centre front towards the right of the
I saw a flash of red hair (below,
firm and genuine). I pulled away,
stage. It was suddenly happening.
person on the right).
and thought “I just hugged my idol.
This is crazy”. Everything looked
My heart bounded, and I began
feeling cold from nervousness. I
panicked with Kasia and Magda
(two Polish admins), which I guess
was nice! We all hugged and
Rochstar came out from backstage
with Ada and the gifts and lead us
to the left of the stage, cordoned off
by barriers. “What am I doing here?
How did I get here? Is this really
happening?” I thought. We waited.
And waited. It was painful. The
Kooks were screaming on stage and
I was agitated. Finally, the Rochstar
guy came out and took us inside. A
marble hall was the entrance, dimly
lit, with a woman standing next to
a door. This was really happening.
My heart raced, and my mind
clouded.
She
led
us
into
a
conference room with white sofas,
which all looked very official, and
we got a group picture. Just as the
shutter sounded, I saw movement
at the door. You can see in the
picture that I was looking away, as
In floated Florence (she literally
floats). Oh. My. God. The first
thing that I thought was “wow.
She’s real. She’s actually here. She’s
not on a computer screen”. I was
silent. Then I noticed her face – she
looks younger and her skin is softer
in person. She was a pale kind of
pinky yellow, and her hair was
much lighter in person too – a
strawberry blond rather than fiery.
She was also shorter than I expected
– about an inch or so shorter than
me. Then I noticed Isa had come
too. She was so small! She is
beautiful in person too. I find
pictures don’t do her justice now
I’ve seen her in person. I now think
retrospectively that I should’ve
apologised for my Cosmic Love
tweet she replied to! Anyway, then
Rob walked in. He was HUGE.
1.5X my height at least! I greeted
everyone last. Florence hugged me
first (it was a HUGE blur, but I
think I remember Flo’s hug being
The Flow Magazine – Issue 7/Summer 2014
blurry through my ‘rose-tinted
glasses’. It had truly happened.
Everything I dreamed of (I’ve
dreamed about it many times!),
everything
I’ve
longed
for,
happened in 4 seconds. Isa next,
and I had to bend for her! She was
also a good hugger. I turned to Rob
and said “hug? Handshake?” He
reached his arm out and said
“whatever you want, mate!” I took
it and shook it. Out came the first
gift. The book. It was HUGE. For
the rest of the time I would’ve
talked to the band. A bit of banter.
Flo and Isa got very very excited
over the artworks and poems! Ada
(one of the Polish admins) told me
before we went backstage that Flo
gets very excited, like a puppy, but I
didn’t fully believe her: Florence
gets SO excited that she forgets
everything around her. People were
talking but she was so engrossed in
the book! After trying once to say
about my poems I collected for it
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