This week has got to be over soon. Work has just become an exercise in juggling elephants as we hit production for the biggest issue of the year, around 80 pages of which are under my remit. I feel stressed and incredibly tired because my brain won't shut off at night and I'm sleeping bad, even for me (see previous post).
Then there's my boiler which has been playing up since I got back from my holiday and which cost me £485 to get fixed yesterday.
And now, just as we are facing what is probably going to be the coldest night of the winter so far and freezing winds forecast for London tomorrow, my heating decides to pack up completely.
So rather than getting into the office early tomorrow so I can complete a couple of pieces of writing I promised the production desk but couldn't do this afternoon because my tunnel into the work server from home was playing up, I'm going to have to sit huddled over a tiny fan heater I begged off my neighbours, waiting for the heating engineer who is calling between 9 and 12 but probably won't arrive until 11.55am only to find that it is a completely different fault to the one that was fixed, resulting in having pay out all over again. Oh and he won't have the right part and the only place which has one in stock will be on the other side of London, so adding to the cost.
(Who has the one appliance that the repairman carries the spare parts for in his van?)
I'm off to bed with my hot water bottle. At least I'll be snug as I toss and turn.
What talent do you most wish you had?
To be able to fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, regardless of where I was. It normally takes me 30-60mins to get to sleep in my own bed, longer if I'm in a hotel. Unless I've had a skinful.
You need a thick skin for the this theatre lark. First there was the watch incident at Leaves of Glass last year. Now acting stalwart Timothy West virtually spat on me during his performance in Harold Pinter's The Collection at the Comedy Theatre. It's the price you have to pay for being on the front row I suppose.
My boss had sung Pinter's praises as a comedic playwright when I mentioned to him my planned evening and that together with promising cast (Gina McKee, Richard Coyle and the lovely Charlie Cox who was last seen in the film Stardust) made it entertaining evening in prospect.
The Lover was predominantly a two-character piece, well acted and with enough intrigue to leave you amused and thought-provoked but compared to the The Collection lacked a little pace. Perhaps it was the addition of a couple of extra characters that helped by giving the story more threads which Pinter expertly tangles, untangles and just as he looks ready to tie up the lose ends leaves you ensnared and puzzled but in a pleasant way.
There are few real belly laugh moments, but Pinter's skill is in amusement and plain old wit. In these two play's he takes infidelity as the central theme but treats it in a way that challenges common perception.
It was an enjoyable evening despite West's spit narrowly missing my leg and not least because Cox is a talented bit of eye candy. And, it has left me wanting to read both plays to learn more and definitely see more Pinter.
Actor Heath Ledger was found dead at the age of 28 on Tuesday. Which celebrity death in your lifetime has affected you the most?
Affected is probably too strong a word but I was moved by the tragic circumstances of River Phoenix's death. I'd been a fan of his since watching Stand By Me.
I saw the film This Boy's Life recently with Robert De Niro and a young Leonardo diCaprio who reminded me a lot of Phoenix. The film came out the same year Phoenix died and diCaprio was four years younger. I wonder who of the two would have had the bigger career had he not died when he did? And would his brother Joaquin Phoenix have risen to such stardom?
What are 10 things you've done that other people probably haven't?
Submitted by Janette.
1. I once appeared in New Woman magazine taking part in a cooking challenge. The premise was that your boyfriend is coming round for the evening, you've got £10 and haven't time to go to the supermarket so using only what you can buy from the corner shop cook a meal for two. I was a veggie at the time so made an onion quiche (pastry from scratch) which I served with new potatoes and peas followed by trifle made from swiss roll, a carton of custard and tinned fruit. I won mainly because they couldn't believe than anyone would make pastry from scratch but there wasn't a great deal of choice, in fact the only vegetables the corner shop had were onions and frozen peas. And the quiche was Mosh's idea.
2. Flown a powered glider (and was terrified)
3. My uncle took me for a ride in his microlight which is basically a hand glider with a tiny engine attached (and I was terrified)
4. When I was a teenager my parents got me tickets to go and see my favourite singer, (who's name I'm too embarrassed to mention) and my sister, who accompanied me, managed somehow to get us backstage where we were able to rub shoulders with him.
