“Oh, I see we got ourselves a wise-acre!”

It’s the fourth of July which can mean one thing and one thing only. Yep. That’s right. I’ve now been at the bookshop for a year. Which also means that it’s been just over a year since my and John’s New York Cop obsession started up and nearly a year since this blog began.
More on that later.

Since the last blog, I’ve been alright. No wayward behaviour, merely japes and misadventure! (Not really, but I bloody love those words.) Last Friday we went to my cousin’s wedding in Inverness. I do really like Inverness, even if it does think it’s a city (aww, bless! — Only joking, Invernessians! …Is that what someone from Inverness is called? Nessies?). It’s very pretty. The night before, the sister and her boy came home and we got caught up in the Michael Jackson frenzy. That was exciting, but weird. It’s strange, I don’t imagine people dying a lot, but he’s one of those people you never really expect to stop living and being a bit weird…
So, yeah, Friday. The wedding was lovely. It’s always nice to see family again, isn’t it? Sort of turned into a bit of a touristy weekend after that. We left to go home on the Saturday and ended up in Aviemore having lunch, then various other hot-spots, including Granny’s hoose. Och aye. That was a surprise for her, and I think it was a good one.

It’s been a strange week. Really hot. Like ridiculously so. Apparently Aberdeen was hotter than LA on Wednesday. That’s just insane. On Monday, it was enjoyable. I was working from 8.30am-12, then had a five hour break in which I got to soak up the sunshine for a while. I don’t think I needed to go back at 5pm, but it’s extra money, innit? And as it says in the bible “Every Little Helps”.
Worked again on Tuesday and on ridiculously-hot-Wednesday, Amber and I said we’d go to the beach, but ended up in town with ice cream and lounging around in Union Terrace Gardens. There are plans to move the gardens up to street level. I’m not sure why. I think one of the reasons was that nobody goes into them just now. I think this is because it’s never hot enough to enjoy them, but when it is, like this week, it ends up packed with people. Strange old Aberdeen…

On Wednesday night we did the quiz for the first time in ages. Ended up coming second again but got no prize as they were all out. I’ve been told to keep pestering them when they might have them in. Exciting. Afterwards we did a sort of unintentional pub-crawl purely because we didn’t know where to go that had a beer garden that wouldn’t be packed. Siberia’s was, but we went to the air conditioned side room there for a bit, then Enigma, followed by Korova and finally Exodus. A highly enjoyable night.

Thursday came and went relatively quickly. I met up with Jill for the first time in months to go for a quick lunch, which was very nice. I don’t remember what took up the rest of the day, but presumably I read lots. All I remember is that at night I watched That Mitchell and Webb Look, Psychoville and Question Time with my mother. Rock and/or roll.

Yesterday was Friday and I did nothing ’til about 2pm where I went into work and signed a card for Pam. Then came home, briefly watched some of the tennis and headed out to Pam’s. We got to the Braided Fig at about 6.30pm and had a few drinks and a general lovely time. Joss ended up buying Joan tequila, poor lady. She did not enjoy it. As with the christmas night out, the numbers slowly dropped and soon merely eight of us ventured to Prohibition. It was here where I discussed the fact that I’d been at the shop for a year and reminded Arlene that she had interviewed me. She said that after I’d gone from the interview, she’d said to Pete that I would “really fit in” and he agreed. This made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Aww…
Soon, only me, Pete, Pam and Shane were left but decided to leave. We took cover from the pouring rain (quite refreshing, really) under a tree until Pam got picked up, then Shane went home and me and Pete decided we needed tea and biscuits so went back to his to have just that. We ended up watching Alexei Sayle’s Merry-Go-Round and The Amazing Screw-On Head’s pilot. I knew we were in for a treat with the latter as Pete pitched it to me by saying “It’s got Niles from Frasier in it as a guy called Emperor Zombie.” It was great. Why did that never get commissioned?
I left at about 2.30am and oddly managed to get a bus really quickly. I got home, planned to do some writing, but fell asleep instead. Rubbish, eh?

So, like I say, this year’s passed really quickly and I don’t like it. Ultimately, I’m still here and this still makes me sad. But at the same time, I’ve got to stop and remember that I’m not even 20 and should shut the hell up sometimes and quit acting like I’ve wasted my whole life. It’s ridiculous. If someone could remind me of the fact that I’m being stupid the next time I jump aboard the downward spiral, that’d be nice. Thanks readers: Theaders.

There has been a constant in my fairly varied week. That would be Mr Stewart Lee. Finally, my own copy of 41st Best Stand-Up arrived on Monday. The rest of the week has been spent watching This Morning With Richard Not Judy.
I’m now even more excited to see him in August. I’ve only bought tickets to see him, Rhys Darby and the DO’D at the festival so far, but I’m also hoping to see Trevor Lock, Paul Foot and I suppose Richard Herring at some point too. Anyway, aye, Mr Lee is at the festival, but also coming back to Aberdeen in November. I really would rather like a ticket to that too, but funds prohibit me at the moment. Back off to the happy place on the 19th July. Doing the silly thing and taking the bus for the first time since January. If this heat continues, it’ll probably be the worst journey of my life.
…So that should be fun! I’ll hopefully do an update before I head off, but probably not. If I do, it might mean because I’ve gotten over the hideous writer’s block or something actually noteworthy has happened. Here’s hoping!

Tags: comedy-nerdism, family, travel