Diary – 5 July 2008

Penny Smith gives a rundown of her week 

No matter what happens, Friday is always a big day for those of us who do five days of getting up at sparrow’s cough. The prospect of two days of lie-ins is so exciting it makes me feel giddy. My self-imposed rule of no drinking and no caffeine is broken at weekends. Friday is Clare Nasir’s birthday. She is our vastly overqualified weather presenter. I share a dressing-room with her (or Andrea McLean) and whoever is reading the news on the GMTV Newshour. Our room is barely big enough to hold a stag beetle wrestling match. Clare is very useful for site-specific forecasts. ‘The Opera House, this evening?’ I ask. ‘You’ll be fine without a coat,’ she says. She’s right. I bump into actress Sue Johnston in a restaurant where I nip in for a bowl of stir-fried veg and a glass of champagne beforehand. Don Carlo is a long old slog, and I can’t do it on an empty stomach.