#also it does not escape my notice at the pub of england fans being made to cheer at the death of a (sort of) scotswoman LOrdY

[placebogirl7]

Nana & Reira: how much Ren’s death has affected them and how they feel about singing

While reading Nana’s discussion and theories among the fans on the web, I noticed more than once that a lot of people claim that Reira is more afflicted by Ren’s death than Nana is, because Reira has completely stopped to sing (unless baby Ren plays the guitar) while Nana still continues to sing, despite she ran away in England. Personally, I don’t agree with this assumption for different reasons.

Both Reira and Nana have been hardly affected by Ren’s death and that’s undeniable. But while Reira had the possibility to continue to sing (Takumi would have searched for another guitarist if only Reira had started to sing again), to bring on Trapnest project, to have her closest friends near to her, Nana didn’t have all this in some way. She could have continued her solo career with the hope to return together with Blast as soon as the “Shin scandal” would have been forgotten, but it wasn’t sure that Blast would have come back. If Gaia would have realized that Nana as a solo singer was more profitable than with Blast, for sure they would have done everything to continue to make her sing alone. So, Nana had to reinvent her career while Reira shouldn’t have, since Takumi would have taken care of all. Furthermore, Nana had her closest friends near to her just like Reira, but the difference is that the only person who could have saved her from her darkness and solitude was the one who died. Hachi was the only one who could probably have taken Ren’s place, but the consciousness that she had a family to take care of, a husband and a baby (so she couldn’t have stood by her side everyday for the rest of their lives), made Nana feel as she had no other “footholds” to grab on to. She felt so lonely at the point she ran away from everyone, searching for a place to die.  On the other hand, Reira had Takumi (the most important person to her as Ren was for Nana) who has sacrificed even his own family to remain at her side. 

There are differences even about the singing matter. I’ve always thought that there was a clear difference between how Nana and Reira felt about singing. Reira said to Yasu that she wanted to be a machine who just sings and feels nothing, but she knew it wasn’t possible to sing without feeling emotions. And she also added “I’m tired of this life”, referring to her life as a singer. Many times during the story she said that she was worthless if she couldn’t sing and Takumi himself admitted that she didn’t have any other talent than that.  At some point in the manga Reira was walking in the street going to Ren’s house to bring him food and she heard some girls talking about her and Nana. 

I admit that what the two girls say is exactly what I’ve always thought about Nana and Reira as singers. This perception comes by the fact that Reira gives the impression she sings only because she can’t stop to be “Trapnest singing princess”, since this means losing Takumi’s attention and esteem. Because in the end, admit it or not, Reira’s singing is strictly bond to Takumi. During a discussion at Ren and Nana’s house, she yelled him “I don’t sing just because of you!”, but then she regretted saying it and in the future we see her in London in the same park she went with Ren years before, saying that she wanted to destroy everything that was important to Takumi, even that beautiful voice which is a gift, she had always hated it. This for me has been the confirmation that she sang mostly because of Takumi. When Ren died, she probably blamed both herself and Takumi for this: herself because Ren was going to fetch her when he met the accident and Takumi because he was the reason why she escaped and he refused to give help to Ren in the proper way he deserved, thinking only about the future of the band and not to Ren as a human being. Reira admitted that the only way she had to help Ren and stand up to Takumi’s plan was to stop singing: at this point of the story Reira was litterally hating her voice and using it as a weapon against Takumi.  All of this to say that, in my opinion, Reira didn’t stop singing because she was so shocked for Ren’s death, but she stopped singing because she wanted to destroy everything important for Takumi, since Takumi is the one who destroyed her life. She ran away to save herself and Ren, but in the end she lead him to death and Takumi is responsible for this, at least in part. She has always said she didn’t sing for Takumi, but my impression has always been the opposite. 

