Late blog – I know. Sorry, I was either really busy or
asleep in London.
The time just flew past and I didn’t quite catch up with
myself.
And I have been partying a wee bit, I do that in London – I
rarely go out in Glasgow and save all the time up and end up staying out at The
Groucho Club till 2am, then sleeping in like a fat old dog.
My trip here has been really interesting, firstly on arrival
in London I decided to call up Gordon Smith who is the boss of the Scottish
Football thingy and I applied for the job as Scotland football manager. The
fact I called it ‘thingy’ should indicate I am not really suited to the job.
But the press were touting Sean Connery as the next manager and because I
actually live in Scotland, I thought I should be more in the running so to
speak. I can order men about, I can actually play football and I am great at
strategy, what’s not to like?
“Do you have a valid coaching license?” Gordon Smith asked.
“No, but I do know Hologram Tam and he is the worlds best
forger and he can get me one” I laughed.
Well, they never called back, so I guess the job is not for
me.
London is wonderful at this time of year as the Christmas
lights are up in Oxford Street and I LOVE the lights, I am such a sentimental
twat at times, but I just love the wintry feeling and the twinkling lights.
Hyde Park is just a carpet of crisp golden leaves and the
sky at teatime over London is scudded with crimson smudges that reflect onto
the oily surface of the Thames, it’s just amazing!
It’s as if someone had taken a whorey pink lipstick to the
sky and had dragged it over the dappled clouds.
The pale blushing sky creates an inspiring backdrop to the
Houses of Parliament; you have to see it to know what I mean. I love London.
I don’t love drug fucked alcoholic men with skinny hard
faced blonde women who come to comedy clubs to scream at comedians. I hate
those bastards more than anything and yet Camden seemed to draw them in on
Friday and Saturday night.
It can be exhausting verbally fighting with coke fuelled men
in front of 200 people for money, but I am an MC and that’s my job. I won, they
were thrown out and the comedy went good. Ok, heres some tips for anyone who
fancies coming to enjoy a comedy gig.
Don’t
snort Peru up your nose; it doesn’t make you amiable in a crowd of quiet
people listening to one person.
Don’t
patently ignore someone with a microphone speaking to you and try not to
carry on foaming at the sides of your mouth as you scream at other comedy
goers asking you to shut up.
When
200 people shout ‘LEAVE! LEAVE!’ accept that they don’t like you and just
fucking leave. The people have spoken my friend.
Don’t
abuse someone for being Scottish then try to cover that abuse up by
declaring you are half-Scottish, that’s just mental and invites some of
the best retorts from a Scottish MC.
Never
go anywhere where you want to talk more than the people everyone else has
paid to listen to. It really is that simple, stay at home and shout at
yourself, is all I am saying.
Other than that life is good. Meetings went well and I now
have some serious writing to do.
I got to hang out with Monica my best mate in the world and
it was so good to see her, we get to talk really fast Glaswegian and not worry
about pronunciation or slowing down for other people. Though she does speak
amazing Italian, French, Spanish and possibly seven other languages in a
fabulously funny Scottish accent, I hear her talk to some of the European chefs
she represents and piss myself laughing – she is amazing.
Nothing strange, funny or weird happened for me to write
home about, am sorry- I feel as though I am letting you all down if I haven’t
punched a Politician or fell down a flight fo stairs in front of a Hollywood
superstar, but sometimes my life is dull and is all about looking at the
awesome skies over London. Am home tomorrow…speak soon.
I was in Aberdeen last week doing a show at the Lemon Tree,
a storm lashed the Granite City, and sideways rain like a giant fire hose was
drenching each street at a specific annoying angle. The new shopping centre was
lovely but unfinished and the cash machines gobbled up cards and refused to
spit them out, like a greedy plastic swallowing hooker.
The hotel had a wee single bed which slid along the floor
when you sat on it and to top it all the fire alarm screamed us all awake and
made us all stand in the sideways rain in our pyjamas, I wanted to burn to
death instead.
Touring is so sexy.
I was tired when I hit Aberdeen station to get the train
home. There was a big fat steely haired woman in a rail workers jacket at the
ticket gate. “What ticket do I put through the machine to get onto the platform?
There are nine tickets printed for this journey, I don’t know which one to
slide through the machine!”
She sneered and shouted “the one that says journey ticket,
why don’t you check?”
The tickets have tiny writing and there are so many of them
it really is hard to figure out which one is the valid ticket.
“Listen up fatty, NINE tickets here now tell me which one?
They all look alike. What is your job? Staring at pigeons?” I shouted at her.
Just then two really old people came behind me with a deck
of tickets (why is there so many wee orange tickets printed out for A JOURNEY?)
