Do you ever hear a song and go right back in time?!

 

The new All Saints song ‘One Strike’ came on the radio today and I found myself singing along to the catchy summer tune… and it reminded me of one of my all time favourites from my 20’s – Pure Shores.

 

As I found it on Spotify, I had to turn up the sound and close my eyes and allowed myself to drift back to Phi Phi and our post uni travelling days around Thailand.  ‘The Beach’ actually wasn’t our favourite – James got food poisoning from a restaurant aka shack there.  I didn’t, having seen a rat run through the kitchen, I chose not to eat. Instead, I got an infected mozzy bite and my leg swelled up twice the size.  On our 50p ration a night in Thailand our ‘bedroom’ was next to the sewer.

 

However.

 

The song also took me back to Ao Nang and Thai New Year where we were covered in flour and water by the locals and the incredible empty beaches of white, white sand.  It took me back to the beautiful beaches of Ko Tao where we learnt to Scuba Dive amongst the trigger fish who nibbled on our fins and where our beach hut was quiet, with the occasional thud of a coconut landing on our roof.  I remembered haring around Ko Samui on a dirt bike with only a bikini and helmet free… getting filty in the orange sand.  I remember wishing on a shooting star, bright in the dark unpolluted night sky… and so far it has all come true.

 

It made me remember my journal.  A book I filled with written memories and stuck in paraphernalia… I wrote it every day.

 

And I wanted to find it.

 

But I have no idea where it is!  I think it must be in the boxes above the garage but I couldn’t find a ladder tall enough.  And Willy was shouting at me to put up his tepee.

 

I will find it. And the photograph albums we put together.  We had to do two.  We were only 20/21 at the time and although the Big Man and I had a gut feel we would be together forever, we did 2 just in case.

 

But it is the diary I am most intrigued about.  I have flash back memories of times that I swore I would remember forever…. But I am sure there must be more.  I either need to find the diary or the song that triggers them.

 

We kept the diaries.  The diaries full of our secrets.  The diaries full of our lessons learnt.  To hand to our future children so that they they could learn from our mistakes…. Or at least be pre-warned.

 

My innocence was sweet… and in those days maybe you could be.  My innocence was pure on the shores of Thailand…

 

I can’t wait to find and remember the juicy and dirty details in my journal!!!