We woke up. There's an achievement. Last time we tried this, it went wrong through lack of waking up. This time, however, the waking was achieved. Then we drove (and by we, I mean me) to Newcastle to see what to do about the ceiling that was falling down. As it happened, my memory of the broken ceiling was more grotesque than the reality. After a little pulling down of debris and some attaching of plasterboard, it turned out that the gaping hole was just a replastering job. I'm not a plasterer, but I could do something approaching a patch here.

A trip to B&Q enabled us to buy less than £20 worth of bits and bobs to sort out the ceiling and also reseal the bath. Having worried about the expense of the leak in the first place, it's amazing to think that it came down to about £20 overall.

I patched the ceiling with my amateur artexing skills. There will be some repainting at some point soon, but I'd done all I needed to. There was time left over to do some work on the garden, throw a whole bunch of crap out, and even discover the holly that was growing up through the skirting board - note to self: the trees want in!

That was that. Less than 6 hours and we were done. I dropped my friend back in Leeds and headed to my gig. I arrived in plenty of time and watched the first two acts. This proved to be a pretty tricky room for about three reasons. I'm not going to say what they were, though. Ha!

Anyway, I went on and had a nice gig, using my special system of loving the audience to a point where they assume that they must, at least, like me. One particular audience member was very easy to love and I asked her if she could turn down how hot she was being for a bit... it was hard to concentrate. Tee hee. Who's the alpha male now? Not me.

After the gig, a girl approached me with what seemed like some sort of a come-on. Floored though I was at first, I soon spotted the signs. The giggling friends in the background, the rather odd level of conversation. This was a put-up job. I switched back-foots and started to engage her in more meaningful conversation. Her friends arrived and then we had a change in dynamic. One intensive woman in conversation - a bit weird. Five women gathered around you - an audience.

The job was, as they say, a good'un.

I left Manchester with a spring in my step and returned to my friend's house in Leeds. The day had had a number of bonuses and I felt in good spirits.