Born on 1 January 2008

Back in 2008, life felt like it was balanced on a bit of a knife-edge, though we didn't always realise it between pints of Magners over mountains of ice. If you were there, you’ll remember that strange, soggy summer where it seemed to rain for forty days straight, yet we still huddled outside pubs under those new heaters because the smoking ban was still a fresh novelty. We were all obsessed with *Gavin & Stacey*, quoting Nessa at any given opportunity, and every Saturday night felt like a national event watching Alexandra Burke take the *X Factor* crown.

I remember the high street looking so different back then; you could still pop into Woolworths for a massive bag of Pick ‘n’ Mix before heading to the cinema to see *The Dark Knight* or *Mamma Mia!*. Underneath the pop charts, which were absolutely dominated by Duffy’s "Mercy" and Katy Perry, there was this looming shadow of the financial "crunch" in the news, but we mostly just worried about our Blackberry Bold trackballs sticking or whether we’d topped up our Oyster cards.

It was a year of transitions, really—the last gasp of the old world before everyone had an iPhone glued to their hand.