Maddie Grigg

David Cassidy, my pre-teen idol

In these momentous days when there is strife all over the world and things seem particularly crazy, it’s good to look back and recall memories from a carefree childhood.

Two of these came to mind this morning, when I didn’t want to see the latest nonsense in the news but had to go on to social media anyway.

The first blast from the past was in my daily music quiz, Popquizza, where I pit my wits against old friends from trainee journalist days.

Today’s theme was Number 1s from 1973.

I should have scored higher than seven out of ten, because this was my era. A time when I was getting into music of my own rather than being influenced by the (good) taste of my older siblings.

The first single I ever bought was Venus by Shocking Blue, which came out when I was eight. The second was When I’m Dead And Gone by McGuinness Flint which I got when I was nine.

And then, in 1971 when I was ten, The Partridge Family came on our televisions in the UK. I was smitten. David Cassidy had arrived.

Down came my sister’s Rory Gallagher poster and up went a picture of the beautiful, smiling David.

And low and behold, one of today’s Popquizza questions was about my early 70s idol. There was also a Donny Osmond question but I was never a Donny fan. It was David all the way, even though at that time my older brother looked a bit like him.

The show was manufactured tosh, I suppose, but I loved it and especially David Cassidy. The songs were great and he had such a lovely, breathy singing style. So I’m now down an internet rabbit hole with David Cassidy singing Could It Be Forever, just for me, in my headphones while I type.

Hearing It’s One of Those Nights (Yes Love) now, I’ve got goosebumps from my toes to the tips of my fingers. (I ought to get that seen to.) It certainly blots out the rest of the rubbish going on in the world right now.

Looking Through The Eyes of Love has just come on and I’m almost crying, as I did when David Cassidy died in 2017. He was 67, an alcoholic and died of liver failure.

David, may you rest in peace. I think I loved you.

(I’ll tell you about the second piece of nostalgic bliss later in the week.)

Cover girl

I’ve only ever once in my life been on the cover of a magazine (cue the opening bars of Vogue by Madonna).

That was back in 2015 when I became a columnist for the world’s longest-running weekly magazine for women, The People’s Friend, on the strength of a previous blog, The World From My Window.

It was like a dream come true, to be honest, even though some of my friends claimed they only ever saw the mag in the waiting room of their doctor’s surgery.

Pictured by my old friend, Gail, at isthismutton.com

I’d always wanted to be a columnist and to be plucked out of the blue like that, just because the editor saw and liked my blog, well, it was amazing.

It was a good feeling to see my face there, especially as it didn’t occupy the whole page but was inset on a rather attractive painting of a landscape.

I remember once having a photo byline when I was a trainee journalist and getting rather excited until an old schoolfriend told me he’d seen it – under his fishcake.

Anyway, my rambling is getting to a point.

I’m on the cover of a magazine again. This time, it’s my local Marshwood Vale Magazine and as my real self.

Luckily, it’s only the online version, so no dropped groceries at the shocking sight of it in shops or anything, because it’s only printed every other month.

Still, it’s a lovely photo (as my needlework teacher once said, ‘working well with rather difficult material’) and a nice article, even though I do feel like a bit of an April fool.

Catch up with you next week.

Love, Maddie x

Goodbye dear Bella

It’s going to be the end of an era when this little beauty goes under the hammer at the end of the month.

I’ll be writing in my People’s Friend column about my adventures in Bella over the last 20 years.

Twice, we’ve been in this special car across the continent to Greece, along with trips to France.

She’s a joy to drive and a real head-turner.

I’ve never been one for giving a car a name but this one became Bella when we drove down through Italy to Greece. People we passed shouted: ‘Bella, bella!’

Sad to see her go after 20 years but I don’t use her any more and it’s high time she had a bit of joy and excitement in her life. The auction is on 30 April.

Fingers crossed she finds a lovely home.

Here’s to blue sky thinking

We arrived in France on Thursday, just as the weather changed.

By Good Friday, in the south west of the country, the sun was out, the sky was blue and we were thanked for bringing the weather with us.

As if.

Just like the UK, it has been a cold and wet winter here in France. So to see – and feel – that shining orb looking down warmly – well, it’s been a welcome visitor with a smiley face and absolutely no baggage.

Today, our part of Dorset is similarly clad in warmth. Spirits soar and everything in the garden is lovely, if you forget world events and personal traumas and focus instead on the trees ditching their winter wardrobe and grabbing their spring and summer clothes from nature’s rail.

Lush Places gets back to normal tomorrow, with temperatures plummeting and roadworks all over the place as super-superfast broadband is installed by a roving crew, leading to faster internet speeds and frazzled drivers.

Here, we’re set fair until Sunday when temperatures, too, will plummet along with (if there was any justice in the world) fuel prices. But we all know justice is in short supply these days so I’m not going down that particular route for fearing of reaching a dead end or one great big pothole.

Gather ye rosebuds while you may and make hay while the sun shines and all that.

Be kind, hope for the best but expect the worst and you will never be disappointed.

Speak soon.

Maddie x

Happy Easter

May the Easter bunny bring you all the chocolate eggs you can eat in one sitting.

No, but seriously, following the austerity of today, Good Friday, when we’re all feeling a bit sad because it was the day Jesus was crucified, it’s the day when we can now officially eat Hot Cross Buns, even though they’ve been on sale in Morrisons for months.

Sunday is the day of the resurrection. So Easter Day is a day of rebirth, when eggs become symbols for new life and we can gorge on chocolate now that the period of fasting is over.

It’s a celebration day for families to get together and enjoy Easter egg hunts and shared food and rejoicing.

If you’re religious – and even if you’re not – you can go to a church service for one of the most important days of the Christian calendar.

We’ll be in France and I’m not even sure our closed village church will be open.

And family will be back home, so we’ll be making the most of it by celebrating Easter Sunday with friends instead.

Happy Easter to you all, and here’s to new life.