Magical times and a bit of madness in the Algarve
ILOVE Edinburgh for both personal and professional reasons.
The professional is because I’ve appeared at the Festival a lot – and the personal is that Leesa gave birth to Charlie while there.
She was so considerate she timed it so I didn’t even have to cancel a show!
When you go down the Royal Mile during the Fringe it’s just insane.
But I went back at a quieter time and fell in love so much that it’s one of my favourite places on Earth.
When Leesa and I were going out together we booked a holiday to Albufeira in the Algarve.
It was still early on in our relationship and living in each other’s pockets for two weeks could have been make or break.
I remember we got really stitched up on our first day.
We were stopped by a woman who gave us a scratch card and told us we’d won a holiday.
I thought it was magical and that the gods were smiling on our relationship – only to then spend the next nine hours trapped being shown round a timeshare complex. It was a hellish day. I kept asking if we could go – please! – but never being allowed to.
And we also had an experience at a restaurant after getting drunk one night when I loved the meal so much that I ordered the same thing again. Just madness.
Other than that we had a fabulous time and it obviously didn’t put us off each other.
Another place that made a big impression was Canada.
My dad has eight brothers who ended up all over the world – we were the only ones who ended up in Crawley, so we lucked out there.
We stayed with an uncle in Toronto and it was family rather than the place I was excited about.
But it was a brilliant place, especially the underground city where you can spend all day without seeing daylight.