Stumbled across this on @barrahart's WhatsApp status and suddenly it is 2010 and all is well with the world. I am 20, surrounded by friends in Ben's house on Ryde Avenue, and Femi is sprawled across the sofa watching Naruto on his laptop.
Ben and I are tag-teaming on FIFA against Casto and Timi, and Rosa and Ify are in the next room watching something and laughing. Debbie is in the kitchen cooking something that smells amazing and life in Hull is basically heaven.
Then the song ends and I'm back in 2025. Debbie is dead. Rosa is back in Equatorial Guinea and she's married with kids I've never met. Casto dropped out to play football and it didn't work out. We've lost contact. Timi is married with 2 beautiful kids that I only see on Instagram. Ben is married with 3 kids whom I thankfully got to meet when I visited Manchester in 2023. Ify and I haven't spoken in 13 years. Femi is a stranger.
So I play the song again and I savour my short 1 minute and 40 seconds of the most brutal nostalgia before I have to close the YouTube tab and get back to work. We're not supposed to cry because it all ended. We're supposed to smile because it happened at all. I miss everyone, and I hope you are all having great lives.
I'll never forget you.
https://t.co/GCeAaKLhDe