Odyssey Tour 2019

It’s been a week since tour finished. Today has been my first day with no plans since May 20^th and I’ve been tidying my flat. I never fully unpacked from any of the times I was away, a camping chair still leans against my bookcases, there’s tickertape everywhere, flower crowns seem to multiply and I’ve just stuck the last of the tickets from Europe up on my ticket wall. Tears fill my eyes just writing this.

My tour began, like so many people’s, on opening night, in Sheffield, on April 12^th. Like the tour before it, the first night was a bit meh, the boys nerves slightly apparent and the Thatters trying to take it all in. The general consensus was good, we all missed the Pray dance and there wasn’t enough chat but all overall it was a great show. An agonising sixteen days later I finally saw my second show, and then my third, in Dublin. Again, great, but no one in the seats stood and I couldn’t even see the B Stage.

Then came London, where I did all but the last show because I had to work. I lost my voice entirely, which is super fun when you work in retail. The O2 is always a favourite of mine, my adopted hometown, a great venue, getting to go home every night, rather to a random hotel. It was during the O2 dates that I started to notice the little tour quirks, the different suits, the little dance moves, the same questions asked to the audience. By the time The O2 was over I’d done half my shows. A particular highlight was when the king of Instagram during tour, Mark, replying to my comment one night. I was in an Uber at the time and I think I may have slightly terrified my driver.

A day off and a half price ticket brought me to Birmingham for 7 hours. Bristol brought back the queues and the pushiest crowd I’d ever known but we got barrier and I got interaction off Mark and it was all worth it.

Liverpool came the following week, a show I was a bit nervous about. The crowds had been pushy in Bristol, surely they’d be worse in Liverpool? But after ending up with no one to go with, I befriended people in the queue and then around me at barrier. No one pushed, no one shoved, the atmosphere was incredible, the boys were so happy, magic floated through the air on a soundwave. It was my favourite show of the tour, without doubt.

When the boys announced the tour last year and we soon found out it was going be mostly seated, I decided to make the tour about something else. Usually, tour is about barrier and clinging onto that front row for dear life because my god you have put the work in. It’s about queuing (or camping which I have never done), barrier runs, getting all the interaction you can and having the best time with your mates around you.  

This tour there was a VIP option, more expensive tickets for a closer view. I decided that I’d rather do more shows further away, than a few up close. And so came Europe. I was going to follow the boys around Europe, not only seeing them but exploring a bunch of cities at the same time. I talked about it so much, made plans and lists. And it wasn’t until I was standing in the middle of Amsterdam that it seemed real.

Paris I had been to before, Brussels I had no expectations for. But I have always wanted to go to Amsterdam and stood in the city centre, surrounded by canals and with bikes shooting by, it all felt real.

Paris was the first night of the European shows, it was my bestie’s first ever TT concert. I kept grabbing her and screeching ‘Mark’s wearing a shiny suit!’ The minute Shine started-‘It’s a different setlist, it’s a different setlist!’ shortly followed by ‘OH MY GOD THEY’RE DOING THE PRAY DANCE’. It was a shorter show but it was intimate and just them and it was wonderful.

The following night in Brussels, we realised they were going to be wearing different outfits every night and it became something I looked forward to each day. That night Mark politely moaned about the bad lighting, even singing ‘Baby when the lights stay up’ during Everlasting. It showed the vast contrast between the tightly tuned shows in the UK and the smaller ones in Europe, as amazing as both shows were.

During the Amsterdam gig, they were the chattiest I’ve ever seen them. The Europe dates were a gift of flamboyant outfits and band banter and it gave much truth to those words we say to so many people ‘No, not each show is the same, every single show is different’. If I had a pound for every time someone asked if I got bored, or was it not the same show, I’d have enough money to go to even more concerts.

Berlin was a ridiculously hot tent, Howard in an eye patch and Mark in a sequinned red ensemble. The more camp that man got the more I loved him.

After Berlin I was in work for five days straight (going to work straight from the airport) and then off to Vienna. The venue felt like a school hall, Howard ended up stage diving and all I could picture was James and Paul freaking the fuck out. Mark liked my Instagram whilst I was on the tram back and I got stared at by a load of Austrians as tears rolled down my face, clutching my phone going ‘Oh my god, oh my god’

In Rome I ended up second row, the day so hot, and with the boys in their Dolce and Gabanna. I felt so aware during the whole gig that this was a pinnacle, that it was ending tomorrow. That I was in Rome, in a tiny venue, within touching distance of the boys, an actual dream while it’s happening. Then came the final night in Zurich, I spent the entire gig crying. I haven’t really stopped since.

