Nostalgia

So, sometimes when I'm struggling to fall asleep, my mind does this weird thing I like to call my Nostalgia Track. It starts throwing up memories and random images from my 24-year history – some happy, some painful, some that make me go 'Wow, I can't believe I'd nearly forgotten about that...'

Hey, I never said I was normal...

Anyway, it used to bug me, and the first time it happened I remember crying and crying and missing the good old days and wishing I'd been less of a horrible teenager and regretting lots of stuff I'd done (or wanted to and hadn't). But eventually I got over all the angst, and have learnt to enjoy it.

It happened again last night – why is it that when I know I have to get up really early, I can never get to sleep? – and since I'm already in a Chrsitmas-y frame of mind (more on that later), it threw up lots of summer holiday kind of memories.

I started thinking how grand life was back in the day when I'd spend a chunk of the summer holidays lying on my futon (I had to share a room with my brother because my Nanny came to stay and slept in my room) reading piles of books and shovelling Mint Slice and TimTams into my face. And then I got to wondering if anybody else remembers playing in the hay at Uncle Willy's Christmas parties, and how the tractor ride from the car was one of life's biggest thrills back then. Did anyone else do Kumon? Can anyone else remember when chocolate came wrapped in foil, and the Cadbury wrapper was just a paper sheath around it?

Random I know. Hey, I never said I was normal...