On the other hand we have Nana, who has never hidden that she loves singing, that singing is all her life and makes her feel alive and complete more than anything else. Her passion reaches the heart of people who listen to her songs.  When Ren died, Nana was so shocked at the point she completely stopped to talk and sing. A few hours before Ren’s death she thought that even if she would have broke up with him and if Hachi wouldn’t have come to celebrate her birthday, she still had her songs and her dream was the only thing who could save her. But in the end she gave up on her dream because deep inside Ren and Hachi were much more important than it. When she realized that she had lost Ren forever and Hachi couldn’t have stayed everyday by her side, she ran away and pretended to be death. She gave up to that dream she had always defended with all herself. But, as I said, singing was part of her, it was the thing who kept her alive: so she started to sing again, in a little pub far away from Japan, for a few spectators, forgetting the Tokyo Dome and the big audience. In the future she says that she can’t throw away that life which Hachi saved, so she sings to stay alive one more day.  The fact that Nana continued to sing doesn’t mean she was less shocked than Reira about Ren’s death, but simply that her love and reasons to sing were stronger than Reira’s ones. While Reira sings for Takumi, Nana sings for herself.

During the Blast vs. Trapnest TV program, Junko says that Trapnest lyrics are trivial and ordinary. Nana herself when she listen to “Shadow of Love / Trust” says that it’s an ordinary song about betrayal. So more than one people state that the lyrics which Reira writes are ordinary, the classical love songs.  On the other hand, Blast lyrics are appreciated for their contents. Nana’s fans write her letters to say that her songs give them strenght and inspiration. Hachi, which has always been a big fan of Trapnest, states that Rose is still her favorite song among all. We can say that Nana’s lyrics are deeper than Reira’s ones and this can be due to the fact that Nana’s passion for singing is bigger than Reira’s. You cannot write great lyrics if you don’t have that special fire inside. 

All this to say that the fact that Reira doesn’t sing anymore while Nana does isn’t a reason to claim that Reira is more affected than Nana by Ren’s death. There are other reason behind their choise to sing or not sing. Both of them are deeply affected by what happened to Ren and I think, deep inside, Nana is the one who suffered more.

Anyway, as always this is only my personal opinion! :)

[depechemodespiritera]

As Depeche Mode’s principal songwriter looks forward to playing in front of 70,000 people in their biggest ever UK show at the London Stadium, Tim Burrows talks to him about new album Spirit, his Essex roots and what it feels like to grow up as a British European

If there’s one thing Depeche Mode isn’t it’s favourite sons. A few years ago I went on a bus and walking tour of the band’s hometown, Essex’s (no longer) New Town of Basildon. In our party were Germans, Scandinavians, east Europeans - but if memory serves, no British people, and certainly no one from Essex. As we crept around the former garage of Vince Clarke, where the band rehearsed in their early days, a neighbour pulled up and smilingly explained she’d never heard of Depeche Mode. The Europeans were astonished at the fact this multi-platinum band who’d filled their lives were not known in the place where it all started

Depeche Mode have sold millions and millions of records, but they are still considered a cultish proposition on these isles. This year the band are on the road again. Five stadium shows in Germany; three in Italy. Three in France. But only one in the UK, at the London Stadium, the new home of West Ham. Yet this is still a triumph. It feels as if the band have struggled to escape their Basildon days in this country, the synthpop and the hair, the patterned shirts and the cheesy grins.

Only now does Martin Gore feel like the band are being taken seriously in the country they grew up. We’re in the kind of Mayfair hotel you’d expect a band like Depeche Mode to be ensconced in, fulfilling the last of the band’s press obligations in the promotional push for latest album Spirit. Gore seems relieved that he’ll soon be back in Santa Barbara, California, where his 13-month old and two-week old daughters are – he has only been with his youngest for 24 hours of her life due to band obligations. Spirit is emphatically humanist. A state-of-world summary that sounds like it could be about Trump or Brexit but was written and recorded before both were material game-changers, it gives apathy short shrift, calling for “revolution” no less. There is a beautiful lullaby ('Eternal'). It sounds like a record by a new father and all the more interesting for it.

