Ebb & Flo, Dom and To'

There's a cracking little bookshop in Chorley called Ebb & Flo, which I don't think I've ever ventured into without emerging with at least one book. I really admire the lady, Diane, who runs it; I think it takes a lot of pluck to run a shop, anyway, but a bookshop is especially ambitious when you're up against the unfair competition of Amazon. 

But I guess that if you have the courage to do that then you will also think creatively about marketing your shop, and one example of that might be to invite Tony Robinson to Chorley Little Theatre to talk about his new autobiography. And the icing on the cake of inspiration would be to invite local poet (and, I'm proud to say, my chum) Dom Conlon to interview him. 

Dan and I recently watched all four seasons of 'Blackadder', so he was keen to come along with me and the Minx, this evening, with us arriving just in time for him to go and plunder the concession stand while I focussed on how much more* I want to lose weight than eat Minstrels and Maltesers.

The evening was great. Dom was a good interviewer, keeping the evening moving but always giving Tony room to speak and also reacting as naturally as if her were in the audience, most notably when Tony put on Baldrick's voice: mind you, that was an extraordinary moment, as if someone else had momentarily replaced him on stage. 

Actually, it was an interesting evening. Tony had loads of interesting stories and when Dom diverted him onto politics, I found what he had to say interesting. I guess I wasn't that surprised to find out he'd been involved in Equity but I hadn't realised that he'd sat on Labour's national executive. His views on Europe chimed with my own - and, I suspect, increasingly, most people's - and his reservations about Corbyn's attitude to Brexit seemed accurate and quite timely. 

But for the most part it was jokes and laughs and well told stories, all ably navigated by Dom.  A splendid evening even if I did have to travel home in the car with Dan eating the most amazing smelling kebab from The Nile in Chorley. 

*a tiny amount, but just enough

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-8.9kgs
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