“What ticket do we use to get through there are so many?”
the wee old stooped man asked fatty fuckwit.
“What do you think? The one that says journey…” she started
to yell.
“Ok, you annoying pedantic fat pain in the butt, I will
stand here and I will show people which ticket as the TRAIN is LATE I will do
your job and help elderly people with the tickets” I screamed. Pigeons flew
away in fear.
So I stood there at the gate and pointed out to people who
were staring at a fist full of tickets and who asked fatty sarcastic arse for
help.
Every time she attempted to use her nasty sneering attitude,
I butted in and helped the people. It wasn’t altruistic I was just annoyed at
her and bored to be honest.
She then told me to stand back from the gates and I refused.
She got the station master bloke who came over, listened to
her moan about me standing at the gate and then came over and told me to move.
I explained that she was ignoring people’s pleas for help
and explained the whole situation and the elderly man and wife came over to
back me up. Fatty was told off and made to go back to the hut where I hope the
chained her to a radiator and let her piss her own fat legs. What a cow.
They put a young Polish bloke on the gate and he politely
explained to people who were struggling to figure out which ticket to slide
through the machine. Screw you Aberdeen station ticket woman.
The journey home was pleasant except I had a screaming kid
on the seat opposite. I didn’t get angry I merely got off my seat and went into
first class where the ticket checker let me sit the whole journey for no extra
charge, see some people on trains are nice.
I went up to Easterhouse to do my one woman comedy show on
Saturday and it was awesome. Lovely to see so many people turn up for comedy
and the show went well; Ashley sold 25 of my books for me, what a lovely child!
This week I am off to London, I have some gigs, some
meetings and another big audition. Scary stuff but contrary to the rumours, I
am not going into the jungle…don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
Dear Janey, you are probably sitting listening to a Donny
Osmond LP on your big record player and dreaming of becoming a Mormon, flying
off to Utah and marrying the toothy singer…it won’t happen, stop crying and
dreaming of Salt lake City and swoony Osmond kisses, he marries his teenage
sweetheart and she has all her teeth, you have nine missing.
Oh, by the way, buy a toothbrush, I know you have hardly any
cash but seriously that stuff they say about decay is right, a toothbrush is
important. By the time you are 40 years old you will have paid £2,000 in
veneers and bridge work at a private dentist.
Yes, you will have private health care; I know it’s hard to
believe right now.
So, get the record player turned off and start staring at
school books. Try harder to understand maths and don’t give up on art or
English, you will be good at both in future, just try to understand me when I
say you will write, paint and you really need to understand percentages when
you get older.
I know it’s the 70s but please don’t wear a plaid shirt tied
at the waist with your curly fringe hanging over your eyes, and if you do have
to look like that please don’t get a Polaroid photo taken in Mr Woods garden, I
have seen the picture and it made my eyes water. It is even on the internet,
something I can’t quite explain right now, but will be really big in the
future.
The 1980s are just around the corner and hair perms get
really fashionable. Please DO NOT get a perm, you have really curly hair and it
will result in you being housebound for three days, and a hair-do that makes
Gladys Knight and the Pips jealous, no white girl should have hair bigger than
Diana Ross.
If you are still not convinced of this advice, go to the
local library and look up a boxing promoter called Don King and never ever
forget that that’s what you will look like if you get a cheap perm in a
Parkhead hair salon called ‘Hair Flair’ in 1981.
Also just to save you a lot of time, money and energy, you
CANNOT skateboard, play the violin, do yoga, cook soufflé, wear strapless bras,
pink eye shadow and you will never enjoy ballet performances.
Oh, by the way, that dream you had about a TV being made
into a wrist watch? That actually gets invented. You were a visionary!
So Janey, don’t go into school tomorrow and declare that you
are leaving, I know you have a shoe issue, but take up your mums offer to wear
her slip on sandals and get through the week. Having no shoes is not good
enough excuse to screw up your life.
Your dad will buy you shoes next week. Go there in your bare
feet if needs be as you really need to go get an education, get into university
and leave with a degree, if you do that, me getting into jobs later in life
will be a hell of a lot easier, people are snobs and TV companies prefer folk
with a Uni degree, even if they are shit at the job, it helps on paper.
Just on another note, your breasts will grow, I know they
look like two moles poking their noses through pizza dough, but they really get
big, seriously big and it is amazing how much they get big, have I emphasised
that enough? Big boobs Janey will be a nickname.
Don’t throw a medicine ball at a guy called Craig Armstrong
on your hockey pitches, he is a wee bit older, geeky and likes music. He really
becomes the most famous person from your school and is an amazing composer. You
will love his stuff and download it (don’t ask what that means suffice to say
you will never use vinyl records forever, but do keep them safe anyway). Just
avoid hurting him, especially his fingers, they are his life and don’t call him
a tweedy fuckwit, its makes him never want to speak to you again. He has a
really long memory.