Gore cracks a wide Californian smile before launching into a unaffected yet still controlled guffaw that punctuates time spent with him (I’m told to expect it so am relieved when it first appears in our conversation). I’m telling him about the Depeche Mode cover band Speak And Spell that I caught at last September’s Essex Architecture Weekend, part of the Radical Essex project put on by Southend gallery, Focal Point. Their version of Dave Gahan performed in front of some blue Fosters cans that lined the front of the stage, a tiny barrier between the tribute frontman and the locals, architecture fans, Essex geeks and arts press all dancing to the ‘Mode’s early hits. Tribute acts are the real “folk” musicians, the dancing and singalongs they inspire keeping some kind of collective spirit alive in pubs and village halls nationwide. But it’s a fractured collective these days in the UK.

'The Worst Crime', the third track on Spirit, sounds like it is about Brexit, but wasn’t it conceived before that?

Martin Gore: It wasn’t written for that at all. For me, it’s a song about humanity hanging itself and the worst crime being the destruction of the planet, because there are so many crimes that we’re committing on a daily basis, but this is the worst crime because we are not just doing it to ourselves but we’re also doing it to future generations. And, like I say, we’ve had so much time to implement things, to put things right.

You recently had a daughter, did that affect the songs?

MG: I had one 13 months ago and one two weeks ago. I have five children, four daughters and one son. I think that has definitely affected me. A lot of the songs would definitely have been written before my 13 month old was born but while my wife was pregnant. There is one song on the album actually about her, 'Eternal', which talks about caring for a child, but which also mentions the black cloud rising and the radiation falling.

How pessimistic are you about the future with Trump being elected?

MG: I was really pessimistic up until a few weeks ago. I now have a glimmer of hope because maybe the American system works, because the the Muslim ban obviously didn’t get through, the judges stopped that. And then now his repealing of Obamacare got scrapped. So now I am just hoping that everything that he wants to implement is just going to get rejected.

You live in Santa Barbara. How did you end up moving from Basildon to Berlin to there?

MG: I think I was in Berlin 85-86, 86-87. Then I came back to London, from 90-95. And then I moved to Hertfordshire until 2000 and that’s when I moved to Santa Barbara.

I once spoke to Alison Moyet, who also moved Hertfordshire. I remember she told me how in Basildon the milkman would come round to get autographs and wouldn’t stop hassling her so she had to move away.

MG: Yeah I used to live not too far from Alison. We only left Hertfordshire as I was married to an American [Suzanne Boisvert] and she had lived here for 11 years wanted to move back to America. I thought, 'OK, I can’t really get out of this one.' It wasn’t my choice at the time. We got divorced almost immediately, but we have children together and my son is still only 14 so I see him every other week when I am at home.

England never felt claustrophobic for me at all. I think it would feel more difficult for me if I lived in mainland Europe. America I think is really easy because Los Angeles has film stars everywhere and musicians and Santa Barbara a lot of people have homes there even if they don’t live there. You are kind of inconsequential, no one cares.

How do you view political changes in the UK. Do you feel you get a sense of what is happening?

MG: Obviously I understand the bigger changes, but I think it’s more the smaller stuff that’s going on ... I don’t feel part of it and I don’t think I have a right to. I’ve lived away for 17 years. I didn’t vote in the referendum because I think there was a rule, I think somebody told me was a 15-year limit. But I would have voted Remain.

Did it surprise you that where you were from in Essex voted to leave the EU at such a high rate? Basildon voted over 68 per cent to leave the EU.

MG: Yeah, it does surprise me, but I really think that people were fooled. A lot of people believed in the idea that all the money that was going to be saved from the EU was going to go to the NHS. It was a lie. And, in a way, they should redo the referendum as so many people voted on that. And the other thing, Andy in the band said this to me, and he’s absolutely right: even somebody who really understands the world of finance didn’t have any idea about the implications of that vote. If you’re gonna leave that to the general population to make that decision it should have been a minimum of a 60/40 split. It was so close, virtually 50-50. Such a huge decision and so many things hinge on that decision – but that’s it, it’s made.

