If this
is the first time you have read any of my blogs, welcome, and where
the hell have you been?! I must explain that I am lucky enough not to
have a job. I have so much fun and meet so many lovely people. What I
do to earn money can't really be described as a job. It is more a
passion, but with all passions, sometimes it's very hot, sometimes it
cools a little. Having said this it never disappears.
Seeing
the response to my work and my comedy is very fulfilling, But the
relentless travelling and traffic becomes overbearing at times. It
was the hottest day of the year last Wednesday, in fact it was the
hottest day ever recorded in Britain. I had spent the day working
with the National Literary Trust in a shopping centre in Leicester. I
had a brilliant day, The schools that visited were wonderful. The
staff and management of the centre were so helpful and made life easy
for me. So when I left for home I was in quite good spirits until I
hit the M1. There had been a crash and a chemical spillage on the
motorway. I left Leicester at 3pm for what should have been a one and
a half hour journey home. It took me over six hours to reach home, and
this on the hottest day of the year!
I am
really lucky to visit lots of schools, both here and abroad. Some, I
visit every year. Lots of these schools are wonderful places of
learning with hard-working, devoted teachers. We always hear the
negatives about members of the teaching profession, but most of them have my
utmost admiration. I don't single out any schools as my favourite,
because I don't think its fair, but I visited a school on Thursday
which I have visited many times. It has to be one of the best schools
in the country. Everyone who works in this school, from the cleaning
staff right through to the head, has a fantastic ethos about life.
The teaching staff are second to none and not only inspire the
students but also inspire me working with them.
Having
spent so much time around happiness and inclusion and tolerance, it
is once again sad to see that one of the weirdy beardy's puppets have
gone on a rampage of blind hate, anger and stupidity! The killings in
Tunisia have not only ended the lives of innocent people but have
brought financial destruction to the country. Tunisia relies heavily
on tourism, this action has nearly wiped out their financial lifeline overnight. Why do religious bigots think that suffering and
misery are a good thing? Why are they bent on destroying the lives of
those who wish to live life differently to them?
Still
on the the subject of religious low lifes, I see that yet another
Catholic bishop is supposed to stand trial for yet more sexual abuse
claims. But guess what? He's fallen ill, so he can't stand trial. How
many more paedophiles are going to use the illness route to avoid
prosecution? All those in power who have had the allegations laid at
their doorsteps either develop a life-changing illness or the
evidence mysteriously disappears! While we are on the subject what
happened to the case that was levied at Prince Andrew? Has that been
dealt with? I have been away for a while but I've not heard about it?
The
abuse of children has been a subject that has in the past been
brushed under the carpet in this country. Institutional abuse was
rife for years. The powers that be, whether they are political or
religious, have glossed over the allegations of their own in the past.
Now with social media, they are finding it harder and harder to hide
their seedy little creeps, so they offer up lower ranking people in
their organisations to through the media off the scent of the big
names. The 'So vile' case has proven this, how many big names have
been brought forward since we found out how many poor young children
Jimmy was fixing it for? The authorities were aware of these
allegations at the time but did nothing! Shame on them!
On a
lighter note, Amongst the highs of my touring which is not yet
finished, I have another few weeks left yet.
My
performances are all comedy-based and are designed to break down
barriers students may have to reading and writing. So I work hard to
get as many laughs as possible, whenever I visit a school.
This
week at a shopping centre in Manchester while working for the National Literacy
Trust, a group of school kids were laughing and were quite
boisterous. I noticed a young lad sitting just in front of where I was placed: he looked quite perplexed. I had worked hard to get the
audience on my side when, after half an hour, in a loud voice, he turned
to his friend next to him and asked, “Is this supposed to be
funny?”
Also
last week my beautiful little granddaughter, Harleigh came to stay.
She sleeps over at our house every Sunday night, and stays Monday.
Both my wife and I look forward to her visits as we both dote on her. Usually
Harleigh, who is only two and a half years old, likes to take her
favourite book up to bed with her. We both lie in bed and read the
book while eating fresh toast and drinking green tea. This ritual has
become a must for both little Harleigh and myself on Sunday evenings.
The books we normally read are Old MacDonald, where we have to find
animals and numbers, and another book which was her father's favourite
book when he was little, 'Andrews Bath'. This book tells of little
Andrew's first bath without his parents and contains the line, “Get
up them stairs to that bath!” this is Harleigh's favourite bit as
she gets all excited and stand up in bed and shouts it out.
Last
week I thought I would introduce Harleigh to one of my books. My most
famous book is called 'The Spot On My Bum' which contains a poem by
the same name. This poem is quite famous and has kids of all ages
laughing when they hear it. So I read the poem to her (I don't know
why I read it, I wrote it and have recited it for over seventeen
years). Little Harleigh listened with intent then, when I had
finished, hoping for the happiness and recognition all us needy
writer types crave, little Harleigh looked at me and said, “Not
read silly book Babo, read good book!” and then snatch my book from
my hands and replaced it with Old MacDonald! Children have a way of
keeping your feet firmly on the ground!
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