Hello 18 year old me...

I've been clearing out my loft recently. I found an absolute treasure trove of concert tickets, letters, postcards, cuttings etc from around 1995-1998. One of the things I stumbled across was a sheet of paper written by my classmates from my A-level English Lit class on the last day of term. We all had to pass around a sheet of paper and privately write what we thought of one another...within reason.

Here are my responses from June 1995:

*You have a dry, witty sense of humour that has kept me clutching my belly for many hours in English and also at work - Scott's socks ha ha!

* Rachael (sic) is a quiet member of the group, but extremely nice girl to have in the group - very brainy as well!

*Rachel tells funny stories and is also full of ideas

* A hard worker, always with good ideas - I apologise for being such a lazy git when in your group

*I'll remember your sense of justice and outrage about the way women are treated or portrayed - lovely

*Good luck you indie freak. I like your reddish hair colour, it's cool

* Good luck yes I love the hair colour it is really nice

*You were easily the best looking girl in my Media Studies class and I hope I didn't annoy you too much

*Sorry I bought the same T-shirt as you. I love your hair colour

*Cheers Echobelly your sunny disposition will be sorely missed by me at least. See you on the bus sometime

*I like your hair. You're friendly and lovely. P.s your Elastica t-shirt is cool

*Mia amici! a hip taste in T-shirts and hair colour. A funky Italian failure - cool!

*I love the way you always listen to my moaning and worrying without slapping me and telling me to shut up - thank you!

*Cheesy cheesy pants! I love you Rach, you make me laugh you dirty bugger! Vaseline forever, send me your pants through the post. I love you!

*I must say I love the colour of your hair! Its so bright and vibrant! reflecting how you seem to me. I don't think you've done any really memorable things but I'm sure I'll remember you, all the best

*I've known you for ages and for any comments referring to life in V5 at Richard Aldworth see any previous autograph books! Its been nice sitting next to you, good luck in the future, only a few weeks left at WHSmith's!

So there you have it, a valuable insight into what my peers thought of the 18 year old me. I'd just like to issue a few disclaimers: I have NO idea what my hair colour was everyone was raving about although I suspect it was Wella colour mousse in 'Chilli Pepper' as that was my favourite. My hair was often the sort of colour Florence Welch's is now albeit on a cheaper budget. As for being the 'best looking girl in Media Studies' this wasn't the coup it may seem as there was only three of us!

The person who wrote the comment about me being outraged about portrayal of women was actually my A-level English teacher. R.i.p Joanna Kime. Diagnosed with breast cancer whilst we took our A-levels in 1995 she died in 2001. She gave me the confidence and self belief that I was good enough to do English Literature at University. An excellent teacher and role model.

Embarrassingly I can still be spotted on the bus so nothing new there...