There’s always been a split with the people in the UK who feel a cultural affinity with Europe and the people who don’t. I guess you always had a cultural affinity with Europe?

MG: Yeah. Most people at school I went to in Basildon didn’t take French very seriously. You would get laughed at even if you just put on a French accent, but taking [the idea of] German was completely laughed at. And then I took German, which was new at the time, one of the first people at the school to. When I was 15 I went to Germany on a school exchange. I felt an affinity with Europe before I was in the band.

A few years ago I wrote about a Depeche Mode themed guided tour of Basildon put on by Vince Clarke’s former girlfriend Deb Danahay. It was striking how many German, east European people there were, whereas the locals were nonplussed.

MG: I know Deb. I don’t know what it was that made us take off in those countries. If you go into the eastern bloc countries we are huge, and in Russia. Maybe there is something about the depressing nature of our music and lyrics that some people find an affinity with.

Do you think the UK has a cultural need for stasis and nostalgia, which means people don’t pick upon your messages so much?

MG: I don’t know. When I first started writing this album I realised that I was going down a dangerous route, because it is more about social commentary/politics. But funnily enough, 99.9% of the reviews I have seen have been amazing. I don’t know if it is just this album but gradually over time we’ve become more accepted and acknowledged in the UK, whereas in Europe we were embraced much quicker and for longer. The fans who get on the bus to go round Basildon, they’ve travelled there. I don’t know if they’re expecting to see Graceland but believe you me I didn’t live in Graceland!

It fits with this idea of Depeche Mode as the biggest cult band in the world but there currently seems to be a new wave of critical reevaluation for the band.

MG: I’ve noticed it particularly with this album, like I said. I think we have slowly got better press over the years [in the UK]. One of the things we did wonder about is if we were trying to lose the albatross of the early pop days. We were bigger here with Speak And Spell than we were in Europe, we were bigger in Europe around Some Great Reward, so they don’t remember that. So that embarrassing point still haunts us - that’s one of the things we think about but it’s probably nothing to do with that. But people probably don’t really care.

What songs are we talking about?

MG: We were really bubblegum pop when we started out. So Speak And Spell, A Broken Frame, 'See You', 'Meaning of Love'.

When Vince left just before that period was there a sense that you might have to go back to the commuter job if things didn’t work out?

MG: There were a couple of songs on A Broken Frame that I had written before for another band that we thought were quite good that could be used. Some of them I just made up as I went along in the studio. That’s why it’s my least favourite album. I was dropped in the deep-end with it. But I was young and I did relish it really to be honest - it was fun to do. And it wasn’t like we worried about it when Vince left because of the naivety of youth.

Did you have backing from the label?

MG: Yeah. We were on Mute so it was an independent label, it was Daniel Miller, who is still involved with us to this day, he’s one of out best friends. We never thought about it at the time and fortunately the first thing that we released after Vince left, 'See You', was really successful.

Going back to the album, when you sit down to write, are you writing from a certain character or position, or is it just instinctive.

MG: I think it really is me trying to do something organically as I possibly can. I start playing some chords on a guitar or a piano and get something on the computer and I just start singing along. And that somehow ends up going from a verse to a chorus and then that’s the start of a song. But sometimes I’m not 100 per cent sure where the words are going. They’re not actual noises I’m making, they’re words. I’ll look and I think about where I am going with that. And then start again, the same chords, try and get another verse, get to the chorus... Without wishing to sound like a hippy, sometimes I think that you tap into something.

How did you first start songwriting?

MG: Somebody taught me two chords on a guitar when I was 13 and then I got a book and learned the rest of the chords. I used to buy Disco 45, a magazine that came out weekly or monthly. It had all the chart’s hits in it, the words not the chords. And I used to sit there from the age of 13 to the age of 16/17 or whatever and work out all the songs. At the same time I was writing songs myself. But I think that was great training because you learned the structures of songs subconsciously. By learning everything in the charts at that age when you are like a sponge it must have been good for me.

The London stadium gig - are you looking forward to that as a kind of homecoming as you were born not far from that neck of the woods in Dagenham?

