This week was quite a challenge. I knew that recovering would be important. I slept through until lunchtime, when my housemate woke me with news of his departure. He's going to his mum's for the weekend. That was good. He could enjoy mother's day, and I could try to raise myself up from my slumber.

I arranged to meet a friend for lunch and started to get myself out of bed. I received answerphone messages from the cycle shop and from my neighbours in Newcastle. My bike was ready (I knew it would be, it had been there ages) and my garage door in Newcastle had blown open. Later I'd discover from the other neighbours, that my fence had blown down - not the section I'd just done, but a neighbouring section. Grrr!

I got my bike. My friend and I went into town for shopping and being scared of the sheer number of people pushing around you in a shopping centre. We had lunch and it was very pleasant. I had a gig to go to tonight, so was dropped back off with my bike and I headed home to prepare.

I would like to have done some DIY, but there was time for ablution and sticking my towel into the washing and then I was away. I ran late for my gig, but it was ok. I was still there for the start of the show. A friend of mine had come to see the show and I regret not getting there early enough to have a proper chat, rather than the snatched, in-between-things few words. However, such is the nature of the comedy night and the 90 minute journey that ends up taking 2 hours.

The show was a bit uppy and downy. When I took to the stage, the last caffeinated drink I'd had was still causing an odd sensation in my body, and I think, if I'm honest, I was just totally knackered. As a result, I had a sense that my mind and body were somewhat disconnected, almost as though I was working a puppet of myself, rather than quite being 100% present in the moment. This was, again, a probably symptom of exhaustion. I gave a performance which I should neither be proud nor ashamed of. It filled the room and got laughs, that's main thing. I managed a bit of ad-libbed audience banter, which, as has been happening a lot recently, made me wonder about the quality of my material, compared with my blethering skills.

The truth is that the ad-libbed laugh is always stronger than the scripted. Making the one look like the other may be a trick of the seasoned pros.

Still, I'm confident enough that I gave a good enough performance to warrant more work for the promoter. I'm that confident, because he told me he'd be giving me more work. Simple eh?

I drove back, via an all-night garage for some food. I bought mainly healthy stuff because I need to start eating more healthily (low cal, low fat etc) or I will re-gain the weight I so proudly lost.

Now back at home, my eyes are heavy and my body needs more sleep. There's DIY to do tomorrow, there's a gig. Life doesn't stop. Next week will be very very hard work. I need to be ready.

I need a holiday!