Last night over my brother’s birthday dinner, conversation turned to whether or not Ricky was still funny, following the excellent article with a similar title in last weekend’s Telegraph.
Hmm… I think that I will have to go and see him live to see if he delivers the goods, but watching him at the Diana Concert was more painful than having my wisdom teeth removed!
I thought that The Office was excellent (especially the Christmas special), but I never got a chance to watch ‘Extras’ and so I don’t know how it compares.
What I do know is that he seems to struggle on the spot. He’s not as funny as the sort of stand-up comics you get a dodgy pubs in Islington, but perhaps his TV shows are genius and where he should focus his efforts.
However, what’s really interesting is the Press’ desire (need?!) to destroy people that are doing well and being successful… He’s taking more heat than David Cameron at the moment, and I do wonder if all of the Ricky-sniping is part-driven by jealously - didn’t a lot of showbiz journalists actually want to be in showbiz?
Damian did remind me about the woeful episode of “The Simpsons” where Ricky made a guest appearance. I thought it was the worst episode of The Simpons ever. It’s the only one where I didn’t laugh once. Damian watched it with me and speechless in disgust.
Maybe the little fella just needs to stick to what he is good at? I’ll certainly be looking out for his TV show, but I won’t be inviting him to perform at my wedding!
Today I finally complete on my purchase of an newly-completed apartment in a converted warehouse in Kings Langley, just on the outskirts of London… It’s a quirky three-bed, duplex penthouse at the front of the building that I happened across this Spring.
Naturally, I’m delighted, but I am also ambivalent about the prospect of finally leaving London. I’ve often talked about it, but now the thought of actually doing it fills me with trepidation.
London is like that girl you fancied at school, but who treated you like dirt! No matter how bad she makes you feel, you just cannot help being attracted to her and lusting after her, but sometimes you wish that you had never met her.
So, I’ll hedge my bets and keep my place in Crouch End too… If Boris Johnson wins the race to be Mayor of London, I’ll move out for sure!
I’ve just seen the latest Harry Potter and it’s pretty scary. I’m sure that I would have been scared out of my wits watching something like that when I was 12, but then I was a late developer! Not bad, though… The final film will be awesome, methinks.
I can imagine nothing worse than waking up to find flood water in your house.
When I was a child, I used to have a recurring dream about living in top-floor apartment, surrounded by water from a heavily-flooded River Thames… It was pretty disturbing, but not as disturbing as the real thing, I’m sure.
Those people who live in beautiful houses near rivers must be really devastated, because after years of valuing their unique and historic houses, they now find that their homes are uninsurable and may no longer be worth much - on top of having their domestic lives ruined.
To add insult to injury, these people don’t seem to be getting as much sympathy as one would expect:
“It’s just global warming - deal with it!” summarises some of the comments that I have heard. Shocking really.
If it really is Global Warming, then how come some of the same areas that we are flooded this year had their hottest ever summer last year? And even if it is Global Warming, then it’s kind of all our responsibility, not just those people that live in flood-plains.
Whatever the causes, it seems that we must be braced for increasingly unpredictable weather in the future, so what are we going to do about it?
Us Townies shrugging our shoulders and getting on with life while our Rural cousins suffer is probably not acceptable - we need to fundamentally change the way that we live if we’re going to be able to cope with what the future has in store for us.
