Sarah Millican

When: Friday 30^th March

Where: Hammersmith Apollo

Why: Geordie fellowship

I had a right old laugh on Friday night. Thank god for Sarah Millican. If nothing else, I would have been soothed just listening to her voice, because she’s a proper north east lass (I realise not technically Geordie because she’s a South Shields girl, but then I’m not a proper Geordie either…) and tells stories in the same lilting cadences as my Auntie Edna. Some parts of the stories she was telling would never pass over my Auntie Edna’s lips, but it was oddly comforting all the same. Addressing the audience members as ‘pet’ and ‘flower’ also mean you can be proper rude to them but they don’t take offence, which is a serious power of the accent. I love her frankness, saucy and occasionally graphic tales, and the fact that, as she said, she’s at the stage where she likes who she is and accepts her faults, and if anyone else doesn’t, “then they can just fuck off”: but all this is entirely without aggression or arrogance, just banterous honesty. A cracking feminist example, really, who also majorly understands (and advocates) the small pleasures of lady life, such as bra removal time (‘BRT’).

Our show was one of the ones being recorded for the DVD, which was exciting, but whenever the reaction camera panned over our bit of the audience, my face instantly became unacceptably squinty, or I found myself nervously nodding along as if I was at some kind of political rally. Awkward.

One of the main themes of the show was about taking risks in life (“Has anyone ever bungee jumped? … Once? Why did you not do it again? … You shat yourself? Fair enough.”), and two categories for styles of living were proposed. These were ‘dodgem’ – more cautious folks - and ‘bumper car’ – more reckless adventurers. You know if you’re a dodgem if you’re the sort of person who unplugs things before you go out, which is a category I definitely fall into. We were given badges as we left, with either dodgem or bumper car on them, and I now have my dodgem badge stuck proudly on my door.

The rest of the weekend has been pleasing: we hit two barbecues in one day on Saturday, one of which was at the housewarming of two of my friends, who have just bought their own flat. Lots of excited running around and appreciative squeaking at all the cupboard space ensued. Their housewarming present was found in Brixton Village at Brixi (@brixi7 on Twitter), a cute little shop full of odds and ends and handmade things. We got them a picnic/snuggly rug made of Welsh recycled wool which I am a serious fan of. Definitely going to have to get one for myself. Hooray for Brixon Village and its unique gift possibilities. We also went for a small walk around town today in the sunshine, and treated ourselves to a Lab G gelato (located just inside Brixton Village), and I plumped for kiwi and chocolate. Their flavours rotate every day, and there’s always something I haven’t tried before, which seriously does make me keep going back (although I would anyway, because it’s so delicious).  

Back to work tomorrow, but looking forward to the next few weekends. I am currently reading Margaret Atwood’s ‘Robber Bride’ which I am loving and which I’ll do a review of when I finish (love you Brixton library).

Coming up:

-         Easter weekend with my mum and brother, Brixton style

-         Frisky & Mannish at the Udderbelly

-         A Sheffield adventure (cocktail bar recommendations ahoy).

Woop.

Brixpig x