Tonight when you watch Sale of the Century on the telly,
don’t let your mum slag off Nicholas Parsons, when you get older he will become
a nice friend and you will feel bad about your mum shouting at the TV and
calling him an ‘English Toffy Nose Bastard’.
I know you are wondering what the hell happens later in
life, so far I have scared you with dental work, big tits and Nicholas Parsons,
but bear with me.
Sometime soon, you will get a boyfriend called George; he is
really quiet, drinks too much and has deep psychological issues. What you think
is a quirky attitude is actually a dark violent streak; he likes to stab men
with a knitting needle.
He might be a good kisser and doesn’t push you into sex, but
he really does get into needles later on in life and they aren’t for knitting
with. Who knew heroin would be such a big hit in inner city Glasgow?
You will break up with him when he asks you to marry him,
one suggestion -don’t laugh out loud, remember the violent streak?
He doesn’t take rejection or laughter in his face very well.
Ignore him and walk away. But worry not -you do make a lucky
escape.
I do really want to warn you about the next man, but if you
don’t marry him, go through the scary shit you don’t get to produce a beautiful
daughter and become a funny comedian.
I suppose you need to tread that crap to be the woman you
need to be, but the husband is ok. It’s amazing how annoying he can be, but
here’s a clue, don’t talk too much. I think you need to know that the talking
thing bothers people, keep some of that inside but if and when you meet your
husband’s family and feel like being cheeky, go right ahead.
You actually develop a really good repertoire for arguments
and you usually win.
Don’t worry about jobs, you actually become self employed
from a young age and that continues throughout your life, and stick to your
theory about not drinking, not smoking and never touching pills or drugs. You
were right about that, and in later years if someone offers you something
called ‘smack’ you will be right to refuse to smoke it off a foil tube, it
kills most of your friends. That sounds scary but trust me it is over in a
blink and you eventually write a play about it. Yes, you will write a bit, did
I mention that? Just try to remember everything as you need to recall it to
write it.
Just so you know, you will produce a tall wonderful child,
and she will get everything you never had. She will be clean, educated and
never need to worry about fresh underwear, your vow for the future of your
child to be happy, well fed and educated will come true.
Don’t worry about labour pains; they aren’t that bad as
everyone tells you and you recover quickly.
Something else I want to tell you, enjoy your body, you have
wee skinny legs, so go show them off. Stop worrying about thinking you are fat,
your not, be confident and when those boobs grow take time to watch men stare at
them, savour that moment when they are up high and firm, it will feel like a
distant memory when you are older…enjoy the pert tits.
Don’t wear baggy shirts to disguise them, get a good bra, a
tight tee shirt and get them out there, they look amazing (I know I saw the
photo’s) but you will suffer from self consciousness over them, try to enjoy
them Janey, it’s a time to relish and it passes before you know it and you will
spend your middle ages kicking yourself for hiding them when they had looked
their best!
My last big thing I need to tell you, get to know your mum a
bit more. She is a bit scatty, but just look at her; make sure you embed every
single facet of her face into your memory. Don’t give her a hard time, hug her.
Climb into bed and let her read to you, I know you are 16 years old, but she is
a great reader and you grow up and take that skill with you.
Breathe in the smell of her, even the strange ones. Touch
her face, smile and hold her. She had a crap life and you really want to share
some time with her, if possible get that Polaroid camera out and get a photo of
you both together. It would be nice, but probably won’t happen.
She needs you, you don’t know that, but she isn’t good at
saying stuff that scares her. Let her dance with you, get her to sing a musical
with you, let her pick which song she wants and get up and dance around the
room.
Hold her tight Janey and don’t ever forget how the skin on
her face feels, or the thickness of her hair or the flecks of amber in her
brown eyes.
Most of all Janey, don’t give yourself a hard time for
wanting more than she had, so go get shoes, get ready for a bra fitting and
always brush your teeth, you have a long way to go and I will be here when you
get there!
Yes, Christmas has a particular scent, its cinnamon and
spices and supermarkets pump it out discreetly in case we forget what the
spending season smells like.
I hate being manipulated like that don’t you?
Christmas or winter to me smells like wood burning and the
frosty bright mornings remind me of the seasons changing, I don’t know anyone
who boils cinnamon, makes spiced oranges or who mull wine not from present day
nor my past, because I wasn’t alive in Victorian times when Christmas came into
its own.