5. Been to Nigel Havers' house to pick up an Aston Martin with Mosh
6. Driven a tank (even with cushions I still couldn't see where I was going)
7. Got a black belt in karate by the age of 18.
8. I've been to see both rubbish metal band Napalm Death and rubbish reality-TV-created pop band Hear'Say live and there can't be many people who can say that.
9. Lambeth council paid me several thousand pounds in compensation because I broke my arm falling off my bike after hitting a pot hole on Vauxhall Bridge. I used some of the money to buy the sofa I'm now sat on.
10. And, I sent my favourite teen singer (see no. 4) a cuddly toy in the post and months later, in a magazine, there was a picture of him at home in his bedroom and there was the toy I'd sent him in the background.
If you could ask any question in the world and get a true answer, who and what would you ask?
Submitted by jaypo.
I'm sure plenty of people have come up with really worthy, intellectual or witty answers but I'd probably just say 'fuckit' and choose one of my favourite actors or musician's and ask something silly. I'm not going to embarrass myself by giving an example.
What is the worst city you've ever been to and why?
Submitted by Soup.
Travel around the UK a lot so there are several places vying for pole position on this but as it says 'city' rather than town it narrows the field slightly and I'm going for Milton Keynes. Brits won't need an explanation but for those from further shores the reason is because it is the shining beacon to 60s town planning failure.
Some people in their wisdom thought it was a good idea to follow the US-style of town planning laying out wide boulevards with car parking down the sides of the road and different zones for business, retail and residential.
The result is soulless, dull and impractical particularly is you are trying to get around by foot.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but the legacy of this failure will be around for many years to come as the process of transforming Milton Keynes into a place that is pleasant, vaguely vibrant and able to cope with 21st century public transport requirements is both costly and time consuming.
Oh and if you go to a gig at the Bowl it takes bloody hours to get home regardless of your chosen method of transport.
(Good question Soup)
When I was kid there was a programme called Why don't you..?. which had a theme song with the lyrics:
Why don't you just switch off your tv set and go and do something less boring instead
The irony of the lyrics weren't lost on us even at such tender years but it is particularly apt to my life right now. Well sort of. I've lent Mosh my iBook for a few days leaving me without a domestic computer and internet access.
Suddenly I'm realising how much time I spend on it whether it is just checking emails over breakfast or blogging while the news is on, checking RSS feeds, shopping, messing around with iTunes....
I have been forced to stay late in the office so I can write this and check my emails the number of which is rapidly rising without regular intervention. But I'm determined that I won't feel like my arm has been chopped off and I will make the most of this 'new' leisure time and go and do something less boring instead.
Just been to see Othello at the Donmar Warehouse, a theatre so small you can tell when the actors are looking you in the eye. And what actors: Chiwetal Ejiofor, Ewan McGregor and Kelly Reilly.
Acted with all the animation, subtlety and spit that befits Shakespeare and with cod piece and heaving bosom aplenty it is a tale of the worst of human emotions: jealousy and revenge and it's tragic consequences.
The machiavellan Iago (McGregor) looked over for promotion by Othello (Ejiofor) expertly plots his revenge, at first subtely sowing the seeds of doubt about his wife Desdemona's (Reilly) fidelity and then rapidly reeling Othello and his unwitting helpers into his web of lies.
Othello was played as man of passionate personality, but ultimately someone who is insecure and proud, whose pride once pricked is savagely wounded.
Iago who is one of the most evil characters of all the Shakespeare plays I know was played with firm purpose and no remorse even as he is undone.
And the beguilling Reilly played Desdemona as naturally flirtatious but with an innocence that helps steal the element of tragedy.
I was gripped from the moment the actors burst onto the stage until they took their final bow. It was such a great play to start the year.
Tickets are apparently going for £600 on ebay and I can understand why, but I wouldn't have sold mine for double that.
Oh and if all that wasn't enough, Richard E Grant and Richard Curtis were both in the audience and David Oyelowo who played Danny in Spooks was sat right behind me.
Audio: Share a song with powerful lyrics.
