Travel Travails...

So here's my big old blog about my nightmare journey to Glasgow a couple of weeks ago.

I was flying up there to do the Highlight Comedy Club and had booked with BA cos they were the cheapest believe it or not!

I got to Gatwick in plenty of time, only to be told as I reached the bag drop that my flight had been cancelled an hour before. Hmmm. This was the best kept secret in aviation cos it was on the board as happening, my online check-in hadn't told me of any delays let alone cancellations, surely some mistake?

Apparently it was that old chestnut 'technical problems'. Funny how only half empty planes develop these problems eh? Three half empty flights to Scotland had 'technical problems' that Friday, and six hours after I arrived, we were all bundled onto a huge 777 instead.

For the first time in a loooong time I got to "go left" when I boarded. Yep I had a flat bed seat! For a 70 minute flight! Just my bleeding luck! I was like a kid in a candy store, pressing buttons, farting about with the screen, the lot. It took my mind off the fact that we were now landing in Edinburgh and had to get a bus to Glasgow, making what should've been a leisurely trip with enough rest time on arrival, a very close thing!

I made it to my hotel in Glasgow with just enough time to dump my bag and put some make-up on for the gig. The journey had taken just under 12 hours.

The gigs were fun, I got to work with my old mate Rudi Lickwood which is always a good thing. I also picked up a few bargains in the sales on the Saturday afternoon, hurrah!

On Sunday morning I was up bright and early and on the bus to the airport for my flight home. The flight was due to depart at 10am, and I was there at 7.30. I checked in, eventually (Glasgow BA staff are the snottiest of all airline staff!) and went through security.

I'd missed breakfast, availed myself of their excellent catering facilities

before making my way to the gate.

I noticed there weren't many people waiting, and got a bit of a nagging doubt in the pit of my stomach. Surely they wouldn't cancel this flight with 'technical problems' too would they? No, surely not.

Oh yes they would and wouldn't you know, we were shuffled onto the other 'quiet' flights due to leave throughout the day. How lucky that they had all those spare seats on the later flights eh?

No mind that one couple missed the connection for their honeymoon or that others were left in the lurch for connecting flights home. As long as you can save a few bob eh BA?

I ended up on another afternoon flight, but not into Gatwick of course - I had a return Gatwick Express train ticket, that would be too convenient - no we landed at Heathrow. Another £18 spent and another 12 hour journey.

Having said that, it was a nice surprise to see Terminal 5 which is rather sexy.

A Couple of Plugs

I've got all kinds of other stuff to tell you about and once life slows down a bit I'll post it, but in the meantime I have a couple of things I wanna tell you about.

First up is my mate Ray Roughler-Jones' autobiography "Drowning On Dry Land" which is published by Tangent Books. Their website is www.tangentbooks.co.uk. Ray's a really dear, old mate of mine from my Ladbroke Grove days, and for me the book was a brilliant race down memory lane, even tho his memory aint what it was! Even if you've never heard of his mag The Roughler, or seen any of the Roughler TV stuff on YouTube, or heard of Swansea where he was born, his tales of swanning about the Chanel HQ with his milliner girlfriend, or getting caught nicking a suit from an Oxford Street design emporium, will have you in stitches.

Its brutally honest - he's most brutal about himself - and reading it was just like listening to Ray speak. Here's a little link to him discussing the book with his publisher Class War mainman Ian Bone

http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/ray-roughler-jonesdrowning-on-dry-land/

Its a cracking read and a bargain at a mere £10.

Plug number two is for thishttp://filmlondon.org.uk/best_of_boroughs/the_tunnel/

A documentary made by Jody Vandenburg and Naomi de Pear about the infamous Tunnel Palladium. This was the club that Malcolm Hardee used to run before he started Up The Creek and if you ask any comic from that era they'll tell you it was the toughest club in the world. Thank god I missed it by a few years, tho of course I had my own pasting at the Creek the first time I played it.

Anyway there's the likes of Harry Enfield and Simon Munnery reminiscing about their times on that stage along with members of the legendary audience. Well worth a look if you like your comedy, and give em a vote too!

So, Back In London...

and determined to bring the best of Barcelona with me.

By that I mean, waking up feeling positive, enjoying every moment of the sunshine, packing loads of good things into every day.

Sunday saw me exercising for the first time in ages cos my assorted wounds had healed enough to do a decent workout. It'll be a while before I can do a load with my arms cos the hand's still healing, but I worked the biceps and triceps enough to feel it later on!

Then as the sun was shining, I pulled on my Desigual shorts and my lovely white All Saints frock that's too short to be worn on its own, along with my Birkenstocks and wandered off to the King's Road for my first trip to the new Saatchi Gallery.


Not sure why I've missed visiting before now, I was a regular at the old place at County Hall, but for some reason this one has just passed me by. Not any longer.

The current exhibition is called Newspeak: British Art Now and its pretty special really. There's one or two pieces I wasn't blown away by, but there was quite a bit I loved. Fortunately, they are cool enough to let you take photos so here's some of the ones I liked.


Because I was too cheap to pay the £1.50 for the programme I can't tell you who the individual artists are, and I am not even gonna pretend to know who made the majority of these pieces, but one artist whose work I'm familiar with is Barry Reigate and here's a couple of his from the show.

An Assortment...

of photos from Barcelona...

I have to say this trip was really special, really enriching











Thank you x

Awwwwwwwwwww....

this break is over waaaaaaaay too soon!

I spent my last full day yesterday revisiting the gorgeous Parc Guell. I haven't been for years and it seemed a lot smaller than last time! Still beautiful tho! As you might imagine I took a ton of photos!

I'm not really sure why, but for some reason on this trip I am noticing so much more of the world around me. Even the smallest details of a building seem to shine out and catch my eye. This is a tiny part of one of the gates...

This is the infamous lizard of course...

How awesome was Antonio Gaudi?