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My Favourite Holiday: Ayo Adenekan

The rising comedian relives how an unexpected rise in histamine levels on holiday ruined his chances of becoming a professional footballer

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My Favourite Holiday: Ayo Adenekan

When it comes to holidays, I don’t have a wealth of experience. Probably due to my early adult years being clouded by a certain worldwide incident restricting travel across the globe. Or maybe because my passport expired and getting it renewed is still on my long to-do list. That being said, one holiday memory that sticks out from my youth was when I was about 12. My mum, my older sister and I went on a wee trip to Barcelona. It was a fun holiday; we stayed in an apartment where the TV only played in Spanish but it had the Disney channel so I got to watch the classic show Good Luck Charlie, or should I say Buena Suerte Charlie.

Anyway, the first few days of the holiday were class. We did all the touristy stuff; went on the open-top bus tour and all that jazz. But the trip took a turn the day we planned on going to FC Barcelona’s stadium, the Camp Nou, and I woke up with the worst heat rash you’ve ever seen. My face had doubled in size, I could hardly see and I was so itchy. I was absolutely gutted. Not because we didn’t still go to the stadium (we did), but because naive 12-year-old me thought I’d definitely meet Pep Guardiola on the tour and he’d ask me to play for Barcelona. Imagine how distraught I was when we never met Pep and I never ended up playing for Barcelona. Maybe it was the rash; maybe it was my lack of footballing ability. I guess we’ll never know.

Ayo Adenekan: Black Mediocrity, Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, Saturday 5 July, Wednesday 30 July–Sunday 24 August. 

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