Kitchen Impossible

We're currently watching "Kitchen Impossible with Michel Roux Junior", which, baring its ghastly title, is an incredibly compelling programme. It follows the fortunes of a group of young people with physical and learning disabilities ranging from Tourette's to Down's Syndrome via all shades of autism. The aim of the show is to train the young people in the skills which might give them a shot at a job in the culinary industry.

The most distressing story in the show belongs to a young lad called Dan who lost his sight a few months ago as a result of diabetes. It's astonishingly upsetting to watch him trying to cope with his new situation. He exudes sadness. Even the other young people give the impression that they feel he's ended up with the rough end of the stick. They try to look after him, but plainly none of them can look after themselves.

The comedy aspect of the programme is universally provided by a girl called Sophie with Tourette's, who, during Michel Roux's opening pep talk suddenly shouted "Michel, can I lick your face?" When she was finally offered a job at the end of the series, she said, "yes please. I quit!" Brilliant telly. I've howled with laughter. I've wept...

We've been writing all day, whilst tidying the house in preparation for our holiday which starts tomorrow and couldn't come at a better time because we're both rinsed out I tell you. Rinsed. Why is it that we feel the need to tidy a house for a period of non-residential activity? I stuck a load of bleach down the loo before chucking the bottle away in a bin bag which Nathan took out with him as we left the house this evening. Sadly it must have got on the wrong side of the liner because it's splashed all over his trousers and ruined them entirely.

Anyway, we're currently working on an incredibly rude song for the secret project, which, once we'd got the tone and gist of the lyric sorted, offered us a bit of much-needed comic relief. It's the big solo song for the one cast member in the show we knew well before the project started rehearsals, and we sincerely hope she's not going to be too shocked by its content!

Later this evening, we watched a show about First Dates, which featured a pair of waiters discussing two mega-haired hipsters who were eating a meal together. The most perfect description of hipsters emerged from one of the waiter's mouths: "It's like someone's taken a rainbow and dragged it through the mud!"