Mrs Mackerel has decided to take a short sabbatical and invite some friends, relatives and countrywomen to takeover her Friday night post, a Friday routine as regular in this household as a G&T with lime, or pizza Margherita for the sprats.

For week four, we hand over the reins to her cinema going chum, Movie Mate…

What is it with adults these days?

I was really looking forward to seeing The Cribs at the O2 in a couple of weeks’ time with my 15-year-old daughter. She’s pretty tolerant of me really, and our shared love of Ryan Jarman hasn’t made things too weird between us yet.

Then she tells me she’s got a History trip the next day, and she has to be at school at 7.30 IN THE MORNING, and maybe it’ll all be a bit too much, and maybe she shouldn’t go to the gig, maybe.

‘Really? Are you serious?’ I say. ‘You can do both. You’ll be fine. You will. Anyway, it’s the O2, they kick everyone out at 10.30, and we’re just round the corner, and it’s not that early and you can sleep on the coach. And it’s THE CRIBS.’

And she says, Mum, this is odd. Shouldn’t this conversation be happening the other way round?

So maybe it’ll just be me there in the mosh pit with the other adults. Like a kind of inverse playpen, or something.

The same week as The Cribs, by chance, I’ve got tickets to Lianne La Havas and Gaz Coombes too, all at the O2. Too. It’s going to be a strange few days …

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