...at least try and remember where you're coming from

I did another stupid thing.

I spent the weekend with my sister in Norwich, and, as anyone living within ten miles of the city will know, it's been the mayor's parade. What this basically meant is that the whole of Norwich ground to a halt for the weekend - streets and parks and main roads replaced by people selling food and hippy stalls and the Norfolk Ukulele Society [no joke], with local bands playing nonstop on a big inflatable stage and making small children in buggies hold their hands over their ears and cry. One of the headlining events was a Take That tribute band. Considering my utter indifference to the real deal, I was mildly surprised to find myself the only sober person amongst several hundred Norwich folk in varying stages of intoxication, watching this [surprisingly good] band whilst protecting my camera with a vigilance that would make North Korea proud and putting up with being groped every now and then. I took it as a compliment that whoever it was kept coming back, even if they did run away when I turned to shout at them.

Anyway - my idiot moment came in the finale. It doesn't matter how much of a die-hard Take That antifan you are, everyone knows that Never Forget will always, without fail, be played last. [Note - Never Forget is the only one Howard Donald sings, and it is also the band's most famous song. Am I the only one who sees this as evidence that the he should sing more?] This is the one with the prepubescent boy singing at the start, and then the gradual build up to what has got to be one of the most iconic choruses of all time, in which everyone, without fail, feels compelled to join in with the actions. If you don't know them, shame on you. Anyway, this song is a little misleading. There's one verse, and it sounds like there should be a chorus after that, except there bloody well isn't, as I found out after being the only person to thrust both hands in the air and shout "NEEEEEEEVER" and clap while fake Howard launched into another verse, the bastard. 

Not being completely familiar with the song itself, I should have been able to just laugh it off, but it didn't work out that way. It was awful. I had to pretend to be completely wasted just so I had an excuse to pretend to not notice the hearty, slurred laughter from all around me. Needless to say, I didn't hang around once the song was over - though this did enable me to have my picture taken with the delicious, sweaty, knackered fake Howard. [It's worth noting that this guy had an accent comparable to Ben Stiller in Zoolander and gives out really good hugs, even to completely mental teenage girls banging on about how cute he is. Totally not me, I hasten to lie.]

Doesn't he look just delighted.

Anyway, this humiliated rant does have a point, as I have just thought of one. The chorus to the song I now blush upon hearing goes like this:

Never forget where you're coming from

Never pretend that it's all real

Someday all this will all be someone else's dream

Listen to the song, it will change your life. Possibly by giving you a phobia of large crowds, but whatever. The point is, lately I've been having [more] trouble distinguishing between reality and wishful thinking, and being reminded of this song, along with being told by an incredibly pragmatic friend that "it's okay to dream" has worked to stop me freaking out and going to lengths to squash my unrealistic ambitions.

Have a list:

* Unrealistic ambition number one: Write the next Harry Potter.

* Unrealistic ambition number two: Build my own little house in the country in which to cohabit with my best friend.

* Unrealistic ambition number three: Fix the damn MJ poster to the damn wall. [It doesn't matter how much damn blu-tac I use, I still wake most mornings to find the damn thing on the floor.]

In being calm about it all, I've come to understand something: people whose dreams are realised... People probably told them their ambitions were unrealistic, that they'd never do it, that they'd best give up. How much I'd like to be able to throw those sorts of comments back in their faces! Everyone has anchors in their lives - people or events that drag them down, and stop them from going in the direction they want to because it's "safer" to be sensible. Screw being sensible! Where's the fun in that? I'm going to do my level best to be able, at the end of my life, to look back on my accomplishments and say, with a smug grin, "Up yours', anchors." Starting with the damn poster. Then I'll keep writing and experimenting and practicing and being a grammar Nazi and hoping and praying with every fibre of my being that, one day, I'll be able to support myself with my novel-length rambles. Then the house. Maybe in Ireland, so I can search for leprechauns in my spare time.

On a completely unrelated subject - I'd like to take this opportunity to advertise my complete support for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender foundation to the one, solitary person who's reading this. Check it out: http://www.lgbt.co.uk/

Quote of the day: Channing Tatum: Ex fashion model turned actor, Channing Tatum comes top of our top 10 list. His rugged, bad ass roles in the likes of Fighting really got us going whilst Dear John showed us his romantic side. Disaster almost struck whilst filming The Eagle of the Ninth, when a crew member accidentally poured boiling water down his wetsuit, burning the skin off his penis. Luckily, he’s made a full recovery. [Number one on Top Ten Sexy Men list, LGBT website. I laughed until my stomach hurt.]