It is super rare for me to spend an afternoon with my eldest sibling (not elder – that is me remember!) and we planned an afternoon in the City so I had booked the afternoon off months ago. I was looking forward to the post-morning period of freedom. I pre-booked the train tickets (via TrainLine) and we could use contactless on the TfL Tube (on a side note – I have no idea where my Oyster card is!) My sister drove over to Wokingham, and we got an Uber over to Reading station and got the fast trains from there into Paddington. From there, we took the Elizabeth Line into the West End. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Leon and then headed up Oxford Street to the flagship Adidas Store. The last time I had been here, it was July 2019 (Logan had not quite hit the year mark) and Adidas had just taken over the Arsenal kit contract from Puma (for many fans considered the fallow years after Nike, but I digress). My dearest and generous mother-in-law had purchased Logan the full home kit. I probably have a photo somewhere but unsure if as a seven-year-old, he would be happy for a photo of him, pre-one being blasted all over the interweb.

Here I was in the centre of retail paradise on the launch of the JVC retro kit. I own this kit myself. In fact, I wore this kit when I was in NYC almost a decade ago, when I watched Arsenal beat Southampton at Emirates and Santi Cazorla score what would be his final goal for the club.

The store is completely different from how it was almost six years ago. But then what did I expect? I had called the number on their website the previous day to ask if they did shirt printing. A straightforward question, and I was surprised the German company does not have this listed on their website. The sales assistant told me they did and directed us to the first flow. There was a guy DJing downstairs. How the retail landscape has changed – this truly is destination shopping. We headed upstairs and I snapped some photographs of the retro display – 1992-1994 doesn’t feel that long ago to me, but it is. Probably more so when I consider I work with many young persons whose YOB begins with a 2.

I totally approved the music policy and the songs being played, so I used my smartphone Shazam app to identify a couple of the songs. One of the songs was Now or Never by rapper artist Tkandz. It was as if this song somehow represented not just that moment in the store with my sister but also the entire campaign with Arsenal. Would they beat Crystal Palace tomorrow? Would Eze score? These were all unknowns to me at that moment in time, but more so the song just hit the right spot. As you know me by now, the soundtrack is critical. 

I spoke to the Sales Advisor – as I was bopping around to the song – “I wish I could play this music in my ‘place of work’. I would probably get fired” He asked what I did for a living and I gave the rather non-descript answer of IT. He responded that I was probably earning more than him in the retail paradise of West End London, but I responded with – don’t believe that for a second my friend. We ended the interaction with a fist bump, but obviously, I had to add the explosion element. Go to see Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown with JLS from a Comic Relief skit from many years ago (if you don’t get the cultural reference!). Obviously I had to check; it was from March 2011 (back in the final five months of my singledom). (Think of that what you will!) I have taken the liberty to start the clip at the exact point in question but the full thirteen minutes is well worth a watch – God Bless You – George Michael.