Beautiful Blogger Award

My lovely Twitter friend, Shauna Bickley, has presented me with the Beautiful Blogger Award.  To follow Shauna, click here and you'll be taken directly to her profile where, with one more click, you can join her.  The only draw back is that she lives in New Zealand, so with the time difference the windows of opportunity to chat are brief!

So many thanks to Shauna for this honour.

Now to comply with the rules.

1.  Post the award logo.  √
2.  Acknowledge the person who nominated me. √
3.  Tell you seven thing you didn't know about me.  Hmmm.
4.  Pass the award on to seven other people.  Ahhh, tricky.

Three is very difficult as, if you're a regular to my blog, you'll know quite a lot about me from reading previous posts.  But *deep breath* here we go.

When I was about 5 I was a confirmed tomboy.  Despite this, I took up ballet and, between climbing trees or playing cowboys and indians, I'd go to my classes.  Unbeknown to me my teacher was very excited and told my mother I was extremely talented.  I gave it up soon after, but I still love dancing.

I wanted to be an actress.  Pre-teens I joined an amateur dramatics group.  I left after one production as I found the bitchiness of the older women unbelievable, and uncalled for.

When I win the lottery I want to take the Orient Express from London to Venice - then spend a month exploring the beauties of the city.  Note to self - to win you need to buy a ticket!

One day I leapt out of the shower to answer the phone.  Dripping while clutching a towel I took a call that probably changed my life.  I was temping, the call was from the agency to let me know they had an assignment for me.  I told them I wasn't interested and was taking a couple of weeks off to visit my mum in Cornwall.  'We think you'll want this one,' they said.  Two weeks in the newsroom at the BBC in Bristol.  I took it.  Ten years later I left having had a wonderful and varied career.

Phew, nearly there ...!

I had the highest IQ in my family, even higher than my father who was described as having one of the best minds who had ever entered Magdalen by one of the Senior Dons.  But IQ isn't a measure of intelligence, it's logic, and I do have a logical mind.  And I said 'had' as the next generation of Leiths are incredibly clever and talented.

My lovely daughter was born with a syndrome called Klippel-Feil.  She has fused cervical vertebrae and has to avoid any ... you can see I dealt with this in French as I can only remember 'coup de lapin' and the English equivalent will not come to me.  Basically any sudden shock as she'd risk breaking her neck.  I asked the lovely French consultant how I should manage this.  'Treat her as normal, let her have a childhood and take risks.  Do not wrap her up in cotton wool.'  I never have, and I never will. His words were wise, although at times it was hard.

Recently I found a folder full of my scribblings.  One was a story about a lady racehorse trainer as, at the time of writing, there were very few and it was a hard world for women to make their mark in.  I put it aside thinking it was rubbish.  I read it and, although very rough, it's not that bad.  With my passion for horses I may well take a longer look at it in the not too distant future.

Is that seven ... I was just getting into my stride.

Now to nominate others.

Debs Carr, Liz Harris, Emma Lee-Potter, Liz Fenwick, Laura E James, Sue Fortin and Nicky Wells. Links to their sites are embedded, so just click on the name to find out more about these lovely ladies.