Born on 1 January 2009

Back in 2009, life felt like it was caught in that strange, lovely gear between the old world and the new. If you stepped into a pub back then, you’d likely hear Lady Gaga’s *Poker Face* or La Roux blaring out of the jukebox, while everyone huddled in the smoking shelter grumbling about the "Big Freeze" that had turned the pavements into skating rinks. We were all obsessed with the *X Factor* when it was at its absolute peak; you couldn’t nip to the shops without hearing someone debating whether Joe McElderry or Olly Murs would take the crown.

If you went to the cinema, you were probably wearing those clunky plastic glasses to marvel at *Avatar*, or perhaps sobbing into your popcorn at *Up*. Kids were everywhere frantically clicking their Zhu Zhu Pets or trading Silly Bandz, while the rest of us were just getting used to the "New Labour" era ending as the MPs' expenses scandal dominated the papers. It was the year of the Gü pot—those little glass ramekins we all kept—and the summer felt endless until the Swine Flu panic gave us all a bit of a wobble.

It was a simpler time; you’d check your Facebook on a chunky blackberry, feeling like the future had finally arrived.