Reality Reflection: Twenty Years Ago This Week, July 2001

“You were there for summer dreaming; and you gave me what I need.
And I hope you’ll find your freedom, for eternity. For eternity” – Robbie Williams.

Reality Reflection: Twenty years ago this week, I met an English girl in Spain. July 2001. At that point in life, I only really knew about Northern Ireland. Everything else was alien. That foxy lady changed me. But this was pre internet revolution, pre mobile phone, pre – Facebook, pre-YouTube.

However, I had a mobile phone back home; she didn’t. She had an email address; I didn’t. On the holiday, we swapped postal addressees and afterwards preceeded to write to each other by letter, or postcard, in the post. We kept it up for around a year. I previously said I’d never leave Northern Ireland for longer than a month. 100% sure she changed my life. Two years later, I moved to England. 18 years after that (today), I haven’t lived in Northern Ireland since. We sang Robbie Williams as the sun went down… “She was there for summer dreaming. And she gave me what I need. And I hope she found her freedom. For eternity. For eternity.”

Thanks, Catherine.

Who is she? Who is Catherine?

Catherine Taylor, sultry babe from Hoddesdon in England. It’s possible she changed my life…

“Hey, hey baby. Ooh aah. I want to know ow ow ow ow…if you’ll be my girl” – DJ Otzi (borrowed).

“As the day was dawning, my plane it flew away with all the things caught in my mind” – Noel Gallagher.