Then the property market crashed and the Golf GTi had to be returned. I saw this as an ideal opportunity to gain the qualifications I’d never got round to studying for, and at the age of 21 I became a “mature” student at City University in London studying Property Valuation & Finance.
After graduating I turned my back on Surveying and it’s endless report writing and lease reading and went into the City. It was like money for old rope. All you had to deal with was numbers and fetch coffee for the traders! I didn’t even mind being used as “bait” for the Traders when they needed a favour. Being the only female on the Desk I was the one sent to ask for late deals if the deadline had been missed. I’d undo an extra button on my blouse and saunter up to the Traders fluttering my (very) long eyelashes. A finance degree can only get you so far you know!
I spent 5 years in the City including 6 months on the Futures Exchange LIFFE where you quickly find out why the support staff are called runners! It was an “open outcry” exchange where Traders deal using hand signals. Imagine trying to calculate a traders position NOW!!!! from an illegible hand written trading card whilst standing in the middle of a football match at Wembley Stadium! I also discovered from reading Rogue Trader that the small firm I worked for were Nick Leeson's family and friends! ‘Oh so your brother in law Nick is in Singapore is he?‘ I mused to one of my traders!
I then fell pregnant and left City life behind me. Having children changed my life and my attitude and suddenly the greedy life of Banking seemed wrong somehow.
So now I'm a full time mum and part time accountant. I’ve been blessed with 2 beautiful, intelligent, funny well mannered boys whom I adore!
Life was pretty normal for me (and enjoyable) I still had a fun social life on the Shoreditch club scene usually watching a friends’ band perform whilst enjoying the free beer laid on for band members and their friends. They went on to support Prodigy at Brixton Academy and I got to rub shoulders with Keith Flint and co at the after party!
Could life get any more exciting? Well…. One day a cousin suggested I joined Twitter…I saw Ben Miller's tweet for "Extras" and the rest, as they say, is history.
I'd love to be in a comedy show and/or EastEnders, surely there must be another Mitchell family member out there somewhere?
