It's a jungle out there

Honestly, how do the BBC expect me to get any work done if they insist on putting Monk on every day?

You know you're a hopeless insomniac when 6.30am finds you sitting up in bed, listening to BBC7 and eating pringles and dip. The whole disrupted sleep/keeping weird hours thing means I'm probably overly familiar with the BBC7 schedule - you know it's a bad day when you somehow manage to hear the same thing in all three of its daily airings. Having said that, falling asleep with comedy or drama in the background* is less disturbing than doing the same with a news show - dreams can get very very strange when they incorporate breaking news stories, and you can end up waking in a self-induced state of deja-hear as your conscious mind hears the news you've already been dreaming about.

It's a fine way to start the day though - even Mondays aren't so bad when you get a double bill of The Goons and Knowing Me Knowing You to cheer you up of a morn (even if there are some obvious "you can't say that at 8.30 in the morning" cuts in Mr Partridge's antics).

I've always been keen on vintage radio, from 40s and 50s US detective dramas to classic British comedy like the marvellous Round the Horne, and the existence of BBC7 was the main incentive for my purchase of a DAB radio. And radio drama has distinct benefits - why plough through a thick Victorian text (I'm looking at you, Mr Dickens) when a radio adaptation is far more entertaining and much less effort? It's the slightly less up-to-date version of gaining your knowledge of literature from reviews in the press.

As for comedy, at the risk of sounding like a convert to the Cult of BBC7, there's a fine mix of old stuff (Steptoe and Son! The Navy Lark! Dad's Army! Hancock's Half Hour! The Clitheroe Kid! okay, the last one's a tad dated, but its quite sweet in it's old-fashioned way) and more modern fare (Old Harry's Game! The Boosh! Armando Iannucci! Jeremy Hardy! Mark Steel! etc!). Not forgetting I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Just A Minute and The News Quiz of varying vintages. Why, 'tis a veritable smorgasbord of comedy delights.

* I don't do silence. For the very good reason that there's no such thing. Without the radio in the background, little things like a ticking clock, rumbling pipes, your own breathing, or, god forbid, your own thoughts (must. block. the. voices....) become more obvious and annoying, to the point of making you hurl objects across the room and try to stab yourself in the ears with a sharpened pencil. Or something like that.