(Light reflection)

Want to know my guilty secret? I love the Xfactor! Yep, last year I was able to blame the daughter. I used to watch it with her, for some quality mother-daughter time. At least that was my story. Now that she’s a foreign student in a land over the sea, I have no cover story. So I’m owning up. It’s probably not a big surprise, all the contestants bravely going for their dream, in spite of the difficulties.

(Baskets of colour)

There’s all the hard work, the judging, the booing, the cheering, the voting and the performing. The staying in the competition and the getting kicked out. The interviews, the backstage snippets, the sniping judges.

No matter what the dream, get up on the stage and tell the people what you want, Mairead.