Pizza and a heart attack!

31 days do not get much busier or even bigger than the last 31 days and I have loved every minute. 

It started with the normal journey to Wembley for the weekly offering of "The X Factor". Saturday night started like any normal X Factor night, I went on about 20 minutes before we went live. About 3 minutes before titles and with my lovely X Factor crowd nicley primed Mark Baker, the floor manager, came over to me and whispered in my ear "The tower is down!". I looked at him with a completly blank look. He said again "The tower is down". Shit I thought, I really should listen harder in those awful boring health and safety briefings - this must be code for something. I looked back at him and replied "has the eagle left the nest?". He replied "seriously mate the BT tower has gone down and we are not going live - just keep them going". "How long for?".  "No idea 5, 10, 20 minutes, who knows? ". How much notice till we come back?" "1 minute"! This is when you earn your money and earn it I did but, if I am honest, I loved every bloody minute!

I popped up to Glasgow for the new Ch4 show "Hit The Road Jack" with Jack Whitehall. It was during X Factor so, due to having to get back to London, I travelled back via the overnight sleeper train - something I have always wanted to do. Being outside Glasgow train station at 11pm can only be described like being in a war zone. I have never been asked for money so many times nor bumped into by rather drunk Scotish people. At one point I had to run for cover in the chip shop next to the station. Here I was greeted by an array of deep fried things, the best being a battered covered Pizza!

I ordered a "Meat pie supper". The lovely lady gave me two meat pies. I said "Just one pie please" she replied "you have to have two". "Why?" I asked.  Its the rules! Bizarre Scottish tradition?

I have had many romantic notions about my train journey, what I didn't expect was a bed for a midget!

I seriously had to squeeze my legs under that bit at the end. It made for an interesting sleep! Not to worry, off to the dining carriage I thought. I was the only one and following a meat pie (yes I ate both) I didn't feel like sitting on my own with the jigging train and making me feel a little queazy!

I returned to London for the final of The X Factor 2011. I don't need to say anything, this picture says it all for this warm up guy!

And just in case I got a little big headed my XF family made sure my feet were firmly on the ground!

Looking at my blog traffic I was slightly baffled to realinse 14 people read my blog in Latvia. If you are one of them thank you! To the other 26754 from the UK, USA, Canada and Australia thank you also!

I worked on "The Chase" recently with Bradley Walsh. I watch this show in the background most days in the kitchen so it was nice to be doing a show without cooking, making coffee or attempting to help my daughter with her homework (which is getting harder)! Bradley Walsh is a real pro. Its old school and extreamly refreshing to work with someone who did their training up and down the country in clubs learning the trade without just having a square jaw and a gleaming white smile - true talent to the end! One of the guests was Joe Pasquale. Not many comedians make me laugh but Joe has a way of cracking me up for no apparent reason. It's silly, stupid and irrelevant but what is funny is funny and I have much respect for him. If you watch the beginning of The Chase they cut to a silhouette of "The Chaser". They needed someone to do this on the day - look closely, it is me which frankly is absurd, as asking me to represent the Chaser is like Jeremy Clarkson being asked to take over PR for the Labour government!

Christmas could be delayed!

Went to see Santa this week in Kingston, Surrey, not Jamaca and it was free. Yes I have actually found something that is free, however Santa wasn't exactly the happiest of chappies!

Kids panto this week. Four days at a small local theatre and I volunteered my first Saturday off in 12 weeks to help backstage. Well that is not entirely true, my wife volunteered my time backstage which of course I was happy to accept! I was overjoyed to be put in charge of the smoke machine for the opening of act 2, me, excessive, never!

I hope I don't leave it too long between blog posts, it seriously has been a very busy month! I hope you have a fantastic Christmas, I will!

Love this picture below, taken from my friends Angelina and Damien's house, they are good christian no drinking folk who have 12 cats, 2 pigs and a horse in the garden!