Did you see Take That on Paul O'Grady yesterday?

I reverted back to my 13 year old self and reached for the video record button, it was all I could do to stop myself from ringing round my gal pals to tell them they were on the TV.
Because that's what we used to do.
That's when we weren't bunkin' school to follow them up and down the country, booking into the same hotels as them, hanging outside venues until stupid o'clock to get pix taken with them and generally making our teen lives all about Take That.
Oh, I loved Take That. Fact.

Y'see, before all this fancy schmancy Myspace malarky, there were things called FB's - friendship books.
You would fill in a page all about yourself, stick in a photocopied pic and pass it on to a penpal, who would do the same and pass it onto another penpal, you would then make lots of friends with similar interests all over the world - god, it seems positively retro now!
It did mean that you got proper snail mail, which is still, by far, my most favourite thing in the world - I still jump with excitement at the sound of post hiting the doormat, even if it is mainly from some dude called Bill. Grr.
It also meant that I made some of the coolest friends, who I'm pleased to say I still keep in touch with - loving you Claire - who loved Take That and we became like a network, allbeit a slow moving one in comparison to the Myspace and Bebo etc, passing photos, arranging meet ups at venues, sharing stories - dude, they were fun, fun times.

Take That were so much cooler than real boys.
For one, they didn't call me names like the dudes at school and two, they were a whole lot less threatening than real boys, what with them being pop boys and all. You could put them on a pedalstal, kiss their poster at night and hang out with your favourite gal pals all over the country trying to catch a glimpse of them.

Until recently, I used to look back at my teens as a time when I was bullied, was a swot girl and was totally dorky and unattractive, but seeing Take That ten years on (TEN YEARS? When exactly did that happen?) has just rebooted all the happy things 'bout being Teen Lisa in the world.
It ruled.
I loved Gary btw.
In fact, I still do.