I am an only child (in case you hadn’t noticed, I thought I would tell you), and grew up in the “70’s and “80’s with two rather trendy parents.  Hardly surprising then that I am at the cutting edge of all things fashion.  Just kidding.  About the fashion part.

When I was a little girl, which I admit, was a while ago, I used to follow my father around in an almost adoration-like trance.  Luckily for me, or not, my father was obsessed with cars, the Grand Prix, Lucky Strike cigarettes, and music.  Music, I have continued to discover, holds a power few of us are able to rival, even Vladimir Putin, and Putin would most certainly be an individual I would fear in good times and in bad.

When I was a teenager in the (very) late ‘80’s, I used to praise my father for having the sense of character to buy the very best speakers (Bose, of course), the very best hi-system, and the very best ear-phones.  He and I used to retreat to our respective couches, with the exceptionally bad pink cushions, and “lie back and think of England”.

I have no idea what he used to think about – probably how he was going to find a mild-ish method of containing his daughter, and who could blame him?  But I do know that I used to lie back on that badly cushioned couch and dream of all things, realistic or otherwise.

For most of us, life is not a bed of roses.  In fact, in my forty years of life, I have never come across anyone who has had a blissful, easy, unrivalled, glorious life.  Each and every one of us, at some time or another, has “a blip on our radar screen”.

I have always loved music, and follow music trends with more regularity than I watch the comings and goings of the New York Stock Exchange.  Given my obsession with New York and its commercial life-blood, this says a lot.  And so, it was with much intrigue that I wandered in this evening from a dinner, turned on the music channel, and sat down to work on a proposal, only to discover one of my most favourite tunes playing on MTV – “Journey”, “Don’t Stop Believing”.

Suddenly I was stuck in time.  My memory jumped back to watching my dad driving his white No-Mad, teaching me to steer while he did the peddle thing, probably the reason why I favour automatic cars.  Neil Diamond and Journey were the pick of the day.

Apart from the obvious flash-back in terms of memory, for the first time ever, I listened to the lyrics.  “Smell wine and cheap perfume” amongst other things. The performers were all in jeans that were way too tight for them, bad yellow t-shirts, equally bad haircuts, and yet, they could not be happier performing there on the stage, knowing that they were exceptional performers, bad haircut or not; believing or not.

In a time of such trouble and strife in our personal and business lives, I think we should, or could, take a leaf out of their music book, and that is this:  Do not stop believing.  Where there is loss, there is hope.

Despite that, however, let me state, as the fashion expert I of course am: yellow t-shirts work for the Tour de France and little else, and tight jeans have, quite frankly, never worked for anyone… Journey or otherwise.