Go confidently in the direction of your dreams

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined. And so, graduating class of 2004 we wish you the best of luck in everything your future holds. And I say, with a tear in my eye, you are for the very last time, dismissed.”The sheer euphoria of what followed went past me like such a blur. Whilst many of my friends were going on gap, or to uni or fulfilling some other dreams, reaching their “lives they’d imagined”, my life seemed obsolete. What was I gonna do? Only thirteen years at school and I still couldn’t answer the vital question – where was my life headed? I got swept up in the wave of mother/daughter lunches, father/daughter dinners and the infamous schoolies but what did it all even mean? Was this it? I’d finished school, such a vital part of me for so long – who was I now?Days lazing by the beach and partying at night, whilst my friends were all starting on their own endeavours, conquering the world, trying to prove to themselves, their school and the parents that the ten grand or so they’d forked out each year had been worth something! That their entire school life had actually moved them forward and given them a different destination to what they’d had at five when they started.

Baker Street, London

Henry Nestlé, 1800s.

Curry set

The day I emerged though from my streams of unconsciousness, semi-aware of my discord with the world, yet powerless to enter it, was when I met Caz for coffee at Starbucks – the place to be. (Actually, Starbucks was always the place to be when at school, but we’ve left now – is it still?… hmm I not quite sure…)Anyway we met at around eleven and I was still recovering from the night before. It was...