Catching up with friends - again

I met two university friends, Matt and Claire, in Leeds yesterday evening for a meal. They hadn't seen each other since October 2001, so there was plenty to catch up on. We had a great time reminiscing about university days - and wishing we'd done things differently while we were there. Having worked full-time and done a degree part-time, I can safely say that there's plenty of time at university to work hard and play hard and still get a first class degree. We spent most of the evening laughing, as I usually do when I see Matt, and wishing we'd met up sooner...

I went to secondary school with Matt, then to the same university, but I first met him when we were about 10 years old and both went to the same piano teacher, Miss Coates. Sadly she died late last year, and at the funeral her niece set out all the pictures of her pupils that Miss Coates had kept, either in frames or in albums. Lots of the pictures featured people that Matt still kept in touch with, including me, and she told him to take as many as possible and give them out to people when he saw them. So, for your enjoyment (and, no doubt, amusement), here I am at age 9, having won 5 first prizes at 4 music festivals in 1985. Cute, wasn't I? Don't ask me what happened, I wish I knew... I'd obviously been spending time in the sun as well - check out my farmer's tan!