We all have expectations. Expectations on how you will feel at certain milestones in your life. That all important 16th birthday, 18 and of course 21, the true coming of age and entering adulthood with real responsibilities. I am trying hard to compare the current milestone in my life with others. In reality they do not compare. But the feeling at 16, in early July 1998, having completed all my GCSE’s, was much more real, than how I feel now. All my exams are over. The final page is about to close on my academic life. However, there is a sense of something unfulfilled. Perhaps because so many of my friends and course mates still have exams, further into this week. Thinking about it, I know exactly why the feeling is different and perhaps at odds. There is to be no fanfare. There is to be no real send off. The celebrations will be small, well done and ultimately quiet. That is all I want. Then I am gone. I am back home. There is no gap. There is no transition period. I am back where my heart belongs. My home town. The job hunt will enter warp speed and with it my memories of Leicester will fade into the distance.

Looking back, I have enjoyed my four year course. There have been highs and lows, but ultimately, why should I pain myself with the sorrows. They were few and far between. The days of joy and sunshine, shall always remain. Classic memories, that I will be reciting, and recalling, as clearly as if they had only occurred yesterday. I have made some great friends and earned some truly great friendships. That I hope should last a lifetime. I have constantly said that everything happens for a reason and if the last four years are any judge, then most of the time, fate has never dealt me a harsh hand.

My life has to a certain extent been on hold up to this point. University has always been as far as my blurry vision, could cope to see. Now I have reached that point in time, I am not sure exactly where the path is to take me. Every step of the previous 23 years has been very much prescribed by others. The next steps, will be the first I truly take on my own. Independence has never felt so pure.

I was curious to the hip-hop track that was being played by my housemate, Nav. So I went to investigate and entered his room. The sound of the backing score, sounded very familiar. Personally, my favourite brand of tea is Typhoo, it just has the taste of the subcontinent. However, back in the mid 1990s, Tetley ran one of their most successful advertising campaigns. They featured of course, the instantly recognizable, Tea Folk. It featured the fantastic song by Bill Withers. The song holds the record the longest held note, in the UK Top 40. At a total of 18 seconds. It is of course, the fantastic, ‘Lovely Day‘. This song has already been sampled by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince and features on their Greatest Hits album, released three years ago. Twista have gone one better and come up with a much more urban sound, and entitled the track, ‘Sunshine’. One of the many songs, that I will be playing as the summer season falls upon us. 😀