Gnashers

Thank God my family are blessed with decent gnashers! I went to the dentist today for a check-up, and the lady told me I had marvellous teeth... So marvellous, in fact, that she apparently doesn't need to see me as regularly as her other patients. Quite why I saw this as a genuine sense of achievement I'm not sure, but I felt very proud of my teeth!

I also felt a bit virtuous. "Do you smoke?" "No." "Do you drink?" "No." "What? Not at all?" She stared at me as though she were looking at a recovering alcoholic, so I felt the need to quality; "A gin and tonic or a whiskey every three months..." Then she looked as though she didn't believe me, and I got all giggly in a nervous sort of way. God I'm weird!

I spend the day in Kentish Town with Cat at Uncle Archie's office. We did some good work on the documentary project and I'm starting to feel excited about where we're all heading with it. Sadly, the later in the day it got, the more horrible I started to feel. Whatever cold that Nathan and I have got ourselves is taking rather a while to clear. I spend most days feeling fine, but then one night's bad sleep, and I'm back to square one again, feeling all achey-shaky. I have a mildly sore throat and feel like my insides have been sucked out through a tube and stuffed back in upside down.

We slept poorly. Nathan, bless him, spluttered his lungs up through the night and managed to cough right into my ear at about 5am before disappearing into the bathroom for a proper coughing fit. I got up and gave him a lecture about needing to go to a doctor, and, when I woke up again this morning, he'd booked himself an emergency appointment and was subsequently issued with a course of antibiotics. Hopefully this will put an end to his misery. He needs time off work, and yet he soldiers on...

Whilst not working on the documentary project, I spent every spare second on Brass, actually achieving more than I'd expected, despite a hideous triple-computer crash start to the day, which instantly lost me about an hour and a half's work. I was putting the peddling into a piano part. I was forced to do it three times. Any writer will sympathise with that!

I'm currently working on the song Shone With the Sun, which is the only song from Brass which wasn't specifically written for the musical. It sat in a metaphorical drawer for many years, but I knew it was right for Brass, so pinned an entire storyline and character to the song. The song's original lyrics were actually penned by renowned playwright, Sir Arnold Wesker before being tidied up a little by Nathan when the character singing the words needed one or two more role-specific sentiments.

The history of songs are often interesting. You Were Meant for Me, from Singing in the Rain, for example, was actually featured in a Broadway show and two musical films before Gene Kelly and Debbie Thingamajig sang the version we all know. Shone with the Sun was written by my 22-year old self as an unsuccessful entry to the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest. That's the year that Dana International won, so it would have been inappropriate to try and beat her! I always knew it had to have a home, however, and sixteen years later, a home was found.