It's All Random In My Head...

Sleeping seems to be getting slightly better.  It’s still fairly cold in here without the radiator on, but I’m managing alright.

Today was a day full of being on the train.  I ventured down to the coast to the shipyard town of Portsmouth.  Upon arriving, the edge of land was right there at the rail station.  It had a salty sea smell in the air.  I wandered over to the Historic Dockyards to see what sort of attractions were around.  There were a few ships you could board and other activities, geared slightly more towards children.  I thought about seeing the ships, but when I saw the cost, I balked.  17 quid for one ship, or 25 quid for all attractions.  Seeing as my DAILY budget is around £30, I figured I’d skip this.  I’ve boarded old ships before, so I don’t think I’d miss TOO much. 

Instead, I headed for the outlets down the road. I know, I know, I said I’m not a shopper.  I’m really not, but it’s always easy (and free) to window shop at things.  The first store that caught my eye was a Cadbury factory store.  Heh heh heh.  Well, chocolate seems to be my middle name so I was drawn there.  The prices were moderately better than what one would pay at the grocery, and since I *am* taking a tour of the Cadbury factory later in the week (or next) I figured I’d wait to get a few things there.  This just gave me a preview of what I can snatch up.

Since I was being a bit Mr.Krabs-ish today, I opted to eat at Burger King.  (I know, I’m breaking a cardinal rule, yes, but I wasn’t hugely hungry AND all the other places nearby were places I’d recently eaten at in London)  And, besides, there was a sandwich there we don’t have in the States, so I wanted to try it.  It ended up being a standard BK-style sandwich.  Nothing to rave over. 

After lunch, I went up in the Spinnaker Tower, which is Portsmouth’s answer to the Eiffel Tower, or the Empire State Building.  It offered some nice views of the harbour and the ferries arriving.  You could also see the Isle of Wight from the tower. 

I wandered round a little more then headed back to the station.  I was en route to Brighton.  I managed to get on the train that stopped at 28 other stations before even arriving in Brighton. One thing worth noting about my train journey to Brighton was that Carlos the Demon Hairstylist is located in West Worthing.  So, demons, for all your coiffure needs, please visit Carlos.  He’ll make you look so fabulous the Dark Lord himself will say ‘gurl, who do your hair because bitch be lookin’ fine!’

I arrived around 4 and had about 3 and a half hours to kill before my show this evening.  I was attending Jon Richardson’s standup performance at the 2012 Brighton Comedy Festival.  I’d never seen him do standup, but had seen him on many panel shows and like his sense of humour, so I figured why not. 

Wandered North Laine and all the quirky shops there, and bought some Canadian, Swedish, and Australian candies from Cyber Candy.  Saw several things I’d love to buy, including a few fascinators for upwards of £55 (which I won’t end up buying, since I’ve been disallowed from wearing them to work) 

Saw a few very sad looking dogs tied outside Tesco waiting for their owner. 

I had a nice Chicken Curry supper at a rather tiny Japanese restaurant called Pompoko.  It was really tasty, but I probably should have opted with my original choice of a Tori Chilli Don dish (spicy chicken and rice)  Snoopers Paradise was shut for the day, sadly.  However, I’ll be back in Brighton again Friday, so I’ll stop in then. 

I queued up for Jon Richardson and my seat was on the aisle in the front row.  Good view, really.  He came out on stage promptly at 8, and was really wound up because the microphone cord was tangled and because a fly was tormenting him onstage. 

He did a 45 minute set ranting and going on about all his OCD, which was all amusing!  We had the interval for 20 minutes and at this time it was 8:50.  I was beginning to get nervous because there were 2 trains back to London and I wanted to make the one that would get me back in time for the tube to still be running.  I’m absolutely clueless when it comes to the bus system here, so was worried I’d be lost having to figure buses out at 12:30 at night, if I got back too late. 

He came back on and did his second set, funny stuff.  Yet, I’ve realised I’m the world’s worst person to take to see stand up comedy.  I’m not a visual laugher.  I find things humourous internally, so it appears I HATE it when I don’t.  It takes a whole lot to make me really heartily laugh.  I also realised Jon Richardson hates things even more than *I* do!  I didn’t think it was possible for someone to hate stuff THAT much.  But it’s kind of a fizzy happy hate, unlike Charlie Brooker’s bleak dyspeptic hate.  (I love both kinds, however.)

When the show ended I did my best to get out as quickly as I could.  It had just turned 10 and the next train was at 10:14.  I proved I’m horribly out of shape by powerwalking as fast as I could up the hill to the rail station from the Brighton Dome near the sea.

I was relieved when I made it with 5 minutes to spare.  I spent the next hour and a half on rail transport and arrived back at the flat feeling as if I’d been gone for days. 

On the agenda for tomorrow is Bristol and then a taping of Room  101 with Frank Skinner at the BBC in the evening.