Left to her own devices during the day, my houseguest has taken a good hard look at my CD collection. And commented: "You've got an awful lot of 80s stuff" in that tone of voice that implied I was dating myself terribly through my choice of music. Immediately on the defensive, I pointed out that I also have a few albums by The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, Portishead and Massive Attack...and they're 90s, aren't they? Plus I've got some 40-odd classical CDs (mostly Ars Nova and Baroque, some 18th/early 19th century) and a somewhat smaller collection of jazz (I'm still in the process of building it up) -- but this is not the point. Have I stagnated, without realising it? Have I lost touch with the times? Should I try harder to find something to like in hiphop or whatever the current craze may be?

And do I really have such a lot of 80s music? Let's see: there's The Cure, and Heaven 17. There's Spandau Ballet and ABC, New Order and Tears For Fears, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Ultravox. The Style Council. Everything But The Girl, and Lloyd Cole & The Commotions. Madness. The Smiths. Siouxsie & The Banshees, Echo & The Bunnymen, Dexys Midnight Runners, The Pretenders. UB40. U2. Robert Palmer and Depeche Mode. Billy Idol and The Psychedelic Furs. The Housemartins and Kate Bush. Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Paul Young. The The, The Jam, The Specials and Fun Boy Three. Matt Bianco, Prefab Sprout and Fischer Z. Joe Jackson and David Sylvian. The Sundays and The Cowboy Junkies. Talking Heads. The Pogues. The Clash. The Stranglers. Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Japan. Adam & The Ants. Blondie. Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Soft Cell, Cocteau Twins and Talk Talk...The Police, Prince, Simple Minds and Simply Red, Sade, The Eurythmics...and straddling several decades, including the 80s: David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, J.J. Cale, Madonna, The Rolling Stones. My word! I do have a lot of 80s stuff: those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head! I'm sure there are a few more I've forgotten to list: how about The Hothouse Flowers, Thomas Dolby, The Human League and INXS?

In a strop, I went into a megastore determined to purchase some great new stuff...and came out again with Matt Bianco's latest offering Matt's Mood, and Depeche Mode's Violator (which I previously only owned on tape)...It seems that I just can't make myself over into a 21st century girl ::headdesk::