If I Could Turn Back Time

 Who knew appearing on live national radio could be so stressful?

According to my Fitbit my heart rate soared higher than it had done all week as I waited for Dermot O'Leary to introduce me on BBC Radio 2 to talk about my nightclub memories when I was a student at Bangor University in the late 80s.

Here's a video with an audio of the interview if you missed it.

The Octagon in Bangor was the biggest nightclub for miles.

In the 1980s despite being a city with a beautiful cathedral, Bangor was pretty much a backwater.

Tourists visited as a gateway to the Menai Bridge which took them to Anglesey and locals went about their business - it's claim to fame before The Octagon was more pubs on a High Street than any other in the country. 

And I can vouch for that as I got together with my husband on the Rag Week multi-leg pub crawl - but that is a story for another day.

Anyways, back to The Octagon. 

It was so of its time. 

And we are talking late 1980s.

It was opened by the glamour model Sam Fox who was big in the charts at the time with three Top Ten hits including "Touch Me (I Want Your Body). 

The waitresses wore stockings, suspenders and black tailcoats no doubt emulating the London vibe from Stringfellows.

I did say, it was of its time.

It had the biggest moving light rig in the country and was, I have to admit pretty spectacular.

I felt like I was on the set of Saturday Night Fever.

It offered a rare place for students and locals to mix, not always in a good way - a bit like the cocktails they sold.

And as I worked behind the bar I can vouch for their dodginess.

At the end of each shift my eyes would be smarting from the mix of cigarette smoke and dry ice and my clothes and hair would smell for days.

But it was fun.

My 21st birthday wearing my grandma's necklace and second-hand  ear-rings from Affleck's Palace in Manchester.

A year after we graduated a group of us who once lived  together returned to Bangor for one night only and The Octagon was top of our list of places to go after a curry and a mini pub crawl.

As we walked through the streets awash with unfamiliar faces we all felt a little uncomfortable with groups of giggling students crowding the Saturday night streets.

We didn't recognize any of them.

It was no longer our city.

But we weren't about to admit defeat.

We continued to the end of the High Street and reached The Octagon.

The music was pumping, the light rig was dazzling and the drinks were flowing.

But it didn't feel the same.

Then a song came on.

If I could Turn Back Time by Cher.

Reader, I wept.

I wore:

Boots - M & S

Pinafore and shirt - New Look