Winter Wonderland

So this weekend I was up in Edinbugh doing gigs at Jongleurs there. This didn't used to be such a great gig until they installed Patrick the wonderkid in there as venue manager, now it's absolutely brilliant!

I was on with Rob Deering a man so sweet and babyfaced it's criminal, my old mate Brendon Burns and local hero Sandy Nelson. I was a bit aprehensive as we had two musical acts on but with me and Burnsy on the bill too, there'd be plenty for everyone to enjoy.

Another thing I love about this gig is that they put us up in a nice hotel, so I was all excited and I checked in and made my way to my room. Bugger! They gave me a room with twin beds in! I bloody hate that! There's only one of me and I want an adult sized double bed to sleep in please. Which is basically what I said when I rang down to reception. Now because this is a decent hotel, they actually did something about it, and two minutes later there was a bellboy at the door with a key to a new room. Blimey! From the sublime to the ridiculous, this time I got a suite!!!!! And not just a double bed, but a triple one! In fact it was an orgy sized bed, shame I didn't get to test that theory tho, maybe next time. If there is a next time that is, cos from 26th March Scotland brings in it's smoking ban. This will mean no smoking at all in any enclosed space, not even dressing rooms... wonder how I will cope with either no fags at all or running up and down two flights of stairs every time I want one. Either way I'll get fit I guess.

The gigs were fantastic, sold out both nights, and two really lovely tho very different audiences. Friday nights are generally more unpredictable, they've been at work all day, could be tired, could be drunk already and so rowdy...you never know till you're in it. Saturday crowds are always more laid back, more receptive, cos they've had the day off (for the most part). Either way it's just one of the many things that stops us comedians from becomming complacent.

Saturday I spent most of the day luxuriating in my suite, only leaving it to get a sandwich for my lunch. When I did venture out, I noticed some flakes of snow flying about, but thought little of it.

Sunday morning I wished I'd taken more heed and looked into alternative travel plans for getting home. It didn't look that bad to be honest, a light dusting of white making Edinburgh even prettier, but after Brendon and I had gone through the security check at Edinbugh Airport, we were informed that our flight had been cancelled at the last minute, and we had to go back out and rebook on another flight.

Now we were flying with EasyJet, so nothing was ever gonna be simple. The queue to rebook was about 300 people long, so in an attempt to find out what the chances were of actually getting on another plane we asked a few members of staff. Ooooh the stories we we're told! Aparently the runway was closed (even though every other airline, including Ryanair, were taking off and landing, our plane had never left Luton cos it was snowed in there (there was no snow in Luton), and finally we overheard that our plane had been on the tarmac since 8am and was being used instead to fly to Gatwick - as you may know it costs more to fly into and out of Gatwick on EasyJet.

Brendon rang the customer services number they were dishing out (a premium rate number, they make money even when they fuck up) and asked if we would be reimbursed for a train ticket. They said yes so that's what we did. Ten hours after I left the hotel I staggered into my flat. Boy was I glad to be home!

I'd already decided before this happened that in future I'd get the train cos it was actually quicker, the experience yesterday confirmed that it is! It seems EasyJet are fine, as long as you don't actually 'need' to get anywhere.

Still the day was made good again by watching my new favourite TV programme, Planet Earth. Have you seen it yet? It's phenomenal. Seeing snow leopards and baby pandas took away all the stress.