Ahem

When I was six I was a bridesmaid for my mum's friend Denise. They got married on my sixth birthday. I got a wind up watch with a red leather strap that I displayed with pride in every single one of their wedding photos. My Sindy got a horse and carriage. I wore a white dress from M&S, white t-bar sandals, white ankle socks and had silk lilies of the valley clipped in my hair. My sister and I looked like twins.

Shortly before the wedding I developed a cough - a tickly, dry and occasionally chesty cough. Mum thought I was getting a cold or a chest infection so she dosed me up with Benylin. It went away on the morning of the wedding. Ever since then, whenever I've done anything that makes me anxious or excited - be it interviews. exams, public speaking or even saying "I love you" for the first time, I've developed the same rather irritating need to clear my throat.

Today the cough has appeared - exactly one month before my wedding a whole 23 years later. I expect to be coughing and a-hemming for the next four weeks. I do apologise if I gets on your nerves, but do remember it's just because I'm excited. (Either that or I'm getting swine flu!)