Asten

Look, I love living in the future — I can order mozzarella sticks from my bed and video-call Myron while I’m in a face mask — but also… 2003 me would be howling at the nonsense we put up with now. Case in point: Instagram just swapped notifications and messages and my thumbs have filed… Read more

When I was about ten, I went to a little youth group on Wednesday evenings. Among the chatter and squash cups and glitter glue, there was a girl who could do something I desperately wished I could — she could write stories. She’d sit with her notebook, pencil flying, and somehow the ideas in her… Read more

There are moments that make time feel like it’s folded in half — when past and present blur into one long blink. For me, it was finding out my baby cousin has a boyfriend. A boyfriend. At seventeen. It doesn’t seem that long ago they were learning to walk, clutching a juice box, or laughing… Read more

Before I was running a nostalgia blog, before I was dissecting CBBC plotlines and worshipping JLS, I had another obsession: old adverts. Yep. Somewhere between my MSN phase and my “let’s upload S Club concert clips” era, I discovered the weirdly comforting world of vintage commercials on YouTube. And not just watching them — oh… Read more

It still makes me laugh — and roll my eyes a bit — that my mum had zero issue with me joining something called the Bubblegum Club, but completely lost her mind when she found out I fancied Basil Brush. I mean… priorities? 🤣 The Bubblegum Club was pure early-00s energy: neon colours, fizzy competitions,… Read more

There was something special about being a CBBC kid. Not just the shows — though Tracy Beaker, Raven, Tracy Beaker Returns, Dick and Dom in da Bungalow, Smile, and the glorious Blue Peter chaos are reason enough — but the whole vibe of it. It was bright. It was a bit awkward. It was full… Read more

You don’t expect to cry at The Basil Brush Show. You expect chaos, catchphrases, and cartoon sound effects — not feelings. But then along came “Wedded Blitz.” At first, it’s pure Basil: weddings gone wrong, silly costumes, and jokes flying faster than confetti. I was ready to laugh, maybe cringe a bit at the 00s… Read more

A cautionary tale from the dial-up days — because we really were just trying to find a cute website for girls, not trauma. There are few childhood memories more unifying than typing something innocent into the family computer… and instantly realising you’ve made a terrible mistake. 💀 For many of us, that moment came courtesy… Read more

Before apps ruled our phones, there was one universal truth: if you saw a penguin, you clicked it. From Bubblegum Club’s Chill Out (the OG cool penguin on ice 🧊) to Penguin Diner, Yetisports, and every random “slide, serve, or fling” clone in between, penguins absolutely dominated the 2000s Flash game scene. They were the… Read more

Back in 2015, S Club reunited — and I didn’t make it. I was meant to go with my mum, but life got messy. She and my stepdad were going through a rough patch, and our plans quietly fell apart. I told her, half-joking but half-true, “I’ll never forgive you for letting me miss S… Read more