Friday 7th August 2009, 03:34
Off on me hols
Not going to Edinburgh Festival this year, so to recreate the fringe, I'll be performing a gig in my own living-room, having no one turn up, and if anyone is foolish enough to appear at my house, I'll be removing from them any paper flyers they have, before deep-frying them (the flyers, not the people. Actually yes, the people as well. That's how fringey I'm going. A mixture between bad cuisine and modern art.)
I wish you well, fringe-goers. This is my 1st year off doing a solo show in 5 years, and I think my 1st non-Edinburgh-bound year in a decade. I miss it of course, but at the same time I'm delighted not to have the stress of it all. Instead, I head to America on Sunday for 2 weeks, taking in Niagara Falls, driving down to Pittsburgh, then on through Amish country to Washington DC. I did a coast-to-coast road trip last October taking in 13 states - this time we're adding 2 more to that list, with Ohio and Pennsylvania.
You may think it's a bit soon to go back, twice in a year. Well it is. My reason for going: there is a conference for people without bellybuttons. It will be wonderful.
So, maybe no blogging for a bit. No twittering, no facebook updating. So one last quick blogette before I head:
Yesterday, in London, on the tube, in an empty carriage. Train stops, on come a group of about 20 tourists. All wearing face-masks. They sat down next to me and around me, making me feel really quite uncomfortable. It's weird being on a carriage with 20 others and you can't see any of their faces. Weirder still to feel like there's something wrong with you, like you're in quarantine. I assume it was a prevention against swine flu, or London pollution, or something paranoid like that. Whatever it was, I took delight in launching into a coughing fit, turning my head on every wheeze so as to cough a little bit over all of them. They left at the next stop. They were originally heading for Leicester Square or somewhere central, but I feel like I did my bit to support the local tourism of Queensway. Bon chance, tourists.