Warming Up

The dishonesty of promising more money for NHS, whilst actually wanting Brexit so you can sell the NHS off is breath-taking.... still, hard Brexit #hardbrexit

Given there is so much fear that not delivering Brexit meaning will lead to fighting in street, if Brexit leads to the destruction of the NHS we must all agree to fight in the street (though carefully as none of us will be able to afford to get our injuries treated) #hardbrexit

Still no one suspects my plan for the Herring Wall of Hertfordshire. I’d be surprised if anyone has noticed that there are slightly fewer stones that usual around that field. You must never tell that it is me. It’s secret. Also it might somehow be a crime. But if it is, it feels good to be breaking the stone laws.

For the next couple of weeks I have a proper job. Or at least a job where I have to go to an actual place and work. I am still writing comedy. I’m not building houses or doing anything useful (like building a wall out of stones, whilst turning a field to soil). But the job is in London and so I have to commute. And so it’s the first real test of whether living in the countryside is going to be a slight pain in the arse. 

The part of London where I have to get to is pretty hard to get to, even if you live in London, so I am driving in, but luckily not really too much at rush hour (though did get a bit caught up on the way home yesterday). And also luckily the sat nav is pretty good at finding ways round most of the stickier bits. It’s basically a 75 minute journey and there are times when I lived in London that I would travel that long to work in London.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written something with other people and there’s not much actual writing yet, as a table of very impressive writing talent (I am not allowed to give details, but I wouldn’t even if I was) try to figure out the characters and the situations they might get into. And mainly just chat away about anything that comes into our heads, which is a surprisingly good way of finding stuff that is actually relevant. 

It’s much easier and more fun than the slow torture of writing along (though there will be some of that later) and as it turns out, a bit of a therapy session for us too. I feel like I have a good part to play here too. I am pretty good at focusing in and obsessing on logic and detail (who would have thought that of a man who spent half an hour kicking stones round a field before work) and with a group of writers you really only need to say 5 useful things on a writing day and you’ve earned your money. And out of everything I do, writing is the one place where I do earn my money. It’s hard. Even if you’re just laughing round a table with people who are revealing their most private moments, even though they only met you yesterday.

Given so much of what you end up talking about isn’t directly about the script and that it is feasibly possible to sit quietly all day and say nothing and still get paid, I wondered if it might be possible to make a living, coming to these writing meetings and just being an affable and amusing person, telling stories, making everyone laugh, but not actually doing anything useful for the show beyond that.  But everyone wants to keep you around just because you’re fun to hang out with. I hope so. Because apart from the being fun to hang around with, that’s me.

There’s room in TV budgets to pay someone handsomely for no reason (just ask any producer), so it’d be great to have a fifty year career out of being someone who creates a nice atmosphere and likes eating crisps.