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On we stumble, towards the finishing line. I think I am going to make it. I am not going to win the race, but in this ultra-marathon just taking part and not falling down is a triumph. I don't need sleep any more, which is lucky because I was woken by my daughter singing in her cot and then spent the morning drawing pictures with her (she likes doing with me this because even though she just scribbles for the moment she is still better at art than me) and then going to the park, where she made up another brilliant song on the swings, that she sang on a loop for twenty minutes. I couldn't work out what she was singing and it wasn't up with her classic hit, “I like bees, on my arm,†but it was still a delight.
She'd been back on the long slide and been surprised that today it was properly slidy. She looked a bit scared as she hurtled down, but she went on for another go. Then we discovered a more toddler friendly playground round the corner, where my pretend wife Rachel Stubbings was playing with her nephew. I didn't even know she was in Edinburgh and was pretty sure she didn't have a toddler of her own, so it took a second to realise it was her. Phoebe ran up and hugged another girl in the playground as if they were long lost friends. Perhaps they had met when they were out with other people, but neither me or her dad had seen the other child before. The two girls played and sang happily for half an hour.
All this fun was just the tonic I needed for a busy afternoon. I was on BBC Scotland's radio panel show “Breaking The News†which I had failed to prep for at all and thought might be a disaster for me, but the 90 minute record was a whole lot of fun. Be interesting to hear what makes the edit. And then out for a quick sandwich with another visiting pal before doing my show. There were about 180 in, I think, which was more than I had expected and after a couple of quieter ones where I had had to dig in, this one was playful and cheeky fun with a great response from the crowd. Hopefully the last two should be well attended and equally fun.
After that I went to see Abigail's Party (not the play) again, because Catie was doing the 10 minute stand up slot tonight. I have always loved her stand up. The first time we met was when we were on the same bill in 2006 and I thought she was brilliant then. She's been concentrating on her children's books for the last few years and this was only the third gig she's done in the last two and a half years. She was brilliant though, with some great new jokes, especially about being 8 months pregnant (so if she is going to get back into stand up then I am going to have to keep impregnating her!). A breathless young man came up to her afterwards to ask where her show was! I hope she will get back into doing more stand up. She's really ace at it. And this isn't me being a biased husband because a) I am a comedian and thus of course hate it when anyone else does comedy better than me and b) that breathless bloke wasn't married to her. Not yet anyway. Though I can't blame him for falling in love with her after seeing her on stage once. I know I did.
We got a slice of pizza each from a takeaway that in years gone by I used to sit in alone eating chips and headed home. The Edinburgh Fringe can be a good place.
