Can you see it move? There’s something there. It’s in this very cloth that I weave…

15 years ago I heard those words sung for the first time in the central arena of the Milennium Dome.  The acrobatic performance accompanying Peter Gabriel’s ‘Ovo’ defines “spectacular” for me. Everywhere you looked there were people performing – dancing, tumbling, flying! Truly amazing.

In total we visited the Dome 3 times that year, saw that show 8 times including the final performance on New Years Eve 2000. And we bought this bag as a souvenir. (and a copy of Ovo).
Since then this bag has been the first school bag used by all 5 of my children – carrying the things they need to nursery school and reception. Last week, after 15 year’s hard service, it finally gave up the ghost. When you can drop an A4 book bag through the hole in the bottom, it’s time.

That bag saw a lot of firsts for my family. It carried the first disposable nappies for my eldest and the first official school book bag for my youngest. It’s been on holiday wherever we’ve been.

I’m now at that stage when I’m coming up on lasts – I’ve had my last kid start walking, talking, school… Lasts are not as much fun as firsts and the firsts on the horizon are scary ones. My eldest takes her GCSEs next summer, for example. That first driving lesson is awful close!

Lasts and firsts are, to borrow a line, things that go to make up a life. They’re amazing, scary, wonderful things. And this bag saw more than a few.