MG: I was actually born in London, Hammersmith hospital. Then we moved to Dagenham, then Basildon. We’re particularly looking forward to it as it’s about time we made the step up from what we’ve been doing for so long. We usually do three nights at the O2 or something. We probably could have done this the last tour or the tour before but even with this one we felt it was a little bit of a risk. But we keep having to extend the capacity: I think we’re up to 68,000 now. My mum’s not very well so I don’t know if she will come this time, but my sisters and my kids and their kids and lots of friends. Because we’re just playing one show, we’ll probably know half the audience!

[renrumm]

all!! of!! them!! >:3c

E    V    I    L

Okay buckle up mf you brought this upon yourself…..

(world’s longest post incoming)

1: What is your name and does it mean anything?

it’s Lauren, and there’s not really a story behind it, but it’s origin is like the laurel leaves and all that

2: How long have you known your best friend?

one of my best friends i’ve know since i started primary school at like 4 years old, the others i’ve only known for a few years or less

3: What position do you normally sleep in?

used to sleep on my front but now i sleep in a really awkward, position on my back that wrecks my neck lol

4: Were you a part of any “clique” in high school?

not particularly, i just kinda floated between groups, i was pretty friendly with everyone (or so i like to think)

5: Who was your favourite teacher in high school and why?

oh man, there were a couple who i really liked, one was my last English teacher and the other was a Languages teacher- the English teacher was just a really nice lady and i actually learnt a lot that year despite barely attending. The Languages teacher was super fun and chill and she always tried to get everyone involved 

6: Do you wish to travel a lot?

Not really, i kinda dream about just staying where i am, as boring as that sounds…

7: Did you participate in any sports while in school?

i used to do netball and i was the bowler for the school’s rounders team 9used to have good aim hah)

8: Show a sample of your handwriting:

9: Have you ever given blood?

No, i want to but i haven’t had the chance yet (plus i was having so many blood tests done that i was irrationally afraid i would pass something on if i gave blood before i got solid results)

10: Do you like the way that you grew up?

i think so

11: Do you like your siblings? Why or why not?

oh yeah- i mean, we fight, but all siblings do

12: How did you meet your best friend and why did you become friends?

i met her when we started school, i don’t remember specifics (i was like 4) but we bonded over her pet tortoise

13: Name one movie that made you cry.

i actually cried at The Breakfast Club, weirdly, Brian’s bit really got to me

14: Do you prefer to read poetry, write poetry, or neither?

i’m not a massive fan of poetry, probably because i’m dreadful at writing it. reading it is nice, though

15: Things about someone that you find attractive?

i always seem to fall for people with the same sort of personality traits- really nerdy, kinda shy but also assertive, and funny

I guess musical talent is another thing that i like, but not everyone i’m attracted to plays an instrument

16: What song are you currently listening to?

at the minute i’ve been listening to The Kids Aren’t Alright by Fall Out Boy on repeat for DAYS

17: Have you ever broken a bone? If so, how?

Nope (thankfully)

18: A random memory from you childhood:

i was in a show as the witch from hansel and gretel (i was 8)

cut to opening night, i get pushed into the fake oven with the intention of crawling out of the open back whilst screaming- as if im being cooked- except i forgot i was wearing a tall witches hat with the wig attatched

the hat catches on the oven, falls off, taking my hair with it, so i have to reach back out of the oven, still screaming like a dying old lady, and drag my hat + hair back in with me

19: Where did you grow up?

in Portsmouth, England- it’s a port city on the south coast

20: What was the last thing you watched on tv?

I haven’t watched regular tv in forever, but i was watching Brooklyn Nine Nine with my mum on Netflix last night

21: Do you think you’d make a good parent?

I think i would actually (at least i hope so)

I wouldn’t mind being a mum

22: Would you like to meet any of your Tumblr friends in person?

tbh i don’t really have any tumblr friends, i’m very shit at replying to messages and the last people i spoke to was in the days before messaging so i have no idea what we last said to each other hah

I totally would though, hmu

22: What was the last dream you remember having?

i was on a weird train, i had a kitten in my hands but it kept escaping my grip and i was terrified that it would get hurt- the dream ended when for some reason i had to switch trains and the kitten got left on the platform!!! most stressful and sad dream ever rip

23: When is your birthday?

