Blog: A Very Long Weekend (part two)

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As usual when On The Road I woke up at about 6AM (although due to clocks changing it was 7AM... i think) and had to lie in bed or half an hour thinking "NO BRAIN! I am NOT getting up! You might as well be quiet and go back to sleep, I CAN LIE HERE ALL DAY." Eventually the BRANE relented and I got some more much needed KIP in. LOVELY.

One BATH (told you it was posh) later I got myself together and checked out, then had a bit of a wander round Sheffield City Centre. I went into WHSmiths and was AMAZED to find it STILL hasn't changed for about TWENTY YEARS, ever since they got rid of that brilliant 3D logo that I used to SO enjoy colouring in on the paper bags. As a LAD I used to spend HOURS in WH Smiths, even WORKING there (and getting SACKED!) but haven't been in a proper one - stores in railway stations don't count - for AGES, and it was like a trip down Memory Stationers.

Anyway, i went down to the station and began my afternoon of Hanging Around, as I had an HOUR to wait before my first train. I had a COFFEE but really should have gone and got on it as soon as possible, as by the time I loafed over to the platform it was RAMMED, and I had a RUBBISH hour long trip to Doncaster standing up. For the next train I'd got a FIRST CLASS seat booked - this is my GRATE new hobby, as it's usually MUCH cheaper to go first class if you book it in ADVANCE than an open ticket, and this time it was MASSIVELY worth it, as I not only got a lovely sit down but also a PROPER cup of tea in a PROPER mug. HOOPLA!

It was back on a crappy Northern Rail train for the last bit of the journey to Middlesbrough, where I was met by Mr Bob Fischer and WHISKED off to BBC Tees, where we recorded a LENGTHY chat on Diverse Subjects and did a couple of songs - an EXCLUSIVE AIRING of The Night I Denied Myself To Comedy and also It Only Works Because You're Here with a string that went suddenly and HORRIBLY out of tune just after I started. I didn't want to have to start again, so tried to NOT pluck it, which was a) difficult but b) better. Bob's playing the interview and songs on his show tonight, if anybody fancies listening online!

Job done we headed over to Bob's where I met his girlfriend Scorcha - having read about her LOTS in his book it was like meeting a CELEBRITY!

More tea and then we went to The Waiting Room, the VERY nice veggie restaurant where we were playing. I'd decided to do the SHOW without a microphone, as it was a nice little room, so watched Bob's band got set up then had a lengthy chat with John The Publisher, who'd rather brilliantly come along. We discussed PUBLISHING!

Bob's set was ACE, especially the last song, "The Last Biscuit In The Barrel", which I've been singing ever since. I also forgot that they do a version of "Don't Pass Me By", and ALARMED to once again discover I know all the words.

Then it was ME, and I had a WHALE of a time, especially when half the audience GOT the punchline to the Zodiac Mindwarp story quite a while before I got to it. In Sheffield I'd forgotten to take the placards with me, and this time they kept falling over, as I'd put them on a CHAIR rather than bothering to bring the easel with me. Otherwise it all seemed to go dead well - i really enjoy doing the show, i'll be SAD when I stop doing it next year.

The rest of the evening was CHAT and BEER in the restaurant then more CHAT and some WINE back at Bob's before I eventually CRAWLED to bed for much needed KIP. The ADVENTURE was not over yet, however. Next morning, halfway to the station for my train home Bob's car got a FLAT TYRE! It was actually Sorcha's car, and she had to come out in Bob's to pick us up (saving us from being LOOKED at by everyone in the cul-de-sac we'd parked in, as we tried our best to NOT look like burglars) then wait for THE MAN to come out while we DASHED off to catch my train.

We DASHED so much I got there about 40 minutes early, and then the train was LATE so there was yet MORE sitting around before i could COLLAPSE into my Posh Seat for the first of many MANY cups of Proper Tea. DEFINITELY worth it!

posted 28/10/2008 by MJ Hibbett

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Comments:

I had a lovely cup of first class tea POURED IN to my cup AT MY TABLE on East Midlands Trains last week, so that I didn't even have to get up. No, actually, I had three! It were like being laird o' the manor, or something.
posted 28/10/2008 by Pete Green

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