Why I came to Canada . . . . .

Just under 30 years ago, i stepped off of Wardair Flight 742 to a new country and a new life. One that i dont think i was prepared for.

I was just about to finish secondary school in England - June 1981 i would have graduated and probably either gone into the army or the police force. I was not a good kid in secondary school - class clown, moody, shit disturber, throwing chairs out of 3rd storey windows to try and hit my English teachers car (cos she pissed me off!), bunking off and more.

We couldnt afford college, mum was a single mum with an ex husband that really wanted nothing to do with us kids. I think he paid 5 pounds a week for child maintenance, that is $10! So i knew i would have to go somewhere where they would either educate me, or the police. The only thing about the police is what the ladies coppers had to wear the ugliest hats, and SKIRTS! UGH so i wasnt sure what i wanted to do. I know i didnt want to be a secretary, which seemed like the only other option.

So to cut a realllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long story short, my little sis and I were on the Isle of Wight at a Girls Brigade Camp for 2 weeks - and while we were away mum turned 40, and decided to host a party in our cellar. We had quite the cellar, the floor was cemented and a bar was in one corner with a stage for a DJ in the other corner. Mum had tons of parties in those years, and Linzi and i would go and drink all the leftover drinks the next morning - gross when i think about it!

Well at this party, a friends cousin came in and BOOM ZAP POW, apparently there were lightning bolts across the room when my mum and his eyes met. They spend the next week together, inseperable - and were madly in love at the end of his visit.

They met July 24, 1980 and we landed here Nov 30, 1980! Talk about a whirlwind.

I had to give up the Fulham Ladies tryouts (i was football crazy); give up the new love of my life, Stephen Ford; give up all my friends and neighbours; give up my cousins and aunts and uncles; but you know what - it was ok - my mum had worked hard on her own, and she was in love, and i heard that Canada was the land of opportunity - and snow, and eskimoes and reindeer . . . . . . .