Thursday. Always an exciting day, but this week doubly so. It was kind of my first day of holiday but also my last day of work this year, and it was one of the most fun shows since the first ever edition of The Lab.

It started early, as every Thursday does, with the breakfast show trail, which went well. Interesting topic, well prepared, nice and short to keep it punchy. It’s my first official day of holiday, so I didn’t have to go into PCW, so spent the next hour tidying up the flat and doing the washing up from last night’s marathon baking session, then scraped the thick ice off the car and caught a slightly delayed train in to Liverpool Street. I bumped into Chris the Midnight Weatherman in the back carriage and we travelled in together.

We had originally been planning to do an end-of-year quiz on tonight’s show, but time and logistics were against us so instead we invited in our favourite guests from the year gone by and did a retrospective look at the technology of 2001. We’d already booked the studio for a lunchtime recording to accommodate everyone’s Christmas arrangements, so decided to carry on with that and recorded the whole show as though it was live from noon until 2pm. It was very strange being at LBC mid-morning. Felt very out of place, and when we started the recording it felt unnatural giving early evening time checks. It was the first time we’d recorded a show and we were doing it from studio 2 (we’re normally in studio 1) so it almost felt like a completely different programme.

I gave Gordon, James and Steve the boxes of biscuits I’d baked for them, and Gordon gave me a very intriguing parcel that I’ll keep inside its wrapper until Christmas morning. It was Fergus’ last show with us. He’s leaving ITN in the New Year, so we gave him a bottle of Champagne to thank him for his hard work over the last year and a half. We overdosed on the Christmas Carole competition and had a veritable Christmas jingle explosion in the last half hour, and by the time we left I felt full of festive cheer.

The canteen was serving Christmas dinner (nut cutlets for the veggies) but we decided to wander back into Soho and had hot baguettes in the Star Cafe. These used to be the best cafe food in Soho, but we were both disappointed. The fillings had been changed, the baguettes had transformed into cibattas and the chunky dry fried potatoes had been replaced by thin greasy chips. A real shame. I don’t think I’ll be going back so soon.

The Star is practically next to the office, so I popped in there on the way back to the station to pick up some bits I’d left there from my hamper yesterday afternoon. When I arrived I found another load of parcels had arrived, so ended up leaving with a very heavy bag and walked slowly down the street clanking like a wino.

I didn’t go straight home. I went round to mum’s to pick up my digital radio. It’s lovely. Very retro. Brushed aluminium top, and a strange blue coating around the edges. It’s very picky about where you put it, though. By the windows at the back of the flat you can get some of the London stations and all of the national services. Around the front, you can barely get anything.

The strange thing is, if you put your hand on the aerial it seems to make the signal weaker rather than stronger, but improves the reception. I don’t understand why yet. I’m very pleased with it, though. Very simple to use and lovely sound.

Listened to the whole of The Lab while I ate dinner (unfortunately not on Digital) and thought it went pretty well. Smiled quite a bit, which is a good sign.

1. You jest, surely
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2. Christmas comes but twice a year
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3. Goodnight Gordon
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