I arrived at the office today with only £1.20 in cash. I really need a trip to the bank and cash machine. I had to revise my usual breakfast order. It got healthier. I had some fruit and a smaller version of the coffee I normally have. It's okay, though. I have cash in the bank, somewhere, and recent calculations this weekend show that I have some reserves of wealth which could be plundered if necessary, though I'm more likely to plunder them in order to buy vital works for the house than coffee.

Not poor was my exit from the house this morning, which was just in time to arrive at work at the desired time, and managed to include a quick chat with the roofer who has worked so hard on the property over the last month. Sadly, he's had to work hard because there has been a lot to do, which can only make me poorer, but it will make the property better, so I guess that's the trade off. Bit of advice, though, don't have just any old idiot do your roofing - it's more expensive to put stuff right than to get it done properly in the first place. I didn't make that mistake, but I'm paying for whoever did.

Moving back in time to the bit before I showered last night, I actually motivated myself to do some work in the house. This was quite encouraging. I spent maybe an hour in the kitchen ripping plaster off the walls, nails out of the ceiling joists and chipping at the occasional tile. Rubble sacks were filled. It was a bit dark. Really, the job can't proceed until I've cut off the sink and valved off the pipes for it. The cost of failure with that job is that I have to keep the entire water supply for the house off, so I want to do it when I've time to solve any problems which might arise. So I didn't do it last night.

As a narrative device, I've decided to tell this story backwards.

As another narrative device, I've decided to tell you what my narrative device is. Honesty is definitely the best policy. In fact, being single, I can be as honest as I like. In fact, I think I was largely very honest in my last relationship, so being single might not have much to do with it. Though there are still thoughts which cross my mind which I won't write down... though there are some thoughts that cross my mind that I can only write down. Like on Sunday night. I was sitting at the gig next to a pretty young woman, who is also a stand-up comedian. She was waiting to go on. She was ripping a beer mat to shreds. I commented that she must be frustrated. She said she was and that she was also sexually frustrated. When an attractive women tells you she's sexually frustrated AND you're already gearing your brain up for a gig, you can't help but make a joke. I wrote it down and showed it to her. I hadn't said it, and I think showing it on a piece of paper, in the manner of passing notes in school, is sufficiently indirect for me not to look like a sleaze. I hope so. The joke read. "She said she was sexually frustrated while tearing up a beer mat. I said, well, if you want something better to do with your hands...". Very poor.

As a narrative device, I went off on a tangent just now. Back to the story of last night.

Prior to the DIY hour-a-thon (is that a word?) I had actually spent the night out. So, doing any DIY at all is to be applauded. I would have expected myself to just go to bed. However, I arrived home at about 10.30, having spent from about 9pm traveling via train and car from London, via where I work, to my home. Inspired by the watching of "War of the Worlds" on Friday, I'd listened to the original recording of this masterpiece that I have on my mp3 player. Then, curious about what I think of it this month, and with an H.G. Wells theme going on, I listened to the musical adaptation that CP and I did of "The Time Machine". Some of it I really enjoyed, and I sang along a fair bit in the car on the way home. Some of it I didn't mind. One or two bits made me feel a little derisory. That's not a bad balance.

Why was I in London? I was running the technical shebang for the sketch show I run technical shebangs for. Overall, I think it was a successful exercise. Having said that, it was a show we'd done the most preparation for, and I think that the preparation had been equalled with the number of last-minute changes that were made. However, perhaps without the preparation these last-minute changes, which were undoubtedly for the benefit of the show, would not have been considered.

I like the technical doings that I do for the show. It requires a certain amount of preparation from me away from the cast. I usually do about two hours of checking and re-checking all the cues to compile the sound effects onto CD and create any tracks that they can't give me, mark up the script etc.

Once we get into the venue, I bark orders through an hour-long-ish technical rehearsal where I demonstrate all the cues and check that I know how to synchronise them with the action.

Last night I made 3 minor errors. I think I got away with them.

Prior to heading to London, I was a day in the office. I agreed to do a gig for tonight, which means another night away from the DIY, which is probably why I ended up doing an hour last night. However, I can't say no. So, so long as we're clear on that, there's no harm in saying yes.

So, tonight I'm off to Coventry for probably no money. I've done gigs in the Coventry area twice before. Neither went particularly well. Tonight is a new material night. As a result, I'm going to concentrate on stuff I'm not very good at... so we'll see what happens with it. It may be very poor.

And that's my title repeated enough.