I miss the boys. I miss the travelling. I miss the dad dancing. I miss Mark’s pink suit, Mark’s Elvis leg, Mark’s manbun, Mark’s bandana, Mark’s crazy dancing, Mark’s little speeches, Mark’s cowboy hat, Mark’s general existence. I miss the little dance moves and moments between the boys, the fistbumps in Never Forget and Gary and Mark jumping together during Get Ready for It. I miss them all sharing a mic during Everlasting. I miss Everlasting. I miss doing the Never Forget arms. I miss getting annoyed at how Lulu got the loudest cheers every single night. I miss the motorbikes. I miss the trampolines.  I miss the going crazy to Cry and crying at Said It All. I miss the tickertape. I miss the mass singsongs and the arm waving and the feeling so fucking happy in the moment.

Following a band around on tour, or even going to more than one show, even just loving a band so much you can hardly explain it, it’s a thing people don’t tend to get. I bet if a man told someone they’d seen their favourite football team countless times no one would bat an eyelid. Passion seems to fathom people, but it seems to fathom them far more when it’s women supporting men putting on a concert, rather than men supporting men kicking a ball around a field.

But here’s the thing, it’s happiness. It’s as simple and as complicated as that. It’s friendship and loyalty and joy and memories. This tour was special. You could see how much it meant to the boys, how much fun they were having and how much they love each other. Mark said in Zurich about Everlasting ‘It’s a song from us to you, but also from you to us’ and it summed it all up.

These songs, these boys, these friendships we’ve made, these memories we make mean so much to all of us, the boys and the Thatters. And we’re all so aware of it, so grateful for it.

During this tour, I saw Take That twenty times in thirteen different cities in nine different countries. I walked around the Colosseum, took a canal tour through Amsterdam, saw the Eiffel Tower light up at night, marvelled at the artwork on the Berlin wall, strolled through palace grounds in Vienna, ate Belgian chocolate and fries, and paddled in Lake Zurich. I took thousands of photos, ate a lot of chips(being  vegetarian and dairy free in Paris is super fun) and adventured with my friends, some of whom had never seen the boys before. It was the tour of a lifetime.

These are the worst post tour blues I’ve ever felt. This tour was two and a half months, the longest in a while. From the Royal Albert Gig at the end of March until the last show in Zurich on June 30^th, the longest gap I had between seeing Take That was sixteen days. And now they’re having a break. A well deserved one, but it makes me so sad to not know when I’ll see Mark Owen’s face again. And that a tour that I talked about for so long, that seemed to last forever and yet fly by, is actually over.

Of course I realise how lucky I am, to be able to have done as many shows as I did and to have gone to so many places. I’ll look back on it soon and barely be able to believe it and how good it was. It already feels like so long ago. Thatters and non Thatter but I’m trying to convert friends, love you. Boys, love you and miss you. Until next time, a hundred years, a million more, I’m by your side.

2018

I was just looking back through my Insta stories and realising how packed this year has been. I made a pact with myself at the start of the year to do something every month, a show, a concert, a trip or such like. And I did just that. 

As with always, I've set out to do what makes me happy as much as I can. I still don't have the career I want and am still woefully single but I've done what I wanted to do. I read books(107), I went to shows, I reveled in all that London has to offer, and did it with the people I love. 

Concerts: Harry Styles, Gary Barlow x 5, Take That(Hits Radio Live, there were other people there too, I didn't pay them much attention)

Musicals: 42nd Street, Kinky Boots, Aladdin, Hamilton, Heathers, Company, The Band x 5, Chicago x 5

Other events: NTAs, Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library, A Monster Calls play, Spice World in Regents Park, Caroline at Build, Aftersun

The only month which was eventless was March, due to snow(I was meant to to see The Band and Imagine Dragons) but I did meet the boys that month which more than made up for it. 

I also met Caroline quite a few times, Gary by himself in October, the usual spattering of celebs at work, and amazingly Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne at Platform 9 3/4 on September 1st. 

I had the most amazing two week trip to Portugal with my family, and also visited Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Brighton and went home as often as I could(in May I basically lived at the airport). 

