Truck & Fish

What I love about music is the ability for a song, or even a line in a song, to transport me back to a moment in time, just for a short while. I was pondering on this whilst painting skirting boards yesterday morning (we’re redecorating the ‘spare’ room, which previously housed everything we hadn’t found a space for elsewhere, including all my books, into Zoe’s new bedroom. She is mega excited by this). Anyway, I was painting the skirting boards and door frame whilst listening to, firstly, REM, and then Shed Seven. And it was like I was 17/18 all over again.

Shed Seven definitely remind me of 6th form. It was when the album first came out & I went to see them. I think I only saw them once (but could be wrong on this, my memory fails me more and more each day), it was at Edwards Number 8, to give the club it’s full title. In fact, they may well have been supported by a band from my 6th form, which rings a bell somewhere in the memory. But just listening to that first album (Changegiver, for anyone interested) makes me feel 17 again, transports me to a time of long bus journeys, late night drinking and sitting in the common room.

Coincidentally (or not, maybe it was the mood I was in), I also listened to Out of Time by, of course, REM. Whilst this came out much earlier than college, it again reminds me of 6th form, or, rather, 1 song on the album reminds me of 2 guys I was friends with. One I had a big crush on, who was also a huge REM fan, and the second who was one of my best mates at the time, although my mum swears blind she thinks he fancied me and could never understood why nothing happened between us. If he did fancy me, he was without doubt the perfect gentleman, as he often helped me home on drunken nights out (when I was often more drunk than him) and never even tried to kiss me. I think, of all the people I’ve lost touch with, I regret losing his friendship most of all. We had sporadic contact during uni but nothing for years, which is a crying shame frankly. Anyway, as I was saying, 1 song reminds me of these two – Belong. I love this song anyway, but when I hear it now, I’m taken back to a music room at 6th form where Guy number 1 played the guitar and Guy number 2 sang this song to me. When I was clearing out recently, I found a copy of the music which they’d both written (mildly sarcastic) comments on. It made me pause for a moment and remember being 17.

The older I become, the more nostalgic I become. Is this normal? I don’t know. I don’t think it’s some subconscious dissatisfaction with my life right now. Yes, I’d change one or two things, but not the important things like Duncan & Zoe. Maybe it’s a reaction to growing up a little bit more. Watching Zoe grow and facing fertility treatment for getting pregnant again somehow feels massively more grown up than just getting pregnant with Zoe.

Until there is a next time…
xx