20 years ago today

… I went to university. That makes me feel really old, especially when I think that it only feels like a couple of years ago. Don’t ask me how I remember the date, I just have a head full of useless information like that.

I didn’t have anywhere to live until the following weekend when me & a friend from St Helens that I had gone to senior school with moved into a detached 3 bedroomed new house in Preston. We weren’t exactly typical slumming it students- particularly as we had only moved 40 minutes away from home!

I know there are thousands of students starting university life this week and even more parents who are nervous as hell. Let me reassure you, its great! I can’t remember much about the work (A BA Hons 2:2 in Business & Marketing in case you were wondering) but these are some of my highlights from those 4 years:

• Day 2: Meeting my best friend. A lot of you will know Cara as we are still best mates today. We were both on the same course trying not to be overwhelmed by the amount of weirdos when we discovered we were both from St Helens and a friendship that has spanned 20 years, 2 husbands and 6 children was born.

• Avoiding being caught having ‘overnight guests’ by the cleaner – yes, even our second house was so posh that we had a cleaner twice a week.

• St George’s Shopping Centre – anyone who has ever been to Preston will know it has a wonderful clientele – really good for people watching.

• Maybe lugging a traffic cone home after a particularly good night and then wondering how to dispose of it for the next 12 months.

• 10P a pint night at Tokyo Jo’s where people went mental for Nirvana and the beer was nothing stronger than coloured water.

• Being part of a Crimewatch reconstruction – I was NOT the armed robber!