“Can I give you a hug?”

That was the question I asked Neil when I met them that Saturday evening.

Prior to the meet and greet session, my friends had been asking me what question I would ask to Neil and Chris when I meet them. I didn’t know. I was even too nervous to think. What if he didn’t like to be asked? Neil and Chris are the kind of artists that kept their personal lives private.

It was 20 hours before I met the idols I worshipped since I was merely 10 (and still do until now) and I was out of words. Suddenly, during a conversation with a Dutch friend on Friday evening I came up with that sentence: “Can I give you a hug?”

He said I should go for it. And he advised me to relax and treat them like common people. My boyfriend told me the same thing – that I shouldn’t have to be too nervous because they were, after all, also humans. But how could I treat them like that? They were not common people, they were the beautiful people that had changed my world!

Luckily I could still keep my cool when Neil and Chris stepped into the room. Inside I felt like my heart was leaping out of my chest when I saw the gorgeous Neil Tennant and the super-cool Chris Lowe, but I managed to calm myself down and walked towards them to greet the two. I shook Neil’s hand and he said “hello” – and I blushed.

In reality, Neil Tennant looked much happier than in videos or on stage. He was also very flamboyant, and reminded me of an older version of Rufus Wainwright. <3

Unfortunately, the so-called meet and greet session was very brief and we were not allowed to take pictures with our own cameras but I had the time of my life. I stood next to Neil as the official photographer took photos of us. He put his arm on my shoulder so I put mine around his waist 😉

After the photo session I asked him to sign my “Very” CD and then I asked him the question:

“Can I give you a hug?”

He said, “But you already did”, probably referring to my putting arm around his waist – but then he hugged me back anyway <3

And that was it. I hugged Neil Tennant.

I felt like being given the Posner reward *blushed*

I soon realised that other people were waiting to ask for Neil’s autograph, so I slowly moved to Chris after coyly said thank you.

When Chris was signing my CD, I told him that he had been an inspiration to me and he said “Thank you”, as he smiled to me. He was very friendly and relaxed, even though their seemed-to-be manager was very strict and making sure that everything was in order and on time.

Anyway, as I have told you earlier, the so-called meet and greet session was very brief and after we finished asking for autographs and had our photos taken, we were rushed outside as the official photographers took photos of the next batch of lucky fans.