I started to watch Dolly Alderton's BBC Drama 'Everything I know about love' with my teenage daughter. She lasted 2mins 46 seconds precisely. It was the Larkin that did it really. Fresh that day from an A level English Literature exam, quotations from the self-depreciating poet were to be fair, the last thing she wanted to hear. 'And they're on a train', she mused before leaving the room, 'how very Whitsun weddings'.
I continued watching, a fifty something woman perhaps not quite the target demographic, but I was hooked. Rather than something to watch to take the mind off the boredom of the household chores, I soon found myself literally dancing around my ironing board to Rizzle Kicks, Down with the trumpets.
Although set in 2012, the drama resonated with me and I was transported back to the eighties, my own era of misspent youth. Except for the drug taking that is, but still with plenty of alcohol to cloud one's judgement. Or it may have just been Street's hat. Whatever it was, I look forward to sharing the chaotic lives of Maggie, Birdy, Nell and Amara over the next few weeks who act as a timely reminder of another Larkin quote 'You can't put off being young until you retire'
