I was at my nephew's 1st birthday last week and I mentioned that it was my job to look after my niece whilst the attention was all on him so she didn't get upset.

As well as reading her about 10 books, one of them WAY too long, we played the iconic 'Hide and Seek'. We did the hiding and my mum was doing the seeking. I found some incredible hiding places for me and Pia. I mean, proper good. In washing baskets, under beds, I even went in her cot for a bit. 

The problem is that she is TERRIBLE at keeping quiet or still. I spent at least 10 minutes covering her up in cushions and blankets and before my mum could find her, she would should out 'Nana Rose, here I am'. I know she's 4 but is it OK to get a little bit annoyed at her or does this just illustrate that I'm no where near ready to have children yet?

I've been thinking about who else I'd jump out of bed for, round up my collection of memorabilia and run a mile down the road to meet and get the stuff signed. I can only think of John Cleese. He was on with Chris Moyles this morning - the interview is well worth a listen again.

Genuinely, Fawlty Towers was the first comedy I was ever exposed to by my mum and dad and I became obsessed very quickly. It was watching shows like this that made me want to study drama at Uni, do comedy shows with my mates and just fall in love with watching and reading comedies. He is the best and Fawlty Towers is still the finest sitcom of all time. It's well old now too but still good. It was made in 1975 - 10 years before I was even born, and for a show to have such an impact on you despite that means it's pretty special.

Because I'm a nerd, I got these two things signed:

I would have regretted it otherwise. He told me this morning that he watches the scene where he tests the fire bell in the hotel EVERY DAY as he loves it so much. I think that is brilliant. He also said I was 'a good height'. I think this week will be a goodun.

YES! Thank you so much to Kelly and her parrot Merlin for this. She's managed to teach him how to say the wonderful phrase 'choo choo chiffinch' from that was created by a caller on the show a few weeks back.

Enjoy!

Hello lovely people...

Well, well, well...I had a flipping brilliant holiday thanks for asking - did two weeks which feels like AGES - in a good way.

I went away in a very happy mood, it had been a busy time but all worth it and a lot of fun. Also, it sounds lame but thank you for all bothering to listen and read the blogs and blah blah blah because the listening figures went up which pleased me greatly. It made the holiday even better.

Did the West coast of America, in a blue Mustang. All the cliches, but it has to be done. We felt like Britney in 'Crossroads'.

Drove from San Francisco all the way down the coast road to San Diego and then finished in LA. The best trip. Anyone who's done it will know how amazing that drive is.

Some things that happened:

- Got pulled over by the police (cops)

- Fell in love with a Hooters waitress

- Bought the LMFAO robot head from a man on Halloween for 20 dollars

- Ended up at a house party with a man dressed as Sonic The Hedgehog

- Cycled over the Golden Gate bridge and missed the last ferry back to the city

- Asked as many people as possible in LA the question: 'Do any movie stars live near here?'

- Bribed a doorman to let us in a bar that looked quite good. It wasn't.

Also went to the zoo:

And stayed in some interesting motels:

This was quite a pleasant surprise actually:

Party Rockin: