Back on October 4th last year, forty-eight hours after Amelie was born, and with Lisa fast asleep in the bedroom on her first morning home from the hospital, I went online and bought her two tickets for Sharleen Spiteri at the Brighton Dome on February 5th, as a well-done-on-making-it-through-the-horror-of-labour present.


Two weeks later I used the last of my annual leave to book tomorrow and Friday off work, so that I could have a lie-in both before and after the concert, and Lisa went out and bought Sharleen's new album.

Four months after that, having raised a baby to the sound of Sharleen's melodious voice (which is probably why she won't shut up at 6am), I finished work at five-thirty this evening, popped into Asda, and returned home to wallow in the joy of a four-day weekend.

At 7:20pm I received this e-mail:

"Due to unforeseen circumstances the Sharleen Spiteri concert at Brighton Dome on Thu 5 Feb has been cancelled. At present there is no rescheduled date, full refunds will be issued shortly. For more info call 01273 709709 from 10am - 6pm. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Inconvenience??? Only the inconvenience of using up all my paid holiday, booking a babysitter, and looking forward to this night for four months. Well, I say looking forward. The last time we saw Sharleen Spiteri, I described her as "slightly podgy in black leggings and a pair of wellies", and added that she'd "clearly let herself go". But that's beside the point. The woman's grown on me since then, and Lisa's been excited about this concert for ages. Frankly it's an outrage, and I've a good mind to complain. But not before 11am. I've had this lie-in booked since October, and no overweight has-been in wellies is going to make me miss it.