On Wednesday, I almost took out one of the nation's favourite comedians.
Eddie Izzard, currently pounding the roads of Britain almost went the way of countless insects, a few birds and a cyclist (it was his fault, honest!) in disappearing under my bonnet. Thankfully, this time, I avoided adding to my bonnet fodder count by managing not to mount the pavement and flattening him.
Eddie Izzard, here in Nowheresville, West Lancashire, doing his bit for Comic Relief? I mean, what are the chances? At first I thought he was alone in a loneliness of the long distance runner kind of way ('cept for the flag of St George strapped to his arm). But then I noticed the S Type Jag', the 4x4 with countless bikes strapped to the back, the weird motorised trap thing being ridden by a few hippie types....
We went back to get the Nikon.
By the time we found him again, he was a few miles up the road and into countryside. I reckon a certain amount of rules interpretation had been explored by Team Izzard - Had the back seat of that Jag' suddenly become all sweaty?
But even though he was in the country, Eddie was hardly alone. A camera crew had suddenly materialised - which along with the team meant there was a bit of a bottleneck on one of the most dangerous stretches of the A59 - one of the most dangerous roads in the country. Still, there's a celeb at work so who cares?
We drove past a mile or two to turn round and drive back up towards the Izzard show. Camera primed, foot on the accelerator Eddie had broken away from the group and was running in a walking kind of way towards us. He looked a tad grumpy and no mistake....
I'm multi-tasking. One hand on the wheel, one hand holding the Nikon, we're doing about 40 mph as we draw near...
I try to get his attention.
"Hey, Eddie baby, I love ya!"
"Piss off" said Eddie...
Must be a showbizz greeting thing.
Mean, moody, magnificent. Eddie against the West Lancashire skyline.
