Sebastian and Viola

I got all the way into the gym changing rooms today before realising I'd left my shorts at home. Dreadful. Just when I thought I was getting into a routine and was all pumped up about the prospect of going... Always the way, isn't it?

I had to do a load more deliveries this afternoon, which started with a bus ride from Kentish Town down to Bedford Square to drop off a couple of CDs at the Arts Council, who have generously supported Brass through most of the stages of its journey so far.

It's boiling hot in London today and I've been sweating like a pig, largely as a result of having worn too many clothes, based on the crummy weather we had at the start of the week.

The lady at the reception of the Arts Council was like a glorious character in a Victoria Wood sketch. She seemed to keep losing focus, to the extent that she appeared to be surprised by my presence every time she glanced back at me after looking away for a few moments. At one stage she phoned the office of the chap I wanted to drop the CDs off for, had a quick chat to whomever answered, hung up, and then returned to her computer, almost as though I weren't there any more. After typing a few words, she looked up at me, surprised again, and said, "oh. He's in Manchester..." So off I toddled.

I walked to Piccadilly Circus and took the tube to Gloucester Road where I delivered two CDs to Philip Carne, whose "Richard Carne Foundation" basically bankrolled our entire cast recording. Without the donation from him, and the equally generous donation from the Cameron Mackintosh Foundation, we just wouldn't have been able to do the project. So, frankly, a little excursion to Gloucester Road to deliver some CDs in person is the least I could have done. Gratitude doesn't begin to sum up my feelings towards both foundations.

The tweets have continued to fly around, with two cast members being ludicrously assiduous in their search for celebrities to "retweet" the YouTube films. Alfie Boe, Jodie Prenger, Ruthie Henshall, Nathalie Weiss, Ali Jiear and Jenna Russell were all badgered into/ gracious enough to "share.." We're a long way off the films going viral, but everyone seems to be enjoying them thus far.

I got caught out by the miserably confusing District Line on my way to Earlsfield in the late afternoon, where we were due for dinner with Abbie and Ian. All hell breaks loose around Earls Court with the district line splitting into three and the Piccadilly Line running parallel but not stopping at every stop. To make matters worse, there are no conventional dot matrix signs to tell you which train goes where, so you end up looking at these rather quaint 1930s signposts which never quite seem to tell you the information you need, at least not at a glance. So, cutting this rant short, I went six stations out of my way and ended up feeling like a right plonker, turning back and having to wait ten minutes for the right train at Earls Court.

The thing about the south west of London is that it's really badly serviced by trains. It took an age to get there! It's incredibly leafy and pretty down in Earlsfield, however, and everyone is incredibly posh!

Abbie's house is lovely: light and airy. We had a sort of light curry for tea with paneer in it, which is an Indian tofu-like cheese which keeps its shape when cooked. I'd never had it before and it was delicious.

We were entertained all night by two cats called Sebastian and Viola. I'm not normally that fussed about cats. I find them rather pointless and haughty, but these ones were affectionate and like to play, which gives them an advantage over many other felines.

We exited Abbie's block via the back door by mistake and ended up stuck in a garden of some sort surrounded by locked doors. At that point Nathan realised he'd left his phone on the sofa and, for a brief moment, I couldn't get reception on my phone. That would have been an interesting end to the night!