The biggest and best thing that happened was that I moved into my own flat, which is an actual life dream, to have my own flat in London. It's filled with books and yellow things and Take That memorabilia and I couldn't love it more. It is the most fantastic feeling in the world having my own space and I cherish it every day. 

Low points of the year: Getting my phone stolen right out of my hand on Regent St just before Christmas, the snow in March, my awful ex-housemates and that time I went into anaphylactic shock due to antibiotics I was taking and ended up in A&E via an ambulance

Highlights: Repealing the eighth(hey to the yes, the north next), moving flat, Portugal, meeting the boys and Caz as Roxie in Chicago. 

Favourite album of the year: Odyssey by Take That, Everlasting being my favourite song

Favourite movie of the year: Honestly can't even remember that many movies but I really enjoyed Mamma Mia 2, The Greatest Showman and Mary Poppins Returns

Favourite telly show of the year: Love Island, of course. I got to watch the final in the cinema and it was ace. Jack and Dani 4evs. I also binged The Good Place which was forking incredible, rewatched the David Tennant era of Doctor Who and weeped quite a bit, rewatched Grey's Anatomy until that episode and rewatched the wholesome Great British Bake Off(the BBC years). Mostly when I should have been watching new shows I stuck on Gilmore Girls instead. 

During my Strictly viewing I fell down a shipper hole and here I am a fully fledged shipper of Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell. I never thought by the start of the year I'd be a Joe Sugg stan but there you go, I am powerless to adorable couples and group chats which aid obsessions. 

Favourite books of the year: Always a toughy. Books I rated 5 stars are 

•  Better Me by Gary Barlow
•  A Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
•  How To Stop Time by Matt Haig
• I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel
• Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend
• Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
• Lethal White by J.K. Rowling
• You, Me, Everything by Catherine Isaac
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
• How To Be Famous by Caitlin Moran
• The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X.R. Pan
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
• Every Note Played by Lisa Genova
• The Phanthom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon
• Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith
• The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman

I rated a lot of books 4 stars as well but I'll be here all day listing those. A good reading year! It always is. A resolution I'll never need to make is to read more. 

So all in all, 2018, a few dips of horrendousness here and there, was pretty fantastic. Shout out to my incredible friends, for the laughs and the memories and the general putting up with me, and to my wonderful immediate family who are there for me no matter what. Also shout out to Take That and Caroline Flack, my fandom loves, for giving me much entertainment and happiness throughout the year. 2019 is gonna be a good one, bring it on! Over and out, 2018, you've been a wild ride. 

Repeal the 8th

There’s a big vote happening in Ireland this week. We’re voting on whether or not to repeal the eighth amendment. To those who don’t know, in 1983 the country voted to include this amendment in the constitution, ‘equalling’ the life of the unborn to that of the pregnant woman. Basically meaning that women can’t get abortions, in any circumstances.

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about this lately, as someone who lives in London I work with people of many different nationalities, and not one of them had a clue about the extent of what the eighth amendment is about. One person went ‘Oh I’m sure if a grandmother heard her granddaughter had had a one night stand and had made a mistake, she’d want her to have the choice’. I repeated this to a customer later on and she said ‘Ireland doesn’t care about that. Ireland doesn’t care if a 12 year old gets raped by her father’

You’d think she was exaggerating but no. In Ireland if you get raped you can’t get an abortion. If it’s incest you can’t get an abortion. If the baby has a fatal foetal anomaly(FFA) you can’t get an abortion. If you get cancer and find out you’re pregnant you can’t get an abortion. The only instance of you being able to get an abortion is if you will die otherwise. And this was only made law after a woman died.

In 2012 Savita Halappanavar went to hospital suffering a miscarriage. Because the doctors could still hear a heartbeat they refused to give her an abortion. Due to this lack of care Savita developed sepsis and died. And only after the tragedy of her death did it become law that you could get an abortion if you would die otherwise.

There are countless other stories, the X Case, A, B and C v Ireland, Sheila Hodgers and Ms Y. Let alone the twelve women a day who travel to the UK to get an abortion. Or those who buy abortion pills over the internet and can’t seek proper medical care to deal with their situation.

Those women who don’t think it’s the right time to have a child or who’s contraception didn’t work or those who just don’t want a baby. The one’s who desperately wanted a child but suffered a FFA and had to declare their baby as ‘human remains’ at customs just so they could bury their baby at home.

