I hate traffic. I had 3 hours to get from the hotel to my office. Failure was not an option. The traffic was threatening to make the failure thing happen. This was not good at all. Plus, I'd had to say a quick farewell to my girlfriend - I'm terrible at goodbyes. The problem was that I had to get to work on time. There were jobs to be done and no room for excuses.

Somehow, by driving at crazy speeds when it was clear, and by keeping my temper when I hit two rush hours - Middlesbrough AND Newcastle - I got to the office before my self-imposed deadline. I was already frazzled. I had a day's work to do in the office and then I had a gig to perform at that evening. My voice was still rough, but that was fine. The gig is a material tryout gig, so I could try out the spoken-word material I had not managed to get together over the previous weekend. I'd also do some of my usual stuff on the guitar. Plus, I'd written a tiny routine about a headline I saw on the way to the gig in Bridlington. I'd shared this with the Bridlingtonians on the night and they'd liked it - I reckoned it would work with any audience.

So, after a stressful day in the office, where I fought my own frustrations and responsibilities, I got home, got food and then got back out to the gig. It was a laid back night. I enjoyed myself. I was on last and started out by lifting the room. This was fun. Then I blethered my way through my new bit. I think it has 70% chance of ever working in some form or other. I can try it again later in the month when I'm doing a regular MCing slot. That's a good place to try new stuff out for me.

The night ended when I gave a lift home to another act. We got a bit lost, but the conversation was good, so it didn't really matter. I got to bed tired and just about ready for the next day.