Common ground with Lily

It was then that you spotted Lily's sweater. A Stone Roses jumper with the slice of lemon logo. Your heart leapt- this was your 'in', this was what you and this perfect but painfully shy girl had in common.

"Ah Lily, you a Roses fan?" You silently prayed she was and it wasn't like those kids who wore Misfits tee shirts despite never having listened to the band.

Her eyes lit up but she bit her lip bashfully; if this was all part of some elaborate act then the Academy needed notifying. "I love them." She shrugged. And that was it for ten minutes you discussed favourite tracks and compared other musical influences- She loved Joy Division (who didn't?) And liked the Happy Mondays albeit less which was understandable. She preferred Oasis to Blur which you couldn't agree with but allowed it was a permissable if mainstream opinion.

Crucially she hadn't really heard much Manic Street Preachers but she was willing to give them a try IF you agreed to give Placebo another go. That was doable, you conceded and you were in the process of sharing playlists when Mr McCarthy (head of Coach 2 and your head of year) announced departure for Northern France was in ten minutes.

That meant a mass scramble back to rooms to collect essentials and perfect that 'Saturday look'. You wouldn't see Lily again until the evening meal but you could listen to "Without You I'm Nothing" and know that she'd have "Generation Terrorists" to keep her company.

For a breakfast, this hadn't been a bad start at all. And you had your new Room 1 buddies (and Sam) to keep you occupied for now.

That old adage of a kid in a sweet shop made an awful lot of sense to you that Saturday morning. But before the serious business of more haunting WWI memorials, a 2 hour coach ride back into France.