The party’s over, well almost. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but after a whole summer (if we can call it that) off it’s back to school for the kids and of course the teachers and staff who are most likely going to spend the next few days simply wandering about aimlessly, muttering words like why?, how? and why?

Reality will set in that they are about to embark on another full year of working with and teaching our little darlings day in and day out. The only thing keeping them going will be the gigantic calendar they've nailed to the staffroom wall with the next batch of holidays due in October circled manically in red ink.

I'm assuming this is the case of course and I have in no way heard this first hand from my teacher friends uttering these exact words to me while crying into a bottle of vino in the pub.

I remember feeling a sense of dread and excitement when it came time to return to school after the summer holidays. Freedom was sadly no more but on the upside, I always got a brand new uniform, a new school bag and a shiny new pair of shoes. I remember one particular year, it was 1988 and Clarks shoes had just released their new advert for their Magic Step shoes which in my opinion is probably still the best advert ever made.

If you've not seen it look it up online and imagine you're an eight year old watching it for the first time in the 80’s. It showed a

young girl trying on a pair of beautiful white shoes which transported her into a magical world where she had to save the fairy folk from the wicked queen and release the sunlight again using the key in the sole of her magic shoes.

Every girl in my class wanted a pair of those shoes and I was one of the lucky ones to own a pair of those wee beauties so I skipped back to school that year to show them off.

I honestly had a great time at school but I still remember that feeling all too well of going back after six weeks off.

Best of luck to all the teachers, staff and of course the children for the upcoming year. To those students who have just received their exam results, I hope you got exactly what you were looking for. For those that didn't, don't worry. Yes applying yourself, working hard and furthering your education is a wonderful thing to do and a great achievement but it's not the be all and end all - I promise you.

I left school at the end of fifth year because I wanted to get out there and work and start gaining life experience and skill sets that I perhaps wouldn't have had at university or college. I don't regret a single moment of it. Life is what you make it. No matter what you choose to do when you leave school as long as you can look back and honestly say you gave it your all and did your best, no one can ask anymore of you.

I just want to say thank you to everyone that came to see my Edinburgh Festival show, Michelle McManus: Pop Goes The Idol so far. Every night has been sold out and the audiences have been up on their feet dancing and singing along to the songs. Your kind words about the comedy and stories have just been so lovely.

Me and my writing partner Bruce Devlin couldn't have asked for more. With another sold out weekend ahead of us I'll be looking forward to seeing many more of you over the next few days.

I'm delighted to say that I'll be filling in for the lovely Bryan Burnett on Radio Scotland on Monday evening's Get It On show. It's my day off from the festival but I couldn't think of a better way to spend it. Make sure you tune in from 6.30pm to find out what our theme is and how you can get your request played live on air. You can tune into Radio Scotland on 9295FM or on

810MW and of course you can get us online and on digital too.