Is it just me?

Now my dear reader chums (mdrc for short), the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that this is the first non crime related title of the blog. That’s because I’m taking a little, what I call, crime pitstop. Such fun!

I like to listen to audiobooks when walking places, its much easier than walking down the road reading a real book, very tricky. My latest was (as the sister and any one who watched her bbc show will no doubt have guessed from the blatent plagarism in the opening paragraph) Miranda Hart, ‘Is it just me?’ Well ‘mdrc’, no it is not just her, its me to!

In this book Miranda discusses a wide range of topics, including technology, beauty, office work and of course Christmas! The recent small market research poll I’ve conducted has shown that disappointingly the audience Miranda seems to currently appeal too is quite limited. Married couples just don’t get her, after all why would anyone actually enjoy being a whole person rather than one half of a couple? Mothers certainly wouldn’t find her funny. Unless they are what she calls a type three mother (which Miranda, for the record, in the highly unlikely event that you are actually reading my blog, I believe you have made up and do not exist. Types one and two are taking over the world one organic rice cake at a time!)

Miranda’s core audience is probably made up of single women over 30 – well that’s everyone elses loss. This was hilarious and in true Miranda style this book had me laughing out loud. Therefore this book has also had the added bonus of making my walk to work alot quieter as people have now taken to crossing the street with fear in their eyes when they see me. Anything to avoid the freaky women laughing to herself!

Ms Hart describes life in all its glorious cringeworthy nonsense. Take Christmas for example. As Miranda says at Christmas, suddenly everything has to be done to a timetable an army major would be proud of. Why is it that cooking what is essentially just called a Sunday lunch for the rest of the year, suddenly becomes the most stressful thing in the entire world. God forbid the lunch isn’t on the table by 12.30 precisely. The turkey went in at 4.30am so if the veg isn’t in at exactly 11.30 along with the potatoes then the whole thing will be ruined. Stating that you don’t want a brussel sprout thanks as you don’t like them would any other time of the year be absolutely fine. On Christmas day however this is construed as a direct attack on the quality of the food and can lead to a full tantrum punctuated with cries of ‘why did I bother cooking anything’ (I suspect this is due to them being overtired, after all they were up at 4.30am to put the turkey in)

Life is full of these little conundrums, and Miranda covers them all. Hobbies is another good example she uses. Some people do really have hobbies, however let’s be honest most adults when confronted with that question on a job application draw a blank. Out we drag reading, swimming and socialising. In other words, there is a copy of heat magazine next to the toilet, we will occasionally float in a pool on holiday and we go to the pub as often as possible.

Sometimes being a grown up is just so boring! Being sensible, paying bills, sitting in an office all day looking at a view of a drainpipe – all that stuff is not ‘such fun’. However, reading Miranda’s take on life is frankly liberating.  We all do stupid things, but actually it’s not the end of the world. How many times do we stop doing things (or never start) in case we look silly? I think we should all embrace our inner child and just not care. In fact I would go so far as to say that Miranda’s book should be made part of the national curriculum. We should all try just to make life a bit more fun. Miranda is a big advocate of galloping instead of plain walking, so if you want to gallop to work in a morning, then do it! There is high chance that you won’t see the people you pass ever again, and even if you do then in true British style no one is going to mention your galloping episode so get on with it. You might start a whole new craze.

This book was excellent. I think Miranda is one of the funniest comedians around at the moment, and that I suspect ‘mdrc’ is not just me!