17th Feb!

24: How many pillows do you sleep with?

2 at the most, sometimes none- i’m no griffin mcelroy

25: Do you wear glasses? If so, how long have you been wearing glasses?

yep! had them since i was 9, i’m incredibly short sighted and it’s terrible!

26: What colour is your hair?

naturally blonde, but i bleached it even lighter for a Mercy cosplay a couple of weeks ago

27: Name 5 facts about your appearance:

- i’m blonde (ha)

- i have really fair skin

- i have dimples

- i have a birthmark on my thigh

-i have a mole on my neck that’s pretty noticable

28: What is your favourite soda?

lemonade or fanta

29: What is a strange talent that you have?

i can put my feet behind my head (like bring them up and over my head, not like touch them to it backwards) I don’t really have any weird talents haha

30: How’s the weather right now?

not really doing much

31: Why did one of your friendships end?

most of my friendships end with us just drifting, thanks to my shitty attendance at college and the last year of secondary school

32: Who do you miss right now?

I miss all my friends who have gone to/are going to uni in the next couple of weeks :(

33: Why did your last relationship end?

i ended it because i got sick and had to keep cancelling plans all the time and they deserved better than that- i don’t regret it at all, they’re really happy now

34: Are you still figuring out who you are?

yeah, i’ve worked through a lot in the last few years and i’m still doing a bit of soul-searching atm

35: Have you ever been admitted to a hospital? Why?

yes, this time last year actually, i had to go in for emergency surgery thanks to some shit i’d had going on for a long time that went undiagnosed and ended up giving me sepsis, so that was fun

36: What is your favourite restaurant?

i don’t really have one, i’ll go anywhere

37: What is word that you always seem to spell wrong?

i always spell wield wrong? I always feel like the i and e should be the other way around for no reason

38: Would ever adopt kids?

totally!

39: What is your favourite kind of pizza?

margherita (i’m a plain bitch)

40: What was your first thought when you woke up this morning?

the list of things i desperately need to get done this week

41: When was the last time you got really really happy and why?

as a last farewell before Uni starts, my friends and I had our usual dnd session, then went for a meal, then went to the pub to do the quiz. It was a really nice night and i had a lot of fun

42: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

oh god i literally haven’t eaten anything weird

43: How do you start a conversation?

i don’t!!! i die!!

44: What’s a band you’ve been obsessed with lately?

Fall Out Boy is always a classic, but Barns Courtney is fantastic too

45: Do you come from a family “of money?”

oh definitely not haha

46: Do you have a bucket list?

not really, my bucket list doubles as a “tv shows to watch/books to read/video games to play” list (sad)

47: What is your favourite series of books?

i used to love the Skulduggery Pleasant series (though i haven’t read the latest one!) but i have real soft spots for the Septimus Heap series and the Percy Jackson books

48: When was the last time you laughed so hard your stomach hurt?

the last DnD session was hilarious, always is

49: Where do you go when you’re sad?

my room, i just wrap myself up into a little depressed cocoon and hibernate

50: 5 random facts about yourself:

- i have FAR too many DnD characters made that i’ll probably never get the chance to play as :(

- i don’t own a single matching pair of socks

- i’d love to record a podcast one day

- i’m starting as a vocal coach at a theatre company i used to be in! I’m very excited

- i have a spotify playlist for every mood, video game, tv show, and podcast and i’ll never stop making them!!

JESUS CHRIST THAT TOOK A LONG TIME SORRY FOR THE LONG BORING POST

[prefernflbucs]

Joe Cole on following in the footsteps of Rodney Marsh in Florida: ‘I thought I was finished but I feel alive in Tampa’

There used to be a joke around Tampa Bay that St Petersburg was where old people went to die. ‘God’s waiting room,’ they called the city.

