On the nineteenth day of March in the most pleasant of years 1987, I became a big brother for the sixth and final time. Now having three younger brothers and three younger sisters, while still having just under two months to go before my thirteenth birthday was to come round, my world was about to, if it hadn't already, become quite hectic. On a very odd but pleasant day in 2009 my world would be rocked by something quite peculiar.

In 1987 and having seven children under the age of thirteen, it of course wasn't easy for my mum to get out of the house while my dad was at work, so with myself being indeed being the eldest of those seven siblings, I would be entrusted with a regular set up.

Times back then weren't what they are now with the likes of direct debits, home grocery deliveries and the likes so mum would give me money and I would have a routine of going out to pay the bills and do the shopping, and in previous years and continuing on in this one, I also had the pleasure (yeah right) of changing nappies and feeding bottles on a regular basis to all four of my youngest siblings and then to a next generation when that came along.

None of this was ever a problem for me, if anything I had and always have been proud and happy to be the big brother. All these things I had in my life were what they were; they were just a part of life, indeed my life and despite all the ensuing mayhem, it was a happy life. I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

Having lived in the same town ever since I was three years old, I have seen the changes that have been made here; it is definitely not the same town in the 2020's as it was in 1987. Back then there was no enormous central town shopping center; the hospital which exists today wasn't even a daydream. Back in the eighties there was no bowling alley, no town hotels of which by 2009 there were five, the park area near the village was nothing more than a few football fields, and even the old village itself now is very different place to what it was.

The old town center which had served the town for decades is long gone, a road now passes through where that old building used to be, the old supermarket with the chemist and post office at its side is also long gone, having turned into apartments a few years after the new, or newer, town center opened. The old footbridge I had crossed thousands of times in my teens has been replaced with a new or at least newer and quite impressive looking bridge.

So, 2009 comes along. You know, I like to believe that the universe sometimes likes to open itself up every once in a while, and with the endless possibilities it possesses it can bring space and time together to offer out a gift or two, a gift so special it reminds us of who we are and of whom we once were.

On a particular day indeed in 2009 I was out walking, nothing strange about this as I like to go walking quite a bit, but on this unusual day something very strange indeed was to happen. Yeah, it was the oddest experience I have ever experienced and looking back upon it now I see it as my gift from the universe, a gift for me and to me.

Out on this walk of mine I was hit with a sudden spell of dizziness and hit so hard by it that it knocked me off my feet and to the ground. Apparently, I wasn't the only one to feel this dizziness, well maybe I was, I guess it is all a matter of how you can look at this odd and unique moment. As I got to my feet, a young boy only a few feet away, also got up to his feet after also having fallen, this boy? This boy ... he was me ... is me ... when I was thirteen years of age. Can you believe that? Well, it's true, not one word this tale of a lie.

The regular me at this particular moment in time as this story enfolds was thirty-five years old.

Even though I was a very different looking person at thirty-five years of age to what I looked like when I was thirteen, my younger self somehow seemed to know he was looking into his own future. He was not only looking into his future, but he was also there in an actual future moment of time. He had come to be in the present rather than thirty-five-year-old me travelling to a past.

I have no memory of ever travelling forward in time to see my future self or ever having disappeared anywhere, so after the initial shock of what was happening, I figured what's the harm in treating my young self to a day out, in the town where he lived but would now not recognize.

Yeah, I thought there would be no harm in this for surly things would work themselves out and eventually return to what they should be, if the timeline were to come to a resurrection, then there would be no harm done. Younger me could not stay in the time he came to, right? If that was to happen then we would have a paradox or something of the likes. No previous knowledge of this moment told me that we didn't already have a paradox. So, as it is, or was, our day began, my day with ... me.

We went to begin our journey down by where I had lived when I was thirteen, down on old Avonbeg Road. When we got there my phone rang and the younger me just stared in amazement, mobile phones were not a common thing in 1987. Again, if my younger self does not retain any memory of these events to come then there is no harm in explaining a thing or two.

Anyhow, I was able to organize something special for later in the day with whom I had been chatting to when I had answered my phone and decided to keep this plan from my younger self for the time being.

On with my day, I thought it would be nice from here to start with the journey I had made so many times when I had been thirteen. In 1987, I would regularly go pay the bills and do the shopping. As we (we as in the me from the then present moment and a thirteen-year-old me, how strange is that?) approached the new bridge, the younger me could see that the supermarket with the post office was gone.

Well yeah, that supermarket area had not just gone but had indeed replaced by apartments, the post office had been the first stop on paying bills with the former supermarket being the final stop on the way back to do some grocery shopping. Of course, these days and in the days of the unfolding events it is all direct debit, but as I have already said back in my teens things weren't so automated, and with a big family like ours it was easier to pay in part weekly rather than paying each bill wholly whenever it was due.

Up on this newer bridge, looking left and seeing the difference in the town, the younger me just had so many questions that he couldn't get them out fast enough. Amazed he was by the bridge itself, futuristic compared to the one from before, and higher up off the ground too. More amazement was to follow as the second stop of my old routine would have been the old shopping center which had been almost direct across the street from where the supermarket had been.

Just like the supermarket and the post office, the town center where I would pay the electricity bill was no longer there. I remember that town center so well, within its walls is where my music collection began, as the only record store in the town back in 1987 had been in that very center.

Anyhow, my younger self and I soon continued up to the bowling alley where we stopped to eat in the cafe there, the 'bowler' or 'sports bowl' as it is called, was the first place to go up to set off the changes in my hometown way back in 1990. Unfortunately, it was a much nicer spot when it first opened early on in 1990 then what it became in 2009. Younger me knew no different for this building was still three years away from existence in 1987.

As we once again resumed our journey, the younger me was upset to see that the old snooker hall where I ... he ... we ... used to regularly play in, a place had been situated to one end of the old village close to where the bowling alley is now, was the current point in time no longer there. I had indeed spent a fair bit of my youth in that hall, and it was the place where I won one of only two medals I have ever won.

We took in all the changes before heading home. Now home in 2009 was in a different part of town to where home was in 1987. By such time in the 2009 day when we were to arrive, home was where I had something awaiting us. I had arranged earlier for my brothers and sisters to be there. I had not explained to them why I would like them to be there ... if I had told them then they surely would have thought me mad. As things would have it, all my siblings were available, and each had turned up before I had arrived back with ... myself.

I brought the younger me inside and enjoyed watching the tables being turned on him. With my youngest sister having had her twenty second birthday not so long ago, the thirteen-year-old me now got the chance to be the little brother rather than being the big brother and he had instantly knew all of whom he had been confronted with, even with the fact my youngest sister was only coming up to two months of life when I turned thirteen.

The surprise on everyone's face was something that can never, will never be duplicated again. The how and why of it all was quickly by-passed and we all got on with an incredible experience. Hours passed as a long but great day came to an end when I had another moment of dizziness, and I soon would find myself staring out my bedroom window.

It all feels like a dream though it is something that actually happened, and I am glad for having had it happen. I presume my younger self was returned to time in which he belongs though as I have said already, I have no recollection of any of this occurring from my younger perspective, perhaps that is just as well. Still, from here on in I will never forget the day I had with ... me.