Jade's big day

Unless you've been living in another galaxy for the last few days, you'll be well aware that reality TV queen Jade Goody is getting married today. Tragically, of course, Jade is battling terminal cancer and is thought to have only a matter of weeks to live.

This incredibly distressing and depressing situation is in great contrast to the time, more than six and a half years ago, when she first emerged from the Big Brother house and began her crusade to claim a permanent place in the celebrity spotlight.

Back in those days, I used to write a less than serious weekly newspaper column called "Times by the Thames" in which I reported on life in London from the perspective of a Coleraine man away from home.

A self-confessed Big Brother fan - in those days at least - I therefore jumped at the opportunity to jump on the Tube and witness Jade come home to Bermondsey on board The Sun newspaper's big red bus.

I read the piece, dated 7 August 2002, once again the other day and thought it might be appropriate and topical to reproduce it here today.

This is what I wrote:

Thursday, 12.34pm - It's six days since Jade Goody was evicted from the Big Brother house. Withe the hype surrounding the locally-based dental nurse showing no sign of relenting, Barry arrives in Bermondsey, South London to witness her homecoming.

12.41pm - There are less than 20 minutes to go until Jade's scheduled arrival and the excitement is building amongst the 30-strong crowd gathered at the Blue Market on Southwark Park Road. A middle-aged man sitting on a park bench gulps down a can of Tennent's Super as his partner, standing behind him, lights another Rothman's Royal. A little girl, dressed in a white tee-shirt covered with newspaper clippings of Jade, jumps up and down beside them. The man tells her colourfully to refrain from doing so and instead pass him another can.

12.50pm - Two little boys ask Barry if he has come to see Jade. "Yes," he replies with more than a little embarrassment. "How long is she going to be?" one of the youngsters demands to know. "About 10 minutes," explains Barry before realising how sad he looks. Barry walks away to stand behind a tree.

12.52pm - The crowd has now increased to about forty. Barry listens in to a conversation between two local women who have just met in the Blue Market. "What's going on?" asks one. "Jade's coming down, in't she," replies the other. "On some bus. It was in the paper this morning."

12.53pm - Barry notices that very few of the women present have a full set of teeth.

12.54pm - Six minutes early, Jade arrives at the Blue Market aboard the red and white Sun bus. Dressed in a cream jacket, black top and blue jeans, Jade waves frantically from the upper deck before throwing the first of many personally-signed Sun bowler hats and tee-shirts to the 50-plus people gathered below. Some of the locals are heard to express pride in the fact that Jade can write.

12.57pm - As the bowler hats and tee-shirts continue to rain on the barely growing crowd, it becomes clear that many present will shortly have the option of opening a stall selling Sun merchandise.

12.58pm - As the bus moves off from the Blue Market two minutes before it is actually due to arrive, Barry listens into a conversation between a stall owner and a local newspaper journalist. "I mean, good luck to the girl," says the fruit and veg man. "But it's just the way they manipulate it. You know, yesterday, I phoned The Sun up and I told them that surely they must come round here where she lives. They never came back to me. The next thing I know was this morning when the paper said they were bringing her round here today. You see, I play in a band and we could've been here. We could've made a proper job. I wanted to try to and have a word with her, like. If you need any stories, you know where I am." The local reporter smiles and walks away. Barry remains behind the tree, hoping to get some stories.

1.03pm - The Sun bus is now parked outside a pub 50 yards away from the Blue Market. A red London bus pulls up alongside and comes to a halt. "Jade, you minger!" shout four teenage boys from the window on the top deck.

1.08pm - The Sun photographer beckons the crowd to bunch up to form a sea faces behind Jade, now wearing one of the bowler hats. The crowd is the same one photographed several minutes earlier bunching up to form a sea of faces behind Jade, then wearing one of the bowler hats.

1.15pm - A woman tries to attract the attention of Jade's mother Jackie who is accompanying her daughter on the bus. Her shouts drowned out by Emma Bunton's "What Took You So Long?" which is blaring out from the on-board PA system, the woman turns her attention to Jade's relation Michelle who is also waving to the crowd from the upper deck. Hearing the calls, Michelle tells Jackie who waves at the woman and then orders Jade to do the same. Jade waves.

1.17pm - A fully-crewed fire engine blasts its siren as it drives past the static Sun bus, attracting a cheery smile from Jade.

1.19pm - Four policeman arrive on the scene which is now beginning to resemble that from the U2 video, "Where The Streets Have No Name." Without the crowd.

1.12pm - "Thank you everyone!" shouts Jade to the remaining few. "No, I really do mean that. Thanks a lot. I'm going now."

1.26pm - Jade goes. Bound for obscurity? You decide.

With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that obscurity was the last thing Jade was bound for.

I genuinely hope she has a wonderful day.