It seems we modern folk can’t have our own Christmas
identity; we have to hark back to the olden days to get one. Cards and TV
adverts show small Victorian dressed children with rosy cheeks and furry muffs
staring through bevelled shop windows as their ankle boots are deep in crisp
snow. Is there anyone alive who can recall that? NO!
To me childhood Christmas memories are of musty socks
hanging over our old coal fire in the front room and my brothers fighting each other
with tangerines in socks as weapons. So keep your cinnamon scented wafts, it
means nothing to me Mr Supermarket psychological manipulator!
We will be having a quiet Christmas as always, just me
husband and Ashley. I might go see my dad on Christmas day as this will be his
first as a widower and I would hate that he was lonely. We don’t do family at
Christmas, to be honest I don’t really have much contact with my family and the
less said about husband’s family the better!
My own brothers and sister are just busy with their own
lives, they have kids and husbands/partners of their own and I rarely see them,
which is fine with us all. But when I hear of people who all get together and
have dinners etc, it makes me hanker for a big family of love. Which is
probably nonsense as I am sure that those big families all fight like hell, and
are just being nice to each other, at least my brothers and sister don’t fight
amongst themselves ( as we don’t get together!).
Went to the docs today and explained about my colon pain and
stuff you really don’t need to know which involves my bowels. He told me I
would be referred to a specialist called Dr Dover to which I replied “is his
first name Ben?” To which my doctor said “No, Why?”
“It was a joke…Ben Dover...the bum doctor…its funny when you
say it all together” I quipped.
“Ah, you are a comedian, I forgot” said my doctor with a
sardonic look.
So, maybe I am not a comedian after all, Dr Shaw has exposed
my lack of humour right there in the surgery at 10am
So life at Godley’s World is ticking along fine, been busy
-had an ear infection, went deaf had loads of work and writing hard and this
Saturday I am doing my one woman show at Easterhouse Platform The Bridge at
8pm. Do come along if you want, it will be fun!
Am listening to Jay-Z and I do so love him…Empire State of
Mind is awesome…anyway I am sure you are not reading this to find out what
music am into.
Last week, my ears decided to totally block up with bricks
of wax. Yes, I produce more wax than a queen bee and my ear then cuddles it all
around my ear drum and making me deaf. This was a pain the ass as I had a lot
of work this week, you try doing a charity auction half deaf!
The people at the Boisdale Club in Belgravia London really
helped me out, they raised hands to pledge cash, love those nice folks, but the
tartan carpets were odd though. You always know you are in England when you see
hundreds of tartan throughout a building.
I then flew home half deaf picking at the ear, filling it
with ear drops (which are more expensive than crack per fluid ounce) I now have
a healthy ear drop habit, they don’t work. You know what works? Nothing, just
in case you were interested, I filled my gungy ears with that stinky expensive
fluid and all that happens was that it all ran onto my neck.
I had warm up work for a sitcom called Life of Riley. I
needed to hear; I ran to my doctors to get an emergency appointment and was
seen by a woman I have never met before. She was either Latin American or faking
a funny accent to add a frisson of excitement to my ear examination…or maybe I
couldn’t hear her properly. “Are you Spanish?” I asked.
“No, am Asian, is there something funny about the way I
speak?” she snapped at me. I had now insulted a woman who was about to poke a
big shiny pointy thing into my ravaged tender ear hole, that will learn me.
Apparently the wax STILL hadn’t softened enough for them to
syringe it. The wax in my ear is made of titanium steel and is refusing to let
the expensive stinky drops soften it down. Perfect.
“When will it be
ready?” I pleaded.
“Three weeks or maybe never” she shouted at my ear.
Must remember to never get Asian people mixed up with
Jennifer Lopez, my ears are doomed. So I went home and syringed them myself,
fuck it.
So some wax did come out and I can now hear enough to get
by.
The warm up work was awesome and tiring at the same time,
asking people to laugh at the same joke on set can be weary, but that audience
were amazing. Met the lovely Caroline Quentin who helped me out a few times, by
coming over and chatting away to the studio audience, and that helped when they
got bored of me talking.
I didn’t have to fly to Southampton this past weekend as the
Jongleurs comedy club there has shut. I will miss the gig but Southampton was a
pain in the arse to get to from Glasgow, so am enjoying a weekend free.
Well I am actually working tonight in Glasgow and managed to
fill in the gigs, but the news I am trying to convey is this- I get to stay at
home for a weekend!
I am struggling with the no smoking….well actually I started
smoking again that’s how much of a struggle I was having. Now I am OFF them
again…wish to fuck I could just kick the damn habit.
Some breaking news, I am now selling my autobiography ‘Handstands
in the Dark’ through my website and you can click and buy it there www.janeygodley.com