Born on 1 January 2014

Back in 2014, life felt just a little bit simpler, didn’t it? You couldn’t walk past a Boots or a bus stop without hearing Pharrell Williams singing ‘Happy’ for the billionth time, and honestly, we didn’t even mind. It was the year of the Ice Bucket Challenge—everyone’s Facebook feed was just videos of their cousins getting drenched in the garden for charity.

We were all obsessed with *Sherlock* and *The Great British Bake Off*, back when it was still on the BBC and Mary Berry was the queen of the marquee. If you went to the cinema, you were probably queuing for *Paddington* or *The Inbetweeners 2*, and I remember that summer being a proper scorcher; we spent it nursing pints of Bulmers in pub gardens while the World Cup played out in Brazil. The kids were all doing that ‘Loom Band’ craze, leaving tiny rubber bands all over the carpet, and everyone seemed to be sipping on a flat white or trying to find a Cronut.

It was a year of big moments too—the Scottish referendum felt like it was all anyone talked about for months. It was just a lovely, vibrant time before everything got so complicated. We really had it good, didn't we?