I slept in my underwear last night. I usually sleep in pyjamas; in case you were wondering. There is for sure a heatwave on the way. Welcome to Monday, by the way. I have had a busy weekend and I will tell you all about it now.

My car, Gary (you know Gary), has been under the weather a lot lately. I will hopefully have a mechanic look at him today. It’s nothing too serious. He just feels a bit off. Being the anxious Andy that I am, I had been anticipating this past weekend for a while. Two events over two days in two venues I had never driven to before. Did I survive? Well, I have written this, haven’t I?

This all started on Saturday with an OTT Wrestling show in The Red Cow area of Dublin. I had actually driven to The Red Cow before. Here is a throwback for you. Long story short, I got there unscathed. It took a bit longer than I expected because following the sat nav and finding the venue are two completely different activities. I found it eventually and parked up. I had time to have a couple of glasses of Coke and a pepperoni pizza with pieces of pepper in it, for some reason. That was not what I ordered. Did I complain? No.

The show itself was great fun. OTT shows are always fun, otherwise, I would stop going to them. I got to see Will Ospreay, who is considered one of the best wrestlers on the planet today. Having now seen him, I can confirm he is worth the hype. I didn’t get home too late. I was too buzzing to go to bed right away anyway. Then came yesterday, aka Sunday.

Yesterday Gary and I drove for the first time to my old stomping ground of DCU for a show in The Helix headlined by Dr John Cooper Clarke. I went to DCU for three years and only a couple of months ago went back to visit with Billie. Unlike last time, the skies were clear. I got a chance to chill out and have a bit of a wander. There weren’t many people around because the semester hadn’t started yet. I walked down the Ballymun Road entrance to the local Spar and had Subway for lunch/dinner, like in the olden days. Oh, to be 20 again. Dr Clarke was supported by the same man who supported him the last time I saw him, Mike Garry. Mike is absolutely captivating as a performer. As he said himself, it’s not so much about the words when it comes to performance poetry, it’s about how it makes you feel. I sat front row and it made me feel euphoric. Dr Clarke was just as good as he was the last time, I saw him. His poems are witty and his performance borders on karaoke and stand-up comedy.

I always love going to shows like this. It gives me the motivation to go to all these open mics and try to get better at this whole spoken word thing. This week I will keep trying. Maybe someday I will make some money out of it. John and Mike do. So why not me?

That’s enough for one Monday. I hope you had a nice day and I hope you had a nice week. Come back on Friday for a bit of admin and maybe some fiction. You are looking great today, by the way. Thank you for reading and thank you for your time.