Crop Rotation in the 14th Century in Diary

All the grown ups will say "But why are the kids crying?" And the kids will say "Haven't you heard? Rik is dead! The people's poet is dead!"

I'm not usually interested in celebrities, but I was genuinely upset to hear that Rik Mayall died today, aged 56. The Young Ones is the first TV series I remember watching growing up. We would watch it over and over again and my family can probably recite entire episodes off by heart. A lot of the jokes have earned a permanent place in our family set of "in-jokes" and I was greatly pleased when I met Jay that he loves it as much as we do and can quote along with us.

However, Jay's favourite is Bottom. I don't love it as much as I do The Young Ones, but me and mam would always dance around the living room, copying Eddie and Richie in the closing credits.

One of my favourite films of all time is Drop Dead Fred and I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it. Jay even got my nickname, Snotface, from that film.

Rik Mayall paved the way for alternative comedy in the 1980s and going forward. He was a genius writer and comedy actor and will be sadly missed.

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In other sad news, Max, the dog who I looked after at the weekend, had to be put to sleep today. His owners say he took a turn for the worse in the night and took him to the emergency vet. The vet told them to take him home and make him comfortable and they went round to his house at midday to put him to sleep.

I feel bad that he spent his last two nights with me instead of the people who have loved and nurtured him since he was a puppy and throughout countless illnesses. I'm sure they wouldn't have gone away if they'd known. But it was obvious that he was suffering and he is at peace now.