as I remember them. Also, it is hard to work out if you have gigged with them or whether you have seen them on TV or just met in the Brooke’s Bar in Edinburgh.

I’ll give you an example of how I am baffled by socialising with comedians. I was in Edinburgh this year and Rhod Gilbert bought me a drink (quick, call the tabloids!).   Now, what made this weird was that it was pretty much out of the blue and he asked me by name if I wanted a drink.  I have never gigged with him or, as far as I remember, even socialised with him yet here he was speaking to me by name buying me a drink.  I wouldn’t have thought he even knew who I was yet, apparently, he did.  This is the sort of thing that causes me to be completely in a turmoil whenever I am confronted with Comedians in a social environment. 

I am fully aware I am being a dick worrying about that sort of thing in the minute detail that I do, yet worry I do…

Anyway, the minefield of doubt and concern quickly elapsed when it became clear that the people at the party I knew were all cool.  Phew!

Party over and 11 hours of drinking later I head off to crash round my mates house in Canada Water.  It is not as swanky as that sounds.  I slept on his floor but the floor wasn’t long enough for me to stretch out fully.  I had to use my coat as a pillow – it was that sort of proper crashing that I haven’t done for years…Fine really but I think I got no sleep as I was too drunk and uncomfortable to pass out so had to keep moving to try to induce calm and sleep…

Next day I had to walk to Fenchurch Street as there was no way over the river by foot other than Tower Bridge.  It was a nice walk and I didn’t feel all that bad other than tired.  It was genuinely very pleasant walking along the Thames on a lovely, sunny winter’s morning.

I got in and resisted the temptation to have a kip instead using my tiredness as a perfect excuse to sort my body clock out.  In bed at 11pm and watching Sapphire And Steel has worked a treat…

I watched the original Alfie while chain drinking coffee with my mum.  I haven’t seen it for years and I really enjoyed it.  Haven’t seen the remake and can’t really work out how it would work in a largely permissive society where most things that were taboos or socially restraining in Alfie no longer apply or if they do they don’t apply in the same way that they did in the 60’s.  It’s a question to go unanswered I fear as it is very likely I will watch the remake.

I think I have now had all the blow outs that the Christmas Period can allow so it now time to knuckle down to sorting 2010 out and rocking it hard.

 

I have made no resolutions as they are pointless.  However, my aims include getting paid for the work I did in 2009.  In fact, that is my only aim.  2010 will be a great year if I just get paid.