I looked to my sister for guidance.

She advised me to wear Doc Martins. And she made me a tape of the music that she was listening to at Rock City on a Saturday night.

I wore Doc Martins for a bit.

But I played that TDK 90 until it wore out. And more recently I’ve reassembled the songs on a Spotify playlist called Alison’s tape.

That cassette was formative, shaping my tastes, and my opinions, and the things I decided to do.

Her guidance was these songs:

Can’t Be Sure by The Sundays was the first song on side one. “England my country the home of the free, such miserable weather…” The mood and sensibility got my attention, and kept me listening.

Green and Grey by New Model Army was next. I never really got New Model Army, but this is an epic song about staying and leaving. “The time I think most clearly, the time I drift away is on the bus ride that meanders up these valleys of green and grey.” As an impressionable 14 year old growing up in a small town (and often on buses) this really spoke to me.

Monkey Gone to Heaven by Pixies was next. In fact, this was the first of several Pixies songs on the tape. And soon after making the tape Alison took me to see them at Leicester De Montfort Hall. This is not typical Pixies though; it’s more like a protest song: “There’s a hole in the sky, and the ground’s not cold, and if the ground’s not cold, everything is gonna burn, we’ll all take turns”.

Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure was on there. It might be the perfect pop song. And of course, the words resonated strongly with a sensitive teenage boy. “I just keep on laughing, hiding the tears in my eyes”. Like The Great Pretender, but with bigger hair and a baggy jumper.

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division closed side one. This was a song from a decade earlier, but I think it was still being played every Saturday at Rock City. Probably still is. Quintessential miserabilism.

It had Grebo Guru by Pop Will Eat Itself, which was a hint of a different type of music, with samples and West Midlands hip hop.

And Don’t Let Me Down Gently by The Wonderstuff, and Dizzy by Throwing Muses.

And Twenty Four Hour Party People by Happy Mondays, which gave a glimpse of all that Manchester music that came a bit later.

I used to wake in the afternoon

When the sunshine finally cut through the haze

I really don’t remember that much

I just know I wasted a thousand days

Born Again by The Christians, released in 1987, reaching 25 in the charts.

We need protection from this infection

Something to ease this cruel disease

A ray of hope and a new direction

I called to you and you rescued me

It didn’t occur to me (age 11) that it was anything other than a love song. Born Again by The Christians.

‘Cause when you’re around

I feel like I’m born again

I’m through going down

In you I’ve a better friend

Oooh, better friend

Got this feeling I’m born again

I retired from a promising swimming career at 12, taking it up again in my mid 30s.

I never liked the training. Sunday evening. Floats. Up and down.

Or galas at the Ken Martin.

Of course, I liked to race, but I remember very little enjoyment.

It was like sport, but all gym and no ball. No game.

Eddie, the coach, called me David and I didn’t correct him.

As soon as I felt I could make a choice, I chose pitches over pools, and coaches who knew my name.

My certificates are for breaststroke. But as an adult, it’s front crawl in the medium lane.

Early, Sunday mornings.

Camberwell, West Norwood. Kimberley, Beechdale, and Bramcote. And now the Auchrannie Spa, and Hotel.

Unmemorable mnemonic of train stops between Midland and Perth, 1994.

• Midland
• West Midland
• East Guildford
• Guildford
• Success Hill
• Bassendean
• A
• Bayswater
• Mount Lawley
• M
• M
• East Perth
• C
• M
• Perth