Saturday 8 January 2011

from engineer to childminder.............

Well I thought I’d try my hand at this blogging malarkey, which I never knew existed until I joined twitter by the way :) Thought I’d start by googling what it meant, and its name is derived from “web log”, who knew? (Well probably everyone else in the world)!

Anyway, you know I’m a childminder, but been a long road getting here, so thought I’d fill in the gaps.

My Dad had his own building firm and was an electrician by trade. As kids my brother and I would spend hours swinging off scaffolding, or threading wiring under floorboards - was better than any playground I’d been to, though his labourers hated us being around cos they weren’t allowed to swear – yeah right! Anyway, fast forward and at the age of 14 I was offered the opportunity to go to Acton Tech to study City & Guilds in Electro-Mechanical engineering. My brother did it 2 years before me and got an apprenticeship with the BBC, so I jumped at the chance. I became somewhat of a local celebrity cos a “girl” wanted to do it, but apart from my love of all things mechanical, there was Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons “released” from school, and erm 18 year old BT Apprentices ;) So slightly distracted, and despite making pretty rings out of resisters, I qualified with a Credit, and can still tell you each resisters value and quote Ohms law along with the best of them.

At 16 I went for a job at London Transport, I passed the mechanical aptitude test 100%, funnily enough, but they asked me to lift a bus tyre in the following interview #fail!

Mum made me go back to school *kicking and screaming* to learn typing and shorthand. So I left school at 17 with 9 O’Levels and a C&G in Engineering.

I started working 2 days after I left, as PA to the Sales Director of Victoria Carpets. My salary was £4500, and boy I thought I was minted. I loved it though, and our offices were in Kensington, next door to “Rods” so was all very exciting.

A few PA jobs later I ended up working for Renault Financial Services, and was about to embark on an 11 year roller coaster. Including meeting marrying and divorcing a psychopath – but that’s for another time. I became Customer Services Manager, Contract Hire Manager, Business Development Manager and National Accounts Manager, only to be head-hunted by Renault UK, to be their Contract Hire specialist. I worked in a team of 19 guys, and being in hotels for weeks at a time for Fleet Shows, Car Shows, car launches etc., it was an absolute blast, and hence me being in every strip club between here and Manchester. In the meantime I had bought an original Classic Capri, pre Mark II Consul, which I bought later, and I had stripped and rebuilt it. I was the only one in that team that knew what went on under the bonnet, and I wasn’t averse to letting them know!

3 redundancies saw me working for Lex Transfleet, GRP - a refrigerated vehicle specialist, and then Biro Bic! I fell back on my PA skills to temp there but they offered me a job in National Sales.
I Met Chris there, married and Jasper came along a few years later. I didn’t intend to go back to work, and at some point during the previous years I had studied to be a masseuse. So I went back to college again and trained to be a Baby Massage Instructor.

On one of the sessions I met a lady who was training to be a childminder, and the little lightbulb went on in my head 
4 years on and I haven’t looked back. I was awarded with an Outstanding inspection late last year, and I am currently studying my Early Years Degree. Who knows where that will take me, but if you follow me on twitter you’ll probably find out.

And, I managed to follow my team QPR throughout of course, but that’s for another time! If you haven’t nodded off or blocked me in the meantime, thanks for listening 

Annie x

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