She was into one of her speeches, the subtext of which was listen, learn and don’t you dare do any of this when you grow up, missy”

“You put that down now before I give yow a bloody "

“I stood open-mouthed in admiration, wondering what she had cast, to turn these boy-men, whom I would have crossed streets to avoid had I seen them hanging around any corner near my school, into grinning, "

“I did not want a party as I would not have had ”

The songs made me realise that there was a corner of me that would be forever ”

"I celebrated my seventeenth birthday in a with only what I stood up in."

"But to be told off by a white person, especially a neighbour, that was not just misbehaviour that was letting down "