Imagine the trauma. The trauma of being raped or finding out your baby is dying inside of you. Imagine having to book a flight and queue up with everyone else, travel away from home, have medical treatment in another country, maybe not have your loved ones with you or someone to hold your hand. To have to travel back home when you should be resting and then not being able to tell anyone what you have been through.

In Ireland currently if you’re found to have illegally taken abortion pills you can face up to 14 years in prison. 14 YEARS. For having control over your own body.

If you die, doctors can’t donor your organs without consent. A dead person currently has more rights to their own body than a woman in Ireland.

And it’s disgraceful that we’re even having to vote on this. That the No side is shoving posters up full of such vitriol and lies. Women should have control over their own bodies, they should be able to make up their own minds about what happens in their lives. Not be forced to carry a pregnancy they don’t want or fly to a different country to receive the healthcare they should get at home.

Talking to people in London, they can’t fathom it, they can’t believe that this is happening in 2018 in a country just over the water. And it’s ridiculous that this is what we’ve been brought up with, what we’ve been taught. That we should be ashamed of having an abortion, even of having sex at all.

So much of this is still shrouded in the Catholic church. The same church where mass graves of babies and children were found in a home for unwed mothers, who had the Magdalene Laundries, who threw babies into septic tanks, who sold the babies of those unwed to Americans, who forced mothers to give their babies up for adoption.

The Catholic Church only seems to care about babies when they’re still in-utero, when it’s ‘a sin’ to kill the unborn, when it’s evil to ‘slaughter the innocents’. The Church should have nothing to do with this, they should have nothing to do with anyone’s health or life decisions. Divorce was illegal, being gay was illegal, the pill was illegal. Sex should be had in marriage, with two straight people and oh no don’t use contraception because children are a gift of god but only in these exact circumstances. It’s shame, nothing but shame, for sex, for basic enjoyment, for being a fucking human. According to them we should be punished for being human.

Abortions happen anyway. They happen in Ireland and they happen when Ireland exports an issue they don’t want to deal with to other close by countries. Voting yes isn’t agreeing with abortion. It’s agreeing with choice, it’s agreeing that women should have the right to their own body, to decide what is best for them and to be able to access the healthcare they need when they need it. People who don’t agree with abortion shouldn’t have one but it shouldn’t be up to anybody else to decide what a person does with their own body. Vote yes, to stop the shame, to be compassionate, to help women who should have had the decision to choice a long time ago. It’s a once in a lifetime vote and we can’t let this slip us by, vote yes on May 25^th, repeal the 8^th while we can.

My most favourite person that I don’t actually know

I’ve met Mark Owen once. Twice kinda. It was on the same day. I met him at Radio 1, got a quick selfie(and ended up getting papped) and then later the same day at an album signing. I thanked him for making my whole life better, he went ‘Awww bless you!’. I nearly cried on him.

I’ve seen him in person more than I’ve seen the vast majority of my family, all but the very immediate really. But I don’t actually know him. He has no idea who I am and yet he’s one of my favourite people. Favourite popstar, favourite singer, favourite face. With it’s dimples and smiles, often with a hat atop his tousled, mind of it’s own hair.

As Take That fans, we all have our own favourites, the hard working and thoughtful Gary, the filthy minded and hilarious Howard. And there’s Mark. I met a customer at work yesterday who noticed the Take That pin around my lanyard and we got chatting. She said everything about Mark made you want to cuddle him and it’s so true. He’s just cute, undeniably cute, and so so lovely.

His laugh is infectious, he’s the biggest dork. He causes delays at signings and walking through crowds because he takes so long with each fan. He takes time with people and he makes you feel happier. Just by existing.

It’s a funny concept loving someone so much that you don’t even know. A few years back Mark made me question that you could think you knew someone but really have no idea. That facades can shatter quite dramatically. But then also there came the realisation that doing bad things doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person. That mistakes can happen, big mistakes and you can just try to better yourself and move on. And still be the kind of person who finds it a little offensive not to write more than one letter in your signature.

I’ve always had a thing for cute people, and short people and people with tattoos(hello Caroline Flack and Preston to name but a few) so it’s no surprise I became a Mark girl when I got in Take That. And continued to be as he showed just how sweet and kind and adorable he was.

