About Me

I was born in Ashford, Kent and now live in Maidstone.  After leaving school, which I found boring, I spent a year at college and my first job was working for an Insurance Company.  Wanting to make a change I started working as a secretary at a local firm of solicitors, first in the conveyancing team and then working for a criminal defence solicitor.  This opened my eyes to a whole new world of deceit, anger and revenge I had never come across before.  After a number of years, I began to sit behind Counsel a few times a week, and although fascinating, it didn’t pay the bills, so I found myself a job working for solicitors in London.  
Whilst in London I have been in a few different teams, mainly insurance/reinsurance, Automotive, Corporate and Financial Services.  This all sounds very boring, but as a personal assistant one of my main jobs was dealing with people, either face to face or on the phone, this I did find interesting.  Having worked for a number of bosses in my time, I soon realised that they are all completely different in both their approach to work and their own personalities, and yet, they all get the job done.  As with all human beings, one size does not fit all.
I have always had a keen interest in music and tried (and failed, through lack of persistence) to learn the piano at an early age.  My interest in music though persisted and I like a wide variety, including latin, rock, pop and country.  The music, however, that is my real passion is opera.  
I have heard opera over the years like most people have, either on the TV or the radio, just little excerpts of songs, sung by the famous singer of the day.  Some had pretty music but none of it captured my imagination until I saw a clip from the film “Carmen” made in 1984 and directed by Francesco Rosi.  My love affair with opera had begun and I started to really listen to it.  I have paid many visits to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden whilst working in London.  In 2019 I was lucky enough to visit La Scala in Milan with my best friend, and it was a magical night, within a wonderful trip to Italy.
My other hobbies include travelling, circuit training, walking, writing letters of complaint and BBC4 programmes.