"When I was young, I was very young! I looked younger than I really was. When I was 10 I looked about 8! In Ysgol Gynradd Drefach I actually wished I was older. I wanted to be treated less a child; more like the pupils in secondary school. Surely they were given more respect ... more responsibility?
Eventually I had to leave primary and move to secondary. I was excited and nervous. I was also sad. Maybe I was secretly going to miss life in primary ... being treated like a child. Life in secondary school was good. I was treated with the respect I wanted as well as the responsibility. Many pupils were not.
As life went on, I grew to be more confident thanks to the respect I had gained. People definitely thought I was quite mature. They thought I was more mature than I really should have been. I grew disdainful of childish 15 year-olds.
15 - late 15 - that's when I started shaving. Not that many people start shaving at that age. Not many people decide to grow sideburns at that age either! I thought if I act mature it would make more sense if I looked mature.
When I was 17, however, that's when it started to go downhill. That's when people started to think I looked about 28! C'mon! I'd never been asked for ID!!! Ever! I couldn't shave off sideburns! I had them since I was 15! They're a part of me!
Never mature too quickly; take advantage of your youth. How old do you think I am really?"
