Monday 18th - Friday 22nd February 2019

Holiday time! After plugging the podcast I was a guest on, sending out a bunch of emails to book up some jazz gigs and trying to sort out all of the life admin possible, it was time for a quick jaunt over to Budapest with A for the half-term break. Both being teachers (she's a proper one, I get away with it), we rely a lot on these half-term breaks to actually see each other and this was totally lovely.

True, so I didn't totally stick to my strict 'phone off' rule - I have a lot of emails about a lot of shows coming in and all manner of new projects/ideas on the back of a couple of really lovely stand-up gigs recently, but I was mostly very relaxed.

We slept, a lot. In fact, today - Friday, was the only day we were up before 11am for breakfast. Long lie-ins in the cheap little hotel we booked up months ago, leisurely strolls along the waterside and, let's be honest, far too much alcohol. Both of my favourite things involved beer - the 'beer spa' in which we got to sit in what was effectively a hot bath for 45 minutes with as much beer to drink as we can, and also the famous ruin bars - which had a real Edinburgh Fringe caves vibe to it all.

I've really come out of my comfort zone during this trip, too. Like many, I'm not overly proud of my body, so going to be a big open spa where you are wearing nothing but your swimming trucks isn't something I would have chosen for 'pleasure' - I have a weird dip in my chest, odd marks on my back (long story, nothing weird) and massive bollocks. But it was all fine, all totally fine, and nobody was judging anyone else.

Also went to a castle and on a boat trip, which is proper tourist stuff. Had the finest steak and winced at the bill, and watched a frankly terrible jazz duo in an outdoor restaurant.

The main joy of it all, though, of course, was simply spending time together. On one of the nights we didn't even go out - just sat and played cards in our hotel room till the early hours. We get on, I'm very lucky, it's all wonderful.

Got back in good time and then I got back to editing the TS scripts for the BBC project, which is now finally done. Busy times ahead, already all that resting feels like a lifetime ago...