Will I ever take Mum out for scampi in a basket in a Pink Porsche?

A montage of my journey so far.

"Your first dog was called Fanny....?"

"Yes, but when she went missing and Dad had to ask the neighbours if they had seen his Fanny, that was when we had to move, our reputation was tarnished!"

"You recommended 50 Shades of Grey to your Boyfriend's Mums book group....?"

"Yes, but I can explain, all I knew was that it was a popular book and lots of people were reading it. The trouble is now she thinks that's what I am into....whoops"

Recently, during several networking events, the most unusual thoughts seem into come to my mind, I have no idea why these end up popping in conversation! But it has made me think that perhaps I should explain and shed some light on some of the other bizarre experiences in my life.

It was only when I had to submit an Autobiography for my GCSE coursework and it had been marked by the teacher with "Entertaining to the point of eccentric!" 

One of my earliest memories was when our house was flooded on New Years Eve, which also happens to be my Mum's birthday! My brother was always the "playful child" so as water began to come up through the floor he ran upstairs... I thought maybe he was going to be helpful and get some towels...!?

But no, my brother came downstairs with his boats and started to play ships on the rising water, it’s fair to say this didn't help anything...! It was a very upsetting evening to say the least, we were living in a rural farm house and the farmer had filled the dykes so the water had nowhere to run away....apart from into our house...well that was just the begining...

We decided to book a family holiday so we had something to look forward to after the disastrous festive season, we were all very excited..

We arrived at our destination and my brother and I had enthusiastically packed our new backpacks full of toys that we couldn't live without for two weeks...this is where our "nightmare family" reputation began...We were guided through the hotel and being shown all of the facilities. The tall white buildings were bigger than we had ever seen before...My brother looked up at the tallest building and asked "if the top one would be ours...” Then horror struck as he said it, he lost his balance and fell backwards into the swimming pool, due to the sheer amount of toys he had packed in his backpack, he fell immediately to the bottom...My dad shot off like Super Dad and dived in after him, my Mum was crying "Its my boy..." I was thinking "How can this be happening its not even lunch time.." Needless to say my brother was fine...

After that great start my Mum wanted to continue with a peaceful, relaxed holiday...But things just seemed to happen to us, it wasn't our fault....Our aeroplane was sent to the Gulf War so we were sent to a transit hotel, which made Fawlty Towers feel like the Ritz. People were everywhere, with confusion and heated conversations; no one knew what was happening. I was very young and was interested in the man who was filming, I knew from an early age this was what I wanted to get into. But perhaps this was not the example I should follow...he was filming the terrible conditions, this led to a terrible argument with the owner and then he was taken away by the Police....

Perhaps another story not to mention at networking.....

Me and the car I helped to wire.

My Dad was extremely passionate about cars and while other children were playing with Barbies, my Dad would ask if I would mind helping him in the garage. I, of course said this would be no problem, but I was still only very small. He wanted me to do the wiring of the Westfield car, which involved him holding my legs as he told me what colour wires to join together.....I knew from moments like this that I enjoyed practical work. Often we could take the cars and go away for weekends for Dad to race, we were the only family "team" and the only ones where the "daughter  and mother" were the pitcrew!

On one occasion we travelled from Kent to Wales for a race, so we decided to make a "holiday" of it, as it was a long seven hour drive. We found a campsite and with the car on the trailer it was difficult to manoeuvre onto the allocated pitch. My Mum guided us in, but the steep hill location was not ideal for us and the wheels began to spin, this was so powerful that the grass actually set fire...It’s fair to say we won't be invited back there! We left the car at the campsite and decided to go for a walk after such a long journey...this is where I thought my first TV appearance would be on "999 Life Savers". We walked along the beach and found a beautiful pub with live music and BBQ food and time seemed to fly by. I began to feel quite pensive about how we were going to get home, as I looked out to find that the tide seemed to have hidden the path we had used to get to the campsite. We had no choice but to wade through the water, and to cut a long story short, we arrived back at the campsite, to the burnt grass pitch, wet and covered in sand....

I guess it's been a rather varied childhood..

