IN A NUTSHELL...

25 years ago, I
-Thought I´d be a barrister…or an archaeologist
-Was a Classics nerd

20 years ago, I
-Thought I´d be a Teacher of the Deaf
-Was a Yuppie (by virtue of boyfriend)
-Never wanted kids (but no-one believed me)
-Had adopted a Woollyback dog (no, it´s not a breed!)

15 years ago, I
-Had done the mortgage thing
-Had done the pension stuff
-Still didn’t want kids (people said "give it time")
-Had several fish tanks
-Streaked up the Deaf career ladder (short-staffed)

10 years ago, I
-Had reached the top of the Deaf ladder (= Education Officer)
-Had adopted 3 kittens
-Still didn’t want kids (people said "tick, tock")

5 years ago, I
-Had left England (London)
-Had moved to Spain (Madrid)
-Had changed career (TEFL)
-Started driving on the Right
-Started reading for pleasure (Harry Potter)
-Learnt Spanish (fast)
-Set up more fishtanks
-Made several Carnival and Halloween costumes to flaunt in the streets

3 years ago, I
-Became self-employed
-Downshifted to a 15 hour working week
-Upgraded to more disposable income than ever (due to exchange rate, cost of living)
-Upgraded to more disposable free time than ever
-Drove an Automatic for the first time

2 years ago, I
-Started teaching Spanish English teachers how to teach English
-Started brushing up my French (Madame Bovary reader)
-Taught myself (badly) how to play keyboards
-Discovered politics (11-M) and became a news junkie

1 year ago, I
-Started learning German
-Discovered the joy of short-term flatmates
-Still don´t want kids (thank God, people have stopped asking!)

Yesterday, I
-Spent the morning in my usual bar, drinking coffee and scanning the papers for the latest Bush idiocy (Iraq, Sheehan, Katrina, Plame, Americas summit, plummet in the polls)
-Did a couple of hours work (a class of 6 well-behaved 6 year olds)
-Opened a bottle of red wine with my new flatmate (Amy from Bucks)
-Blobbed in front of the TV to watch "Dogma" (Isn´t Alan Rickman great!)

Today, (it´s another Madrid fiesta) I
-Treated my faithful friend, Rakel, to lunch
-Planned our first snowboard lessons at the biggest indoor skislope in Europe (10 mins down the road)
-Met my friend Jill (Californian) to see "Corpse Bride"…ate tapas…drank red wine…

Tomorrow I…
…hope to do the same as yesterday!!!