The kind of person to walk along an entire line of people during a tv show recording and ask them what they liked on their chips(oh mayo, my little girl Fox likes mayo on her chips), or do a somersault with his daughter in the middle of a phone interview with Australia. Or do an Instagram Christmas countdown which involved elf outfits and sporadic appearances of his dog. And all these things just make your day a little bit better, help make life a bit more bearable.

Mark, and his mates, have, been there when my family have been sick or dying, when I felt lonely in school, when I moved country all alone. Just listening to his voice would help and then when you see him and the boys live it can’t help but be just the best thing ever, when he smiles or sings right at you and you feel for a moment that he does know you, if only for just those fleeting magical few seconds.

It’s Mark birthday today, he’s 46, when I first started loving Take That he was 34. And he’s still the same, still down to earth and humble and kind and sweet and that something that makes him Mark Owen. The one who wears anything shiny or tasselled along with his high heeled boots and hats. The only one who’d ever wear a sequinned jumpsuit or ‘that bloody coat’. Because he’s Mark. The wonderful Mark Owen, my most favourite person that I don’t actually know. 

2017

It’s funny how the end of the calendar year makes us reflect on life more than most days do. It’s not like we look back at the last 12 months on March 21^st or September 2^nd. Alas it’s when the last number of the date changes we look back and think of all that has happened. And 2017 has taught, reminded and affirmed for me, that finding what you love and doing it as much as possible is what life is all about. That friendship is more important than almost anything. That you should hold the family you adore close to your heart. That you should always chase your dreams and follow the whims in life which make you all feel aflutter.

2017 for me, as a fan and as a Thatter, as with any year there is a tour was defined by exactly that. 2017 was the year we went to Wonderland. Was the year that I saw the Wonderland Tour 18 times, that I went to Fusion Festival, saw the opening night of ‘The Band’ and was in the tiny audience of ‘An Evening with Take That’ and ‘Let it Shine’. It was barriers and queues and never ending travelling. It was joyous and exhausting and along the way, well it stunned us all.

I’ve tried many times before to explain the happiness that concerts bring. And I still don’t think that you can fully understand unless you feel it too. You feel it in your bones and in your soul, a light and a euphoria that seeps right through you. To make memories with your friends, with people who get it, and the band whom you love to the moon and back. It’s always worth every second of time, every penny of money. It always will be and 2017 showed that yet again to be true.

A little tally:

Trips outside of London in 2017: Dublin, Dublin, Birmingham, Newcastle, Dublin, Manchester, Sheffield, Norwich, Manchester, Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool, Faro, Southend, Bristol and Dublin. A total of 16 trips, mostly which shows that when I’m not stalking the favs I go home a lot.

Musicals seen: The Girls, Half a Sixpence, The Band, Dreamgirls and Crazy For You x 2. My fav, the wonderful Caroline Flack was in the latter musical for a short time and I got to see her twice and Caz was unfailingly lovely. The Band was incredible, like watching my life on stage, really must go again soon.

Concerts and TV shows attended: Besides the 19 Take That concerts, I saw An Evening With Take That where Mark Owen was magic and Let it Shine where I watched Mark laugh for 2 hours. Literally there is no other way I’d rather spend my time. Watched Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone with a live orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall which was spellbinding. And I saw Olly Murs’ tour in Dublin and accidentally grabbed his crotch. I still feel violated.

Books read: 106. A personal best. Next to seeing the boys live, reading is my absolute favourite thing to do and I managed to do a lot of it this year. Additionally started writing my third novel which I plan on completing in 2018.

Fav telly show: I don’t watch much telly anymore, since I don’t own one, but Love Island, fronted by my fav, has to get a shout out. It garnered endless conversations in work with customers and staff alike given its addictiveness.  I met Gabby and Marcel in Liverpool but my favourite post Love Island moment was when Camilla showed up at my workplace, right outside our team brief and I shouted ‘It’s Camilla!!’ and everyone rushed to the door to stare, like she was royalty. Well she was certainly Love Island royalty.

Other highlights: When Gary Barlow read my blog! And the fact that Mark's water bottle sits on my bookshelf. Pride(I really must actually go to Pride next year rather than working but it’s nevertheless wonderful to just be a part of), Harry Potter Book Night in Feb(Hufflepuff Pride for life y’all) and whenever I went home. On top of that honestly just whenever I felt happy with the people I love. The people I cherish know I adore them. So thanks to anyone that I chatted with in a queue, screamed with on a barrier, moaned to in a sort room (oh hey fav work people), grabbed drinks with, got a meal with, went to pubs and parks and bookshops with and anything else besides. You truly make my life and made my 2017 better. Here’s to more fun, to more laughs and books and concerts and joy and memories in 2018. Let’s make it a good one. 

