37 Mad Men

So...a change to this series, in fact to Mad Men as a whole-Don's inner conscience is given a voice. This is important, not least of all because we, the audience, are now party to his thoughts, his reasoning, his justification, if he has any.

Although so far we have only been given an episode's snapshot into this, I hope the writer's persist with the techn ique, because it clearly shows a tortured soul struggling to find any semblance of satisfaction in his life.

More humane than his previous womanising-self, Don now gives off an air of sadness, and when you consider what he had-a wife, three children, a home; a seemingly perfect, American-dream lifestyle, you wonder where it all went wrong.

Alcohol? The extravagent, moorish attitude of the American advertising world of the 60's? A sign of the times? Or simply a twisted individual with no morals, or just very, very flawed but determined to become better.

There is no one absolute reason I suspect, instead each factor amalgamates to give rise to one complex human. How to be Good, and How to be Bad, by Don Draper, or Matthew Weiner.

I sympathised with him by this episode, the 8th of the 4th series. His inner turmoil seemed genuine, and he appeared to be trying to fix his broken self. Then however, you'd catch him staring through the remnants of another glass and see the fragments of his life distilled in amongst them.

Sad, that downward spiral. Chilling, if you're on it, for there is no way out for Don, is there?

'Down in the shadows of your deepest secrets
I sleep next to the precepts you hold most dear
Your heart is in my province hour upon hour
I shiver when you feel the cold,
Everything you say I hear

Like a bomb and its fuse,
We bring bright light
But I could be a devil to you
I could bite like a tarantula
Right through the skin
And leave my poison dripping

Deliciously unsuspecting
Protecting you from all harm
Except perhaps from these arms that hold you'

37. Mad. (Men).

Stretched out 37

Does everyone try and extend their birthday celebrations for as long as possible, or is it just me? Well, Elvis says I'm pretty sad to do it, but then again, why not? So last week I went out for dinner on Monday, got promoted on Tuesday, was cooked an amazing steak on Wednesday (this is sounding a little Craig David, hmmmm) followed by more tasty food on Thursday (clams and chorizo amongst others), saw Shapeshifter live on Friday then danced to Marky and finally topped it all off by Mulletover on Saturday dressed in typically ghoulish fancy dress.

It was truly a celebratory week (and not just my birthday either), surrounded by a mix of friends old and new, some very old and some very new, and all pretty special, some very spooky Halloween gear, good banter, seriously energetic dancing (for 6 hours non-stop-no joke), a full game of 11-a-side on Hackney Marshes (and a goal), a number of fine wines, some brilliant presents (you know who you are), a dab of fake blood, a flatscreen tv and would you believe it 250 quid credit note from npower! I could hardly believe my luck.

Yes, this week has been...epic. And that's just out of work. Our busiest booking period of the Winter holiday season draws to a close in a few weeks so we are pulling out all sorts of marketing tricks to sell as many skiing and Winter sun holidays as possible. It's a numbers game and they just keep on getting bigger and bigger. How long can you keep growing for? Forever, if you're wearing the right shoes...

So, 37. Now that week of amazingness is up, you and I are going to have a sit down, and a proper chat. Tiik haain? Acha hai. Although, I have to warn you, I'm off to Berlin in a bit, and this week booked to escape to St Anton, France and maybe a little festival in the desert called Transahara. But we'll work something out.