Community Giggles

The evening started with a relaxed couple of pints in the Smugglers Inn, before we moved onto the Milford on Sea Community Centre for the first ‘Fifth Thursday Comedy Club’. We were accompanied by our friends Alistair & Natalie, of course you won’t know them, but she is really sweet & he is rather loud. In fact, when he becomes excitable his red bald head lights up like a belisha beacon. As we found our table we were pleased to join familiar friendly faces from the village, & it was pleasant to have a chat whilst we awaited the evenings curry made by our local restaurant, Zaika. The bar was also in full swing, with around 120 eager customers. Once the curry was served & consumed we were all ready for the star comedy turn. However before this, an ‘open mic session’ featured Mike Collison, who took to the stage to tell some amusing farming jokes in a dodgy Dorset accent, & John Bradley who told a story about a gorilla I can’t repeat here. It would be fair to say Mike & John set the tone for the evening & everyone loved it.

It was now ‘show time’ & Jo Caulfield was soon justifying her star billing. I suppose comedians are invited to appear on shows like ‘Have I got news for you’, 'Mock the Week’ & ‘Michael McIntyre's Roadshow’, for a good reason, & we were soon seeing why. Arriving on stage Jo immediately expressed her shock at Mike’s gorilla joke & then shared her experience of her earlier exploration of the village. As you may imagine, she wondered if she had arrived on the film set from the 'Cocoon’ movie. Within seconds she had us eating out her hands for a full hour. Stories of her friends, family & thoughts on our village had the audience in fits of laughter & I am sure a few people wet themselves. True to form, Alistair was an embarrassment, and his head was soon flashing bright red as predicted. I guess everyone was disappointed when the show came to an end, and there was no doubt that Jo had fully earned her rapturous applause. It was a great value night of the finest entertainment.

Feeling happy & content we all made our way home. Lulled into a state of happiness, I had forgotten the dramas of the recent week. However, on arriving home I was soon reminded of the plague of crane flies that had been infesting our home daily. I am not sure if everyone in the village has had the same problem, or whether everyone has just been sending them down to our place. Our flying friends were surrounding the doors & windows trying to get in like our village old folk at the Post Office on pension day.

As we opened the door we slipped in as quickly as possible, doing our best to avoid the invading army of ‘Daddy long legs’ joining us. Unfortunately, & for girth reasons, I have to open the door wider than my wife to actually get in. As you have probably guessed, I did not enter alone. My wife of course deals with our uninvited guests in a rational manner, by screaming like a banshee and running to another room. When I try and explain they can’t actually hurt anyone, she simply insists that they carry dreadful tropical diseases & have fatal bites that kill elephants in Africa. (She doesn’t watch many nature programmes) In order for me to avoid personal injury, I have ten seconds from the first paranoid warble, to stop whatever I am doing & then arrive at the scene of the imaginary attack to deal with the offender. She would make a really bad Buddhist. So, my great night was followed by the disposal of several innocent long legged insects for the hundredth occasion this week. I was glad that I still had Jo’s one liners in my head, plus of course the drink I had consumed helped numb the agony caused by my wife’s paranoia!

Jo Caulfield's website: http://www.jocaulfield.com/