Storytelling Sunday

When I was at primary school my best friend was a girl called Nicky.  We were in the same class at school and although we were very different, we got on really well together.  Nicky's parents were (in my eyes) quite glamorous.  Her mum owned a small hairdressing salon and her dad was a professional footballer.  He played for a team called Cristal Palace, not that it meant anything to me at the time, it just sounded so wonderful.  They were the very first people I ever knew who had a remote controller to their TV.  Not like we know them to be now, it was connected by a cable but hey - you didn't have to get up to change channel - how high tech was that in the late 60s?  Funny how silly things stick in your mind.
Nicky was allowed to wear really fashionable clothes .  Her mum once crocheted her a turquoise mini dress - I was so in awe of that.  And she had lovely long hair, almost down to her waist.  Not only that but she was allowed to have her ears pierced when she was only about 9.  I was so jealous.  I really wanted pierced ears but my mum was very against it and I had to wait until I was 16 to have it done. 
Anyway, Nicky's older cousin decided he wanted to learn guitar and he went on to form a band and started doing gigs.  I told you she moved in glamorous circles didn't I?  I remember so clearly walking down the road with her, Nicky in her crocheted mini dress and golden earrings, me probably in sensible Clarks sandals and my red hair in pigtails and she was chatting about her cousin Rick.  He'd made a record, if I wanted to buy it, she would give it to him to get him to autograph it and then if he got famous it would be a collectors item.  As if I was going to waste what little pocket money I got on some single from a band I'd never heard of.  The band didn't even have a decent name.  I mean - who's going to be interested in anyone called 'Status Quo'.
If only I had known ......