Fame at last

Went to see Ricky Gervais' Fame show at the SECC last night, and had a thoroughly good time. He's not one of the old school comedians, who can improvise or draw on a vast catalogue of gags - but with an hour's worth of meticulously scripted material, he's a fine comic performer.

His support act, Will Smith, was good too. No, not that one.

And the seats? In terms of location, couldn't have been much better. Front row, just slightly right of centre. Spectacularly uncomfortable, though. And the forty minute wait to get out of the car park after the show was a bit of a pisser too.

But all in all, a great night out. If you want a rough idea of the show's content, click here. Just don't expect great video or audio quality.

School's In

I feel sorry for the kids. You remember them, the little characters who go to school. Well, most of them. As if it's not bad enough that, living in this country, they get the shortest summer holidays in Europe, on top of that they have the weather to contend with. The weather which, this year, has properly screwed them over.

After a rather tight-fisted six weeks* of - at best mediocre, but on the whole.... shite - weather, they went back to school this week. And true to form, the minute they're back to being cooped up in the classroom, wouldn't you just know it, the sun has got his hat on. Hip hip hip hooray. Today was the hottest day of the year** in some parts of Scotland, and it certainly felt like it to me while I was sitting in an aircon-free office, sweating like Gary Glitter watching Kindergarten Cop.

* Six weeks? I've had farts that have lasted longer than that.
** I know that's not saying much, but it was noticeable.

There and back again (by lunchtime)

Had a hospital appointment in Edinburgh today. That's a two-hour journey for what turned out to be a five-minute consultation which could have just as easily have been conducted by phone. It boiled down to this:

• How's the ankle been since last time?
• Much the same really, bit more movement. The hydrotherapy is helping.
• Any pain?
• No.
• Can you come back in six months?
• Yes.

On the plus side, the earliness and, er, shortness of the appointment meant that I was back home by 12:30pm, just in time to have lunch and do very little for the rest of the day.

I blame Ricky Gervais

I can't shift these Ricky Gervais tickets for Edinburgh Castle (which I bought before finding out that he was playing Glasgow the night before). They've been on eBay for two days, but not so much as a nibble so far. I wonder what's putting people off? Could it be anything to do with his less than spectacular performance at the Diana memorial concert....?