10 years ago

10 years ago I was seventeen and now I’m twenty-seven (for anyone atrocious at maths). 10 years ago I was in my last year of school studying for my final exams and now I work full time in retail.10 years ago I was living in a country I didn’t want to live in and now I live in a city I adore. 10 years ago, I was single, now I still am. 10 years ago I saw my favourite band live for the first time and now I’ve seen them live forty-seven times.

This a band called Take That. Surprise, I quite like them, ok I love them more than about a handful of people in my life. Take That, the Mancunian man band who’ve been around as long as I’ve been alive(I was born 4 days before they formed). The band who have given me friendships and memories and the best times of my life. The band who sometimes just give me an anchor on which to tether myself when times are low. This day ten years ago I was on my way to The 02 in London to see them live for the very first time. I thought I loved Take That back then. And I did, I loved them the way teenage girls love anything, ferociously and passionately, with my whole heart and soul. I loved them with delirium and screams and mania. The love teenage girls have could power the world with it’s energy.

I loved them back then but there’s a different love once you’ve seen them live. And a different love once you’ve met them. And a different love when seeing them all the time becomes your regular life. I love Take That, but in a different way now I loved them back then. I love them now with candour, dedication and uncomplicated adoration. I adore them, everybody knows I adore them but I wouldn’t be as frenzied about it now, I’d like to think.

I got into Take That back in 2006, I was 15, in school, hating it for the most part. I love learning but it took the internet and emigrating for me to find more than a handful of people I would consider friends.

Back when I was 17, I was hysterical. I got banned for watching them whilst eating cos I choked like twice when they were on the telly. My Ultimate Tour DVD was watched constantly, I listened to them all the time. I was young and stuck in a country where no one I knew cared about Take That.

My mum got us tickets to see them on the Beautiful World tour in London and Manchester(at the time I asked why would we go twice, oh past me you had no idea). I couldn’t believe I was going to be in the same room as them. As Take That! As dirty and witty Howard, as philosophical Jason, as the captain of the ship Gary. As foot stomping, hat wearing, Shine singing, the most adorable and my favourite member then and now Mark.

When I turned up to the arena and saw their picture outside I let out such a noise my mum said she didn’t think it was possible for humans to scream that loud. We were in the gods, Block 416, Row R but I barely cared. I’m not sure I would have managed front row off the bat to be quite honest. Every single one of my pictures from that night is blurry. Two weeks later in Manchester, I was excited that I could see their shoes clearly from my seat(block 214 in the MEN, going up in the world).

And then the next ten years happened, ten years that seventeen year old me could never imagine. Meeting Jason on a bench, meeting the rest of them at a signing. Thanking Mark for making my whole life better and him going ‘Oh bless you’. Meeting Gary three times and the reassurance of his bearhugs. Having Mark’s water bottle sitting on my bookshelf (he threw it to me at a show, I don’t just have it). Gary having read my blog and DMing me saying it was beautiful. Seeing them live in 9 different cities and 15 different venues. Countless front rows, barrier runs, the solo tours and the tv shows.

Watching Howard DJ and then running through Manchester trying to get to the Lowry before he did, going to a football match just to see Mark. Seeing them at Jonathan Ross and singing Happy Birthday to Gary, seeing them at the Royal Albert Hall, watching the recording of ‘An Evening with Take That’ and witnessing Mark ask an entire row of people what they liked on their chips.

Endless queues, standing in the cold, sitting in the cold, burning in the sun, drowning in the rain, freezing in the snow. Gripping onto barrier with your mates all around you, singing your heart out, and feeling happier than anywhere else. Ticker tape and clapping and dancing and laughing and smiling so much your face hurts. Because look, it’s them, they’re right in front of you, singing the songs that make your heart beat with reverence. And oh look, they’re interacting with you. And you’re weeping and grinning because this is your happy place and they’ve just made it even more joyous.

Within ten years we’ve had lasers and pole-dancing, elephants and aerialists, robots and puppets, flying cars and human carousels. Yet the best feeling is doing the Never Forget claps or hearing 80,000 people singing Rule the World. The boys love the spectacle, we love the spectacle but more than anything we love that deep down joy of feeling at home and being surrounded by love and awe.

