Radio Songs #35: Roads Not Taken

And so I embarked upon what would become one of my main roles at the radio station during my two plus decades of servitude: telephone operator for the late night phone in show. I did this initially five nights a week, although after a few months I had to cut my hours down because combining a 2am finish (plus a 40 minute drive home) and 9am lectures at university proved a little too much. Particularly as I was also still working weekends. The late show started at 10pm, but I arrived in the building a couple of hours prior to that most nights to work in the record library. (Gotta keep getting those free CDs!)

Luckily I had very few friends and no actual social life to speak of... but I did leave uni without any student debt. Would I have made more friends at university if I'd been more available socially outside of class? Possibly. But as most of the students at The University of Huddersfield came from outside the area, and so were living in halls or shared houses, they were having an entirely different university experience to the local boy with a job, still living with his folks. That, coupled with the fact that I still didn't drink or act much like an 19 year old in most other ways, meant I found myself getting on more with the mature students on the course. Many people make lifelong friendships at university; I spent three years there and made zero connections.

I tell myself this would have been different had I gone away to university, but I'm not sure it would. I was a very closed-off person at that age, and although things would happen in my professional life that forced me out of my shell, there's no guarantee that another university would have changed me in the same way. It might have been the making of me... given me the confidence and independence to pursue my writing more... or it might have led me into a post-uni bill-paying job which gave me fewer opportunities to keep the writing going as long as I did. It's one of those sliding doors scenarios where I can see a completely different life had I gone away to uni. I certainly wouldn't have made some of the mistakes I made or stayed in the same radio station for as long as I did.

However... I don't regret missed opportunities because a different life might have meant not ending up where I am today, with my son. I'm not saying my life right now is perfect, but it's all been worthwhile as a path that led me to becoming his father.

Woahhh... this is getting hella-deep. I'm supposed to be writing about the bloody phone in! Apologies, these posts are cheaper than therapy.

35. Diana Ross - Do You Know Where You're Going To? (Theme From Mahogany)

Here's a song I always loved. It's about looking back with regret, a truly pointless endeavour. Lovely tune though. I've never seen the movie Mahogany, starring Diana Ross and directed by Berry Gordy, but most critics seem to agree the most memorable thing about it is this tune...