Before I start, I've got a quick apology to make. Hindsight is a great thing, and on reflection my last entry was a little moany and groany. Reality is also a great thing, and that taught me that the family friend who came to stay us (I refuse to use the word 'guest' anymore) was actually really lovely; certainly not an outsider and totally unafraid of breaking any social faux pas or supposed 'rules' (she unashamedly grinned whilst pulling out lettuce leaves from the salad bowl with her bare hands on several occasions at dinner). I think what the whole experience taught me, quite frankly, is not to be so uptight about things (although you can't really blame me for being uptight up to this point, seeing as I have a mother who thinks it's a life-or-death situation if the hoovering isn't done at least once a week). But anyway, you're fully entitled to give me a slap on the wrists, and I for one promise not to be so negative from now on.
Moving on from this point, I'm going to write about something I really, really like today to kickstart my new-found attempt to spread the love and not the unecessary grumbling. That thing is radio.
My romance with radio began way back a whole 6 years ago, when I was in my early teens. Now, I'm not going to go into a long explanation of 'the way I was' in those days (I'll save that lovely story for another blog entry), but, in short (and I was extremely short) I was highly self-conscious, shy and just a little socially awkward. Anything that involved some level of communication or social interation (most people call it 'talking') unerved me slightly, mainly because I was so concerned of saying something that would deem me a complete loser for the rest of my school days (as you can see, my uptightedness is something that's deeply engrained in me). For this reason, there was no time of day I dreaded more than the 40-minute bus journey every school morning; an envrionment where, even if I wanted to, I couldn't escape a conversation. I sat by the same girl every day; she was the same age as me and very nice, but we had absolutely nothing in common and, subsequently, little to talk about. Everyday I played a game with myself to see how long I could manage to stretch out a conversation between us-usually constructed with comments on the weather or maths homework-but at best I could only ever manage to fill half the journey. For the rest of the time, we would just sit there in dumb, awkward silence-and I for one inwardly beat myself up for not having yet mastered the Art of Conversation. Ah, those were the days.
Anyway, the reason I'm telling you all this is because one day, we got a new bus driver. A bus driver who liked listening to the radio-so much, in fact, that he listened to it everyday, without fail.
The difference this made to my early morning bus trips was unbelievable. All of a sudden, I no longer needed to do all the talking and fill in the silences-somebody else, a Mr Chris Moyles in fact, was being payed to do that for me! Not only that, but he was very good at it; so good that he even managed to entertain my wandering, worried teenage mind. . And there was music too-something relatively interesting to talk about, if there was ever the need for conversation. Now I've always been a bit sceptical about cocky Chris being 'the saviour of Radio 1'- but he was certainly the saviour of my sanity during those long morning bus journeys.
Since then, my relationship with radio has blossomed. I got a little silver radio for Christmas that year, a shiny high-tech DAB the next...and next thing I know, I'm considering a career in radio and have completed a work experience placement at BBC Radio Wales. Blimey! That bus driver certainly has a lot to answer for...
But even though my relationship with this wonderful medium has evolved over the years, the reasons I listen to it are still pretty much the same. Radio fills up life's awkward silences-it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, who you're with or not with or what you're going through, it nobly stands by you with no questions asked. It's a loyal friend, changing to suit to your mood; light-hearted and funny when you need cheering up, serious and intellectual when your lazy brain needs a bit of a workout. Sometimes mistakes are made and you enjoy a little less than usual, but these are minor bumps in the road; part and parcel of any relationship worth having.
As you can tell by the sentimentality of the last paragraph, my teenage love-affair with radio has turned into a full-time, serious relationship. And anyone planning on having a proper romantic relationship with me in the future will need to make space for me and it. Because, super-corny as it sounds, I really can't live without radio.
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