About

When my Dad met my Mum, he had no money and decided to take a job with British Petroleum in Aden, in the Middle East, because they supplied a fully furnished, fully equipped house, thus saving him money!  I was born in Aden in 1957 and lived there until I was 7.  One of my fellow BP playmates was Eddie Izzard the incredible transvestite comedian.  All I remember about him was that he was blonde, a boy and as annoying as all the other boys in town!

Following the Aden stint, Dad was posted to London, so back to England we went and spent five happy years in Ash Vale, Hampshire. In 1969, Dad was promoted and posted to New York and off we went again.  I was 12 and my sister was eight and talk about culture shock!  We figured that “things” would be almost the same, because America had once been part of the British Empire and “English is spoken here”.  WRONG!  When you live in a place where the language is not English, you expect things to be different.  You really don’t expect such a difference when English is the first language.  Mistakes were made, generally in public, for example: Math Class 7^th Grade, “do you have a rubber I could borrow?”  Meaning, of course, an eraser, but what did I know?

It was in 1969 that I met the boy who was to be my future husband.  Some years later, he became my high school sweetheart and my disapproving father then moved the family back to England.  Eric and I didn’t see each other for 12½ years and met up again when I flew to the States for his brother’s wedding: He proposed four days later and we’ve now been married nearly 22 years.  In the years between enforced separation and marriage, I went to University and then had a varied career – low boredom threshold!! – I worked for an Arab entrepreneur who represented Boeing versus Air Bus in the Middle East; an American Oil Company; a charity, Operation Raleigh, whose very hands-on Patron was His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales.  I was privileged to meet both the Prince and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.  During my almost two years with the charity, I performed probably the most unusual task of my career:  The Prince of Wales happened to visit an ancient fort where I was working in 1982.  Whenever a member of the Royal Family visits anywhere, the Palace requests that a new toilet seat be installed and not used by anyone other than the visiting Royal bum…. Following the visit, I was charged with the task of ensuring the Royal toilet seat was ceremoniously burned, thus ensuring that it didn’t end up on a pub wall or in some auction; an adventure travel company, where I travelled to Ethiopia; I managed the London office of a Malaysian Oil Mogul, who also happened to be the major donor to Live Aid and Band Aid in 1985 – I got to meet Bob Geldof and attend the concert on July 13 1985 at Wembley Stadium; a software development company that won the license to produce the James Bond games for computers.

I got to travel the world, visiting countries in Europe, Africa, South East Asia and Down Under!  I have been an “at home” Mum to our children for the best part of 20 years, which has not been easy financially, but the best decision we could have ever made.  I have finally found my passion and am having the time of my life marketing online and helping other women who want the opportunity and the right to stay home and raise their children.