Making Hay (on Wye) in Belfast while the sun shines.....

I met the man from the Hay on Wye Literature Festival this morning.

Peter Florence was over in Belfast for just 3 hours. After last year when Hollywood legend Tony Curtis and The Wire's creator David Simon came over, he's looking into a possible partnership this year.

But when he asked me who would I like to interview if I had the choice, my mind went blank.

I was remembering last year.

I had been asked to do the onstage interview at the Ulster Hall with Tony Curtis. Before hand, I was taken to his dressing room, where his wife, his mother in law and his agent were sitting. Suddenly the room emptied and it was only me and Tony Curtis. He didn't say a word. I couldn't think of any small talk. How do you bring up Marilyn Monroe when we'd only just met? And so we sat in silence until his wife, mother in law and agent came back.

As soon as we got on stage and he got sight of the packed house, who gave him a standing ovation before he'd even opened his mouth, he lit up. Out of the traps, he didn't look back, ignoring me for the first fifteen minutes, then turning and mischievously asking me was I going to ask him a question? The crowd loved it. I loved it.

Now, having never watched a single episode of the ground breaking tv drama The Wire, a few days later, standing outside the hotel room door of David Simon I felt a fraud.

Through the door I could hear his muffled answers to another reporter's questions. This wasn't good. I felt the weight of all the fans, chat rooms and endless websites devoted to The Wire. He would see my Wire lack of knowledge in my eyes.

All I had up my sleeve was that I was at university in Dublin the same time as Dominic ("Detective Jimmy McNulty") West. 1986 and I'm in a coffee shop off Grafton Street. I stared at him. Obviously for too long as he made his girlfriend shift seats with him so his back was to me. Friends of mine who are Wire fans regularly make me tell that story so they can fall about laughing. I was mortified then and now.

The door opened and I was brought into the suite, the memory of Dominic West's back swimming in front of my eyes.

I babbled hello. He was keen to talk about his new tv project. Treme. Set in New Orleans, three months after Hurricane Katrina. "Do you know that Beyonce is in the room next door?" I squeaked. She actually was. She was playing Belfast that night. He was impressed. Feeling a bit more confident, I suggested maybe he could knock on her door and ask her if she wanted to do the soundtrack. I don't know if that meeting happened. But at least it bought me some time before we eventually talked about The Wire.