The Manic Street Preachers

My first husband was a Public Image fan so when their second album, Metal Box,  was released in 1979 he was one of the first to go and grab it from Robin's Records in Pottergate, Norwich. It was a weird album consisting of three 45 RPMs separated by sheets of paper, encased in two metal casings that clipped together. Although I didn't really like the music on it, it was his pride and joy and I still considered it my record also. Later on when we got divorced and split our possessions he took Metal Box. When you get divorced you can lose a lot of good vinyl: well I didn't mind as I got the house, a much better investment! When my ex did die later on, I thought that all my old possessions that he had taken during our split had died with him. And I never did ask the executor of the estate, my daughter, about what she had done with his stuff.

Just recently my daughter announced that she was moving to live with her new partner Peter. I was pleased for her happiness but knew nothing about Peter. My son informed me that Peter indeed was “famous”: he had written a book about the group, the Manic Street Preachers, he was a journalist with several publications and he had even written for the Guardian. Well, in my eyes anyone who has written for the Guardian is very, very famous indeed: his credentials have been proved! He looked very post-punk with no hair in the middle of his head, and two starched red wings rising up from each side of his head, artistically drawn make up and post gothic clothes with piercings and tattoos to match.

The day came when Peter came to visit us for the first time and I was quite nervous. Would he like me? Would I pass the audition? Would I be able to cater for his veganism, I could do vegetarian quite easily but vegan was something else. I needn't have worried. He walked up the garden path and yes he did have two sticky out bits of red hair on the side of his hair and he looked very post goth, but he was a very positive, erudite, polite and relaxed person; not at all snobby and very, very normal. Really, we were both in audition.

During his stay we toured a lot of the Isle of Wight beauty spots like Culver Down and Bembridge Life Boat Pier and took walks to Seaview Esplanade and St Helens Duver, although at St Helens Duver he got a few frowns; perhaps St Helens isn't ready yet for punk rock, tattoos and piercings. In the evening we spent some pleasant time listening to music and drinking red wine. He did spend a lot of time on Twitter. And he liked my vegan cooking! Well, it wasn't technically vegan, but I did try hard!

A few months later we were watching telly and saw a trailer for a new programme about pop music, and who was on it? Peter! Our Peter was going to be on the telly! So we made sure that we were watching the broadcast as soon as it started. Peter was being filmed in the living room of his flat, the one he shared with my daughter and he was talking about the development of post-punk in popular culture. This was all good stuff. As he talked I had a good look at the décor of the flat, noticed a book shelf behind him and posed on that shelf, obviously for the camera to capture was the LP Metal Box, round and silvery, and from this I could see that Peter was making an artistic statement.

Then I wondered where he got it from. Was it my copy of Metal Box that I lost when I got divorced? I

Everyone has their five minutes of fame.