But for Joe Cole, now a football veteran, joining Tampa Bay Rowdies has given him his life — and playing career — back again.

In an interview at his plush apartment in downtown St Pete — as the locals call it — Cole reveals how he almost retired from playing in 2015 when his body failed him, explains why he has become Tampa Bay’s resident expert on Brexit and what former club Chelsea will miss most when his friend John Terry leaves in the summer.

Joe Cole joined the North American Soccer League’s Tampa Bay Rowdies in May 2016

Yet while he talks enthusiastically about the game, an aspect he most relishes about moving away from England is that he can walk down the street and not get asked about football.

Rowdies employees say the thing they like about Cole is that although he is a big star, he is known as ‘Joe who gets coffee every morning’, at the local coffee shop on 2nd Avenue, and ‘Joe who watches the game at the bar’ — favouring The Moon Under Water, a British pub beneath his apartment building.

It is here that he spends time watching more Premier League football than he ever did back in England, sitting under the Scotland and St George’s flags hanging from the ceiling and the Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool scarves around the bar, a small part of home, 4,500 miles away.

Cole celebrates with Rowdies’ Neil Collins, who also played in England with Sunderland

‘I’ll have more conversations with people because it’s not all about football,’ he says. ‘For some reason I’ve become the expert on Brexit for the whole of Beach Drive. They hear my accent and ask me what’s happening. I say, "It might affect coffee prices".’

Cole walks the half-mile from his apartment to training and home games at the Al Lang Stadium, where they play on a patchwork pitch, palm trees in one corner and yachts on view from another.

He cannot completely escape home. As we stroll to the recent home game against Charleston, two Americans call his name, shout ‘Irons’ and make West Ham’s trademark X with their forearms (which Cole returns), but largely he is left alone.

Cole admits he considered retirement at Aston Villa ‘because my body was letting me down’

‘I walk down the road every day, I’ll say "Hello" to the guys in the coffee shop. They’ll ask how we got on at the weekend — that’s it. Then it’ll be like, "Lovely day", or "What’s going on with Theresa May and the election?" — that’ll be the new one now.’

Cole, now 35, returned to England last Christmas and found the attention difficult. ‘It was really getting to me because I’d not had it for seven months. I realise the anonymity I get here is precious.’

Yet none of this would be an issue if Cole had retired at Aston Villa. ‘I was considering packing it in, because my body was letting me down,’ he admits.

Cole celebrates winning the Premier League with his wife Carly and daughter Ruby Tatiana

‘At Villa a doctor said I needed surgery on my hip but I couldn’t afford the time. I was training on one leg for six months. I should’ve just got it sorted. It didn’t work and I was disenchanted.

‘I went all around the world looking for people: Belgium, Germany, America, all the best people and no one could sort me out. Ever since I did my knee at Chelsea (in 2009) it was an uphill struggle.

‘I tried all the weirdest, wackiest treatments: chiropractors, osteopaths, reflexologists, acupuncturists, physios, kinetic energy people, I’ve had nutters putting magnets on me. I stopped short of seeing a faith healer. I went to see a guy in London and it was last-chance saloon.’

Joe Cole scored during a match against Charleston Battery for the Tampa Bay Rowdies Marsh during his spell at the North American Soccer League club – from 1984-1986 Marsh competes for the ball against Pele – the Brazilian was playing for the New York Cosmos

Cole was taught to listen to his body and to stop putting pressure on it. He adds: ‘Then I moved to Coventry and played without injury and I got my love back for the game, then Tampa Bay came along. I’m just as proud of anything I achieve now as what I achieved in my prime. I wish I found this way (of managing my body) six years ago, just after I did my knee. I’m convinced I’d still be playing in the Premier League.’

Unlike Cole, his former England and Chelsea team-mate Terry largely avoided injury and only now, at 36, has he decided to leave Stamford Bridge. Cole used to go out drinking in Essex with Terry and Michael Carrick when they were younger players.

