"I'll stand in front of you, I'll take the force of the blow..."
Day after deadline and from over the divide that hides X-Gamer comes the sound of Massive Attack's "Protection", and suddenly I'm dragged into a reverie. It's the first year of university at the emotional point of the night where "It's too fucking late" becomes "It's too fucking early", and I'm leaning against a girl's CD collection. It's a student flat, but there's eight people crammed in here. While I can't remember the names - the oddest couple of friends in my vague social circle: the most beautiful girl I'd ever met at that point in my life and a completely incompetent transvestite.
I didn't fancy the girl. She was beyond fancying. It would have been like having a crush on the Sun.
But Protection's playing in that tiny room, and I fall away from the chat and think... Christ, you're in a tiny Bohemian flat, talking shit with people more interesting than Stafford's plucked anus could have squatted out. This is is what you've been waiting your entire life for.
And I smile and mouth along to the words.
My home PC has died. I feel as if someone's fucked my cat. And, sadly, that someone is me.