BBC, Cars, Films, Gigs, New Material

As the school term tumbles to a close, so do the school concerts. The latest one, yesterday, was fantastic - it's remarkable how the kids can turn it on in front of a big audience (the whole school plus their parents). True, so there is a tiny part of me that wonders why they can't always be that awesome in the lessons, but then again we were in a band rehearsal the other day and I was MILES OFF the pace, yet I know that for Sunday's gig I'll be professional and there won't be any issues. It's the live buzz, isn't it?

I'm looking forward to the gigs this month, four with FH, our first of the year. For a band that used to rack up to a hundred shows a year, it's weird that it's July and we've barely seen each other, but it's nice to be back in the rehearsal room with the guys and gals, as much as we were a bit sloppy. A wake-up call in a rehearsal is a good thing, yeah? The first of those four shows, all festivals, is this Sunday.

On giving Vix the singer a lift to and from rehearsals on Monday night, I noticed the ABS light appear on my dashboard of my new (very old) car. It was still driving fine, no issues, but I thought I'd get the light looked at. Called out a mobile mechanic who came around on Wednesday afternoon, diagnosed that it was a sensor issue, spent two hours 'fixing it' before, on driving the car around the block, realised the light had come back on and he'd actually changed the wrong sensor. I paid him, because he'd been on my driveway for two hours, and he assured me that the sensor he had fixed "would have needed doing anyway". He later messaged me a quote, £250, for the actual sensor that did need doing. As I drove to my lesson, my brakes started making a scraping sound. So it turns out not only did this clown not fix my car, he seems to have made it worse, and it's cost me £144. 

I've started to think...maybe he's not a mechanic? He's just got a website and a few Facebook adverts? I could claim to be anyone, I guess, I could claim to be a man who fits loft insulation, set up a webpage, do it badly and still get paid? I should have gone to the respectable garage, which was always the plan but they were too busy (they need over a week's notice which is annoying, but look - if they're busy, that's a good sign, yeah? The tosspot mobile mechanic was offering to even fix it over weekends). A lesson learnt: don't trust mobile mechanics called John from Peterborough, you'll just be out of pocket, and I'm already out of pocket from cars in general this year. I'd just like 6 months, please, 6 months without a warning light. 

Whilst that absolute cowboy pretends to be a mechanic, I'm the opposite and I'm still denying that I'm an actor. But I have been cast in another thing, a lead in a new film, first look at the script on Sunday morning. The writer/producer is coming down from Essex to meet me here in sunny Sawston. 

It's sunny everywhere, isn't it? Too hot and we have a flying ants nest in our hallway. Tomorrow I'm hosting a dinner party. This isn't a great combination. 

Met up with Izzy and Alan to run a new script I've been working on, that went very well and we'll do something with it soon. Met up with Esther for a pint and Edinburgh Fringe chat. 

The BBC broadcast my new piece last night, and are repeating it tomorrow night. A little solo comedy piece about my failure to jog. 

Plenty of nice things in the pipeline, especially a new play about a cowboy mechanic...