What you see above might at first just look like the tattered, weather-bleached remains of posters of the kind that are a daily sight to Londoners on their commute every day. But look closer. To a Girls Aloud fan, there's no mistaking what this is.
In one small corner of London, these posters still lie, hanging on despite the ten year assault of the elements. Buy Girls, Bye Boys - it was the slogan that launched the career of one of the most remarkable success stories in pop. That's right, Girls Aloud. Back when they were still fresh from the crucible of Popstars the Rivals, it was these posters which urged the public to buy into them and forsake the second-rate Westlife clones that were One True Voice.
Of course, in hindsight it's easy to say Girls Aloud were the far better group (which of course they were), but looking at these tattered old posters, you realise how different the world would be without Girls Aloud. No Cheryl on the X Factor, no Nicola doing what she does so amazingly. The world would be a sad, bleak place without Girls Aloud.
A lot of things have changed since those hazy days of 2002 - Top of the Pops and Woolworths have both departed from this world, fading away into nothingness. Dubstep 'happened'...
What we see in the picture above is a real pop phenomenon, a real bit of pop history, something which to us music lovers holds as much meaning as some old church relic or rusted piece of metal dug up from the ground. There, on the side of some old North London hospital lies the genesis of a real life Cinderella story; where for five girls, they really did receive everything their dreams promised.
It's a sobering moment.