10 years on, being front row is the norm, grabbing their hands is the norm. I still die if any of them sing at me or wave at me or interact with me in any way during a show. People say ‘they must know you’ and I know they have no idea, that people have met them countless times and they know them. But I like to think in amongst a crowd the boys would recognise me as a familiar face.

I’ve been called all sorts in the last ten years, crazy about summing it up. We all have but I don’t care, I know none of us do. Because those boys make us happy and surely being happy is the most important thing of all?

10 years on, I’ve moved country all alone, I’ve had three jobs and lived in seven different houses. My life has taken many a twist and turn but the boys have been my constant. Take That have saved my life in more ways than they’ll ever know.

Seventeen year old me would be ecstatic with my life now. Maybe not the single thing, but the whole living in London and seeing Take That all the time thing, yes.  Ten years ago I was really just started on my Thatter journey and here I am ten years later, so grateful for it all and so looking forward to all the joy and fun and love and memories the future holds. 

Book love

Books. They’re an escape. They’re magic. They’re suffering. They’re heartbreak. They’re friendship. They’re love. They’re stories. They’re that feeling when you love a book so much that you clutch it to your chest and wonder: how can people not love reading?

Me, I’m a fiction girl. I’ve been reading since before I can remember doing it. I grew up on Winnie the Pooh and Roald Dahl and The Babysitter’s Club and Jacqueline Wilson. I grew up loving reading, having books read to me when I couldn’t read myself, Kipper and The Very Hungry Caterpillar and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt( a bear hunt, a bear hunt) and every fairy tale under the sun and the sky and the stars.

I was dubbed ‘Best Reader’ at primary school and always received books at Christmas and birthdays (I still do). Reading is integral to my existence, I couldn’t live without reading and I wouldn’t ever want to. And I never know how to put into words how good it is when people say they don’t read. When they said they’ve never read a book in their life or that they’ve never seen Harry Potter (‘They’re books!’ I always retort).

And of course I understand that people love different things. I will never understand the fascination over sport for example. But I feel like saying you don’t read at all is like saying you don’t watch movies at all or watch telly at all. It’s a cornerstone of entertainment, before moving pictures on a screen were even a thing. There has always been stories, fables passed down through generations.

There’s always been magic and make believe and words trussed up together so beautifully that you take a moment to pause over the magnificence of phrasing. And it’s all sitting right there, contained within a few hundred pages, a paper tome of goodness just waiting for your perusal.

There’s just so many to choose from, so many genres, so many talented authors, so many books. You can sink into history or fly into the future, you can stroll through the present or zoom amongst the heavens. You can go to Hogwarts or Narnia or Mordor, or you can be right in your own city, in someone else’s version of the world.

I’ve never been in love but I’ve fallen in love with stories over and over again throughout the years. When people ask me for recommendations I need them to refine, so I can to go through the lexicon I have of the books I’ve read, to even know where to start. But then there are the books which I recommend to whomever I can, the ones that own my heart and stayed around in my memory. I’ve read hundreds of books over the years (for certain over a thousand), you forget the name and plot of most but the majestic, wondrous ones stick around.

So if you’ve not begun yet down the path of reading or you just want something new (for real, ask me for recommendations of anything I have endless lists to throw around), here are just some of the books I love more than most:

Harry Potter

This one is a no-brainer. The most popular book series of all time and for good reason. Most people have read this but if you haven’t, go forth and read! Still my most favourite books of all time.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Written by a neurosurgeon who receives the diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer, this is beautifully written, thought provoking and heart-wrenching. I wept. A lot.

 The One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

Moyes is mostly known for Me Before You(also a magnificent book) but I’ve always preferred it’s successor. The One Plus One is a story of how single mum Jess and her kids go on a road trip to get her daughter to a math’s contest. It’s simple but glorious. It’s so easy to read, in a way that makes you feel like you aren’t reading at all. It’s full of sunshine and gives you hope and I love it.

The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Just a really really brilliant book. Original and compelling and rich.

The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me by Lucy Robinson

This needs more recognition. A story of Sally, who made a promise to her cousin to pursue her dream of being an opera singer. A great heroine, a marvellous love story with the pinch of allure that music brings.

So there you go, just a selection before I give you a Top 100 best reads of my life. Books, they’re the best, you should read them.