Celebrity life/island life

It upset me, greatly. I cried over it. I was chatting to a lad, who was working in a fast food restaurant in the Canaries, recently. He was super cool. I had been watching him serve for that last fifteen minutes. When he came out to front of house and walked past where I was sat, I said hello. A quarter of an hour later, and we'd shared a terrific chat.

I had tears in my eyes, man. Something really moved me that evening. It had a lot to do with adolescence. It usually always does. I was thinking about the youth and the island and the lifestyles they must promote. I witnessed a group of lads playing beach volleyball. I thought about what life would be like for the worker outside of work. I thought about the quads and the trips the groups must have there, driving up into the mountains and loving life.

I spent the evening crying on the beach. I had spent all afternoon celebrating life on the playa round the corner. Now I was ready for a moment of reflection. You can't party every night, nor would I want to. You lose touch with you, who you are and it can get messy.

A woman fell over on the crossing, here. I told her, I'd have a pint of what she'd been having

I had a very happy adolescence. This is not selective memory. If you leave my high school or secondary school leaver's book, you will read I was a very popular boy. I was thought the world of and there were tons of memories in there that we all shared together. So it wasn't that I lacked what I was looking at. I think I wanted to be a teenager again.

It must be lovely to be altogether on a beach like that and then to get lost on road trips in the sunshine, mixing with everyone, all the exciting times, the relationships, the freedom, the silliness. Yes, I wanted to be a teenager.

But this is where the tears and romanticism get a battering from realism.

On the other hand, what was life really like, on balance, for that worker. Well, he's working a shit job. I mean who the fucking hell wants to flip burgers. I used to deliver papers until I got a weekend job in a bookstore. I'd also help out at the family business, at a fabrication works. It was fucking shite, man. You had the education alongside this.

The beach I spent hours reflecting next to on the wall, enjoying a few Smirnoff and cokes, listening to music

I cannot moan, I was presenting on telly at sixteen, I wasn't working at a fast food joint. Girls in the passenger side of my first car would come onto me like leeches. It used to scare me something silly. I was the one who was just up for a laugh.

I would also imagine it could get quite isolating on an island. You have your whole life in front of you and all you can see is tourists and the same old, same old. This must not be very good. You are presented with lifestyles in the UK and the USA, which are making yours feel meek and mundane. This is the reality.

Notwithstanding, I wanted in that moment to get on a BMX. I am 28, now, and I wanted to rev that quad bike all over those Spanish roads, mate. I couldn't in that specific moment, because I was pissed, but I am saving this for Phuket, where I am due later this year.

I am going to get a black backpack and fill it with a BBQ and beer. I am then going to ride hard and fast into the hills with my blonde hair blowing backwards into the wind. I am going to park up and cook some outdoor food, listening to a new playlist I am going to curate for the moment.

I’ve been told from people who I once admired how much they envy me. One lad who I followed from music, growing up, bumped into me later in life. This happened last year. He looked at me and said that he really envied me. I let out an “argh” and gave him a hug.

There’s an old adage “the grass is always greener” and it is. We can look at things, failing to see the full picture and only seeing the niceties within it. A big home for instance. We only see how nice it would be to enjoy garden parties within it. Well, you can have the house. Yes, you can have the house. But you can also have the bills which come with it, too. Enjoy that responsibility. The same thing applied here.

A view of the coast at Playa Las Americas as night slowly fades in, Tenerife South, Islas Canarias

I like my life. I am grateful to have done the things I have done. It’s never been easy, but we make it happen, one way or another. You’ll be able to read much more about these memories in Chatterbox, the debut memoir, available on Amazon and all other major book retailers.

It was a nice conversation in that fast food restaurant and a nice moment to see the sun set and the evening draw in on the beach that night. I was due at the Utopia Pool Party and the Soul and Motown do on the evening, but schedules are only there as a template. One does not have to follow a template. It is just there as a guide. I was more than content to have a wonder in a place I had not been to in a long time. It was terrific. It was refreshing to have been touched, emotionally, by such a place.

To be able to feel a place is such a special thing. To feel life is so important. It was a wonderful moment I will cherish. I took many a picture. Pictures speak a thousand words. Always ensure you cherish photographs. Back them up on hard-drives and always get physical copies and put them in albums. It’s considered old-fashioned, now, on argument, but to have books full of photographs is a wonderful thing. With the back-ups, you lower the risk of memories being lost and they are immensely powerful if you are going through a bad period in your life. To reflect, explore and reminisce can do wonderful things for you in life.