Cole was in the massage room at Chelsea’s training ground with Terry when the defender received the call from Steve McClaren in 2006 to say he was being made England captain.

Cole during his spell in Ligue 1 with Lille, who he joined on loan from Liverpool in 2011

‘When I signed for Chelsea, he was the first person to see me as I walked through the door,’ Cole says. ‘Although he’s only a few months older, he put his arm around me and it was like, "I’ll look after you" like the new kid at school, like an older brother.

‘Chelsea will miss that. They are a well-run club but forget everything he does on the pitch, it’s the unseen things as a captain. I remember I was having a bit of a rough time there. He recognised it and got one of the video analysts to make a compilation of all my best bits. It was a little touch but it really lifted me.

‘For him to even notice that… in football you’re so focused on yourself and your own game, to have an eye on everyone else in the club is remarkable. You can’t quantify that. He was a younger man then, as well, and to have that empathy — that’s one of a million things the club will miss.

Cole came through West Ham’s youth system before leaving the club for Chelsea in 2003

‘They’ll have to spend a lot of money to replace him. He’d love it out here. He’d be perfect for any club out here. Anyone would take him.’

The Florida way of life might be more relaxed for Cole but the sporting demands are still intense. When we meet for this interview, he has just been away for six days playing games in Louisville and Cincinnati.

His one-year-old son Max is already in bed, but Ruby, seven, and Harry, four, have waited up to see dad. As the discussion continues, they both climb on a knee and Ruby calls him the best daddy ever. ‘Why you being nice to me? You’re never nice to me!’ Cole jokes, and they dissolve into giggles.

Cole says his time as a Coventry player in League One ‘got his love back for the game’

‘It’s nice to be playing football and still wanted — that’s what I do it for,’ Cole says, the words muffled by his children’s cheeks squashing his face. ‘I’d love still to be playing in the Premier League but my body unfortunately slowed down a lot quicker than other people’s.

‘I started young, similar to Wayne Rooney, I blew out my knee at 28. I’d love still to be playing for England. I watched the Champions League games the other week and felt that buzz.’

Here, Cole is part of something bigger than just football: he is a key player in a shift of sporting culture. Football once flourished in the area, when Rodney Marsh arrived in 1976 with his long golden locks — complementing the club’s gold and green colours — and they won the North American Soccer League in his first season.

The original Rowdies averaged 30,000 attendances at their peak and Marsh became one of the Bay’s most loved athletes. They folded in 1994, but the Rowdies returned in 2008 and real estate billionaire Bill Edwards became majority owner in 2013. Cole is Edwards’s Marsh.

Cole’s spell at Liverpool saw the midfielder struggle with a series of injury problems

‘There were a couple of times when I needed to get home for a family emergency and Bill let me use his jet,’ Cole says. ‘Imagine how much that costs him. My grandad was a big QPR fan so he grew up telling me stories about Rodney Marsh. He wanted me to play like him. Tampa Bay Rowdies were always in my mind.’

Now, they are challenging towards the top of the United Soccer League’s Eastern Conference and a bid to join the MLS has been lodged at the league’s New York HQ. The recognition Cole brings is a major part of that.

At the club, he is helping coach younger players and has input into decisions with manager Stuart Campbell. Cole wants a crack at management after he retires, although he has not decided when that will be. He has helped coach England Under 18s and is completing his A licence. The ultimate aim will be to manage the national team he is passionate about, having been part of the under—achieving ‘golden generation’.

‘John Stones, Ross Barkley, Dele Alli, Harry Kane, Eric Dier — they’re better than us, better players, a better group, they just need a bit of time and belief and they can do it.

‘Ross Barkley or Dele Alli could win you the next World Cup, but they’ve got to be allowed to make mistakes.

‘The "golden generation" came from the fact we were all so young doing so much in the Premier League. Most of these guys have taken slightly longer to get in the teams but they’ll be more seasoned than us come tournament time.’

‘God’s waiting room’ has brought Joe Cole back to life.

Cole describes Ross Barkley (pictured), Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Eric Dier as ‘better than us’

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