We had a big move from Kent to Lincolnshire, my Mum got to the Dartford Tunnel during the move with the lawnmower on a trailer behind...she threw the £1 in the basket, the barrier came up then down, she had forgotten the lawnmower was there and the barrier crashed down on it...whoops....

Well, these are just a few of the stories I can re-tell at dinner parties- not networking events, I feel they have created and shaped the person I am today. I always promised I would take my Mum out for scampi in a basket, in my own pink Porsche, when I am a “grown up”. I wonder when that will be...

Just the begining

I began to weigh up my ambitions in Vietnam-November 2011

This year has been a real roller-coaster of emotions, but I feel 2012 could just be my year.

As I refresh my emails for the millionth time that minute... Finally an email is received...but is it the news I am waiting for?

I can see that it is from the BBC Careers, I have waited 7 days for this, 168 hours or 10080 minutes....not that I used this time to work this out!!!

A nervous feeling washes over me as I select the "open" option, I have seen from other successful peoples twitter pictures exactly what the e-mail would look like and I know the first word should say...Congratulations.....

BUT ...Does mine?!

I squint using a tiny gap left in my eye to read the email, I even half look to the side to try and make the news easier to take if it wasn't good....

My heart is pounding and my imagination is running away with me, as I vision myself with a BBC lanyard, in my dream job!

"YESSSSSS!!!" I scream as I do laps of the kitchen, I begin to dance like no-one was watching...and do my celebratory "Footloose" dance...

"I've been working so hard

I'm punching my card

Eight hours for what?

Oh, tell me what I got"

It was the e-mail that dreams were made of; I had gained my place on the BBC Production Talent Pool (PTP) 2012.

The process for me began in February 2012 in New Zealand as I was travelling and teaching abroad. I was as far away from home as I could be and at certain points of my trip abroad it certainly felt that way. I wanted to "live the dream" and experience as many new cultures as I realistically could (within the time and budget I had).

But I was fully aware of not losing the focus I had..I wanted to pursue my career in Media and my passion for TV and Radio...

When I was able to, I would visit the internet cafe and touch base with everyone and as part of my routine I would check the BBC website. My searches produced inspiring results, especially when I stumbled across the "PTP 2012". This is one opportunity I knew I couldn't miss out on....

Well after returning home, the PTP journey began...

For the interview it said "smart/casual.....even jeans were acceptable ..."

I pondered on this, especially as first impressions mean a-lot, I read articles that suggested that within 3 minutes the assessors had formed an idea of you...and let’s face it you only get one chance at a first impression!

Walking up the steps of BBC Wales, it was fair to say the butterflies in my tummy were having a party and    it was becoming more real. I was fairly early, so I decided to wait on the seating to the side of the entrance and chat to the other PTP-ers. I made a cool, casual descent into the luxury leather seating, this was an epic fail as it was definitely lower than expected and was followed by a "whoops" and perhaps I could try that first impression again and do a re-take.

Well, it seemed this was just the beginning of my journey through the new challenges that lay ahead. After an enjoyable day of interviewing I felt like the BBC was where I wanted to be more than ever. The coordinators for the day were motivating and made us feel at ease in order to perform to our best. Not only this I felt surrounded by such talent and like minded people, that the day flew by.

Fast forwarding to more recent events of networking drinks, this was something I had never experienced before. I felt like Bridget Jones, as she tried to overcome obstacles thrown at her...

I attended Cardiff drinks, as PTP-ers since training this was the first time we had met again, it was really good to see each other again and have a good catch up ..I seemed to have failed at the first "networking" hurdle I didn't come with a CV or a business card!! Others attended with both and even had a bag that was the perfect CV sized; I had everything else in my handbag but nothing that would have been useful in this situation! I could offer a plaster, highlighter, post-it note or sore throat sweet...but on this evening none of the above was required. I feel this is going to be one of those situations will most certainly learn from. Especially after escaping to the loo's to cool down, then leaning on the sink and then leaving a perfectly placed wet patch on my new "networking outfit"! 

I am now in the mindset that everything I see or do has the potential to be a TV/Radio show, as I take one more step along this new journey, I feel I have gained such a lot from my PTP journey so far...and I feel excited with the potential of what the future may hold.....