Mike Gayle
I was born in the 70s — the 70s were great. I would recommend them to anyone.
I was also born in Birmingham — in my humble opinion the greatest city in the world with the nicest people too.
I used to live in London — a great city too. But a bit on the pricey side.
I also used to live in Manchester — another great city (although technically I lived in Salford which is next door but that’s sort of splitting hairs).
Before I went to university I wanted to be a social worker — I have no idea why. It didn’t last long.
After I left university I wanted to write for the NME — I’ve always loved music but it was only when I went to uni that it started loving me back. I can’t play any instruments or sing so writing about music seemed to make sense.
My first paid writing gig was for a listings magazine in Birmingham — (Actually my first unpaid writing gig was an interview with Kitchens of Distinction for Salford Student Magazine. I can’t begin to tell you how terrible it was.)
I used to write a music fanzine — it was called Incredibly Inedible and I co-edited it with my mate Jackie. We typed up the first issue on my dad’s olde worlde typewriter and then literally cut and paste on to A4 sheets using scissors and glue. Over the three years of its existence we interviewed many bands and artists including: Smashing Pumpkins, The Cranberries, Pavement, Bill Hicks and Blur.
“You carry about in your own selfish world completely oblivious to the things that really upset me and then wonder what it is you've done wrong.”
“If eskimos can come up with fifty words for snow because its a matter of life and death, why do we have just one word for love?”
“In a way I couldn't believe I'd carried a torch for her this far - I should have used it to set fire to her years ago.”
“I think she did really try her hardest to get over him. You would, wouldn't you, if someone had hurt you like that? You'd make all kinds of promises to yourself not to let them do something like that again. But wouldn't a small part of you always be wondering "what if" Wouldn't some part of you - a part that you might not want to exist - still be holding out for that happy ending? It's how we're built isn't it? No matter how many times you get slapped in the face you have to believe that the next time would be different. And then in comes the guy who hurt you all those years ago, and he wants to make things better and to prove he's not all talk- this time it will be different. How could she not fall for that? How could she not think that if she chose him it would finally lift the shadow that he'd cast over her life? All that hurt, all that suffering wouldn't have been for nothing then, would it? If he'd come back to you like that, would you have taken him back?”
“I'd like the kind of love that lasts forever.It doesn't matter if it's plain,it doesn't matter if it's ugly.It just has to be there.”
“I never trusted the women i was involved with to tell the truth,because the truth never changes,but as i knew so well,people did.I knew it wasn't everyone,some women did have staying power,but it was impossible to tell which ones they were.Women should have come labelled-it would have made life so much simpler.”
“Give a man a noble cause and he would fight to the death for what he believed in,but get the woman he loves to leave him and his once honourable principles would cease to be quite so important.”
“Good things could happen to not so bad people.”
“I resist my temptations in order to feel i am free.”
“In a relationship the details are everything because they remind you - just when you need to be reminded the most - why you fell in love with someone in the first place.”
“Love is so complicated, that is why it is love.”
“Aren't you curious? When did it stop working? Why did it stop working? Did we bring out the worst in each other? Was it just one persons fault or both of us? Aren't these questions everyone wants to ask when they split up with someone?”
“I know he's right to be worried about us, because I'm worried about us too. I don't understand how relationships work. I don't know how they survive. It seems every day something new arrives to threaten your peace of mind.”
“I won't stop loving you because I can't stop loving you.”
“To her to know truly, was to be intimate. To be intimate was to know the person you love as well as you know your own self.”
“People always go on about how fantastic relationships are in the beginning, and of course everyone hates relationships when they end, but what about the middles? the middles where you know everything there is to know. Where you can look at the person you love and know what they're thinking, see something on the telly and know how they'd react;When you know exactly what they'd wear to come round and see you.”
“One day the worlds male population will spontaneously combust because they've kept too much stuff in for too long.”
“She had this uncanny sense of seeing things the way they were instead of the way you'd want them to be, of knowing me better than I knew myself. She could sniff out the truth even if it hurt.”
“When you think about it finding the perfect partner is a bit like a game of pontoon. I mean, you get your cards and you make your decision, do you stick or twist? do you play safe and settle for 19 or do you go all out for 21 even if you might end up bust?”
“Sometimes I really feel sorry for Mel - Her life would've been so much better if she'd fallen in love with someone normal. Instead she fell in love with me and had been paying for the mistake ever since.”
“She was the first woman in my life to convince me to fall in love with her.”
“I'm telling you this for one reason and one reason only: No matter how sure you are of someone's love, it's always nice to hear it.”
“It hurts more than anything in the world because even though it might not be the case, it feels like you've chosen your child over me.'I haven't there is no choice. She's part of me. You're part of me too. It's like...I don't know...asking me to pick between my heart and my lungs.''I know, but the thing is, you are my heart and my lungs. You're everything to me. And what hurts is that I know i used to be everything to you.”