As the minutes wind down for another year – and I run out of things to do back home – I will now look back at the previous 12 months that have made up 2024.
This post will also definitively answer the shoddily adapted philosophical question: if words are written and published online and no one reads them, are they even words? Well, yes, I have clear evidence that it does.
Property stuff
When 2024 began, I didn’t know where exactly I would be writing this. With my mum looking to sell the family home we all moved into when I was almost two months old, I thought I would be in a different surroundings. To cut a long story short, the sale fell through and I remain in familiar surroundings to close out this year. It again brings the question of where exactly I will be instead. But that is a matter for another time.
I do know that I will likely still own my flat in London in another 12 months, but there are now question marks on how much longer that will be the case.
The question is shaped by poor levels of transport. I had a moment of clarity when I had a week of abysmal train services. The point of moving back to London was to be about to get around easily and do stuff. Unreliable transport makes this much more difficult, and there are only so many passive-aggressive complaints you can send to a train company and receive responses along the lines of: “We are sorry that you were dissatisfied with the services on this occasion … etc, etc, etc. But essentially, we’re not going to do anything to improve the services and there’s nothing you can do about it. In the meantime, you will keep giving us money as you have no alternatives.” So, I am thinking that another 12 months of saving up should give me enough to fund the purchase of a flat that is in a location better served by transport.
The good news on the flat front is that the noisy dickhead in the flat below has finally moved out, only 11 months after I was told he was being evicted. So, that does at least finally bring some good news on that front. Just not for him, obviously. I no longer have to regularly put on my industrial earmuffs to block out him regularly shouting at his poor dogs or threatening someone on the phone. My bathroom should also now smell of stale weed smoke less often.
Health stuff
On the health front, 2024 has been a notable year for me and I began a diet for the first time in my life. A visit in early January to the doctor’s gave me a scare I needed to do something about my high blood pressure. A family history of strokes and a penchant for salty snacks are not a good combination.
I have eaten pretty healthily for most of my life – excluding when I was living in uni halls and first moved to London and was living off £1 pizzas from Asda while working in a call centre, along with my other regular meal of cheese on toast covered in buttery pasta. Both periods coincided with me getting barely any exercise.
Faced with medical evidence, I had to make some changes. The biggest casualty was Mini Cheddars, which were my snack of choice to the extent that I am expecting profits to be noticeably down at McVities.
The other notable change this year has been my reduction in alcohol consumption. Previously, I would have a pint every evening with my food, plus a few more pints at the weekend. My drinking has now been cut to weekend only, if at all. I also go running as often as I can and eat beetroot on a daily basis.
The result of being more boring is that I have lost 2.5 stone since the start of the year and my blood pressure has been good enough to avoid meds according to qualified medical professionals too. My health changes are working, I just need to stick to it all in 2025.
Comedy stuff
Now, onto the comedy. This year has been the most gigs I have done since 2019, before anyone had even heard of Covid-19. I will need to tally up my final total. But I think it is at least 50, possibly even 60.
This was some way off my target of 100. I’ve found my old gig diary back home at found that I did 143 in 2013, which has been the most I have ever managed. While I doubt I will top that stat as things currently stand. I like to think I’m more selective about what gigs I do. But the reality is that I did once travel to Croydon to die on my arse for five minutes in front of no audience for no money. I can say with near certainty that I won’t be doing this in 2025.
Nevertheless, comedy has still been mostly pretty good this year. The highlight is of course Edinburgh Fringe. Returning after five years away and selling enough tickets for official sold-out status was not guaranteed. Yet I am very pleased to report that there is not only life in the old HTWPAQ dog, there is also magic. It was a really fun run of shows and I achieved one of my ambitions to add an extra date due to demand.
I already have my 2025 venue and time slot confirmed. I have a few options for next year’s theme that I need to mull over. It’s also in a bigger room, so I will need to raise my game both from a performer and promotional perspective. I will write more about plans for 2025 in another post.
I also performed at other festivals. Some were great and I want to return to these. The others, perhaps not so much.
Music gigs
I went to a few music gigs this year. The first gig I went to was to see a My Chemical Romance tribute band, which I am fairly sure is where I got a horrendous infection that had all the symptoms of Covid. And no, getting ill does not serve me right for going to see an MCR tribute band. I hope to see the real MCR tour again in 2025. This illness deprived me of the moment when Justin Hawkins, who has been a hero of mine since I was 18, called me onto the stage at his theatre show to discuss my track from Ross Kemp: The Musical. Despite having a ticket for the show, I could not join him on stage as I was ill at home. Such a ridiculous scenario may never materialise again.
On a more positive front, I equalled last year’s tally of seeing Creeper three times. The first was in a small venue in Brighton and the third was at Wembley Arena, where they looked right at home. The second gig of theirs saw me return to Portsmouth Guildhall, which is also the same venue as I graduated in 2006. Somehow, that was 18 years ago. The outfits were equally ridiculous on both occasions, just with far more fake blood this time.
Other bands I saw this year were Amyl and the Sniffers, The Warning, and Idles. I hope to see more bands next year.
So, there we have it. The year known as 2024 is now at an end. I plan to write stuff on here more regularly next year, which I am aware is my intention every year. Regardless, the next time I publish anything here will be in 2025.