Twenty things you didn't know about me....

1)I don't really enjoy travelling at all, and am a real homebody, I hate being away from Fig and the familiar, comfortable and comforting surroundings of home, and have suffered terrible bouts of agoraphobia - the worst being a nine month period when we were living in Chorlton and I couldn't go further than our front doorstep without a terrible anxiety attack - and while i am much better now, it is still an ongoing battle that i sometimes have to fight hard to beat.

2)I always have the TV on - even through the night, and cannot sleep without it - but 99% of the time i am watching dvds and i very rarely watch live tv-usually one program takes my fancy every month or two which i make an effort to watch, and even then, i often decide to watch that using iplayer/online - i just don't like having to do something at a time chosen by someone else - and this is true for a lot more than just television(!)

3)I put Radio four on when i'm in the kitchen as it feels like stepping back into my very happy childhood in Knock, and if i close my eyes and concentrate i can almost feel the warmth and love of home, and smell the bread cooking.

4)My mum and dad are both dead. I think about them every single day and miss them both terribly - and whilst i have come to terms with losing them, and believe that life does go on and you have to keep on keeping on, the pain of their loss will never leave me and is always there, like a little stitch in my side.

5)I adore all animals, but cats most especially, and we have a wonderful black and white moggy called Fig, both myself and Jon LOVE him like a baby and he is a constant companion and our dearest friend. He's 19 years old and has no tail after being run over in a horrible accident that nearly cost him his life and us £1000, this all happened on my 25th birthday.

6)I have a complete and all consuming love of stripes and all things stripey, a conservative estimate of just my stripey 'tops' would be around 100 - in all colours, styles and sizes.

7)My favourite band is The Clash, and although i am too young to have ever seen them perform, i have seen: Joe Strummer(with the mescaleros), Mick Jones(with carbon/silicon) and Paul Simonon(with the good, the bad and the queen) now all i need is for Topper Headon to start gigging again!

8)I've snogged Joe Strummer (see above)

9)I met Jon (my wonderful husband) in 1997 when i was in my second year at university in Liverpoool but he wasn't a fellow student, he was in fact, my lecturer.

10)My best friend G is my soulmate and I have known him somewhere between seven years and my whole life. He calls me Lady.

11)My family on my mum's side is Irish Catholic and my grandmother Mary Ronan was heavily involved with Fianna Fail and a great friend of it's founder Eamon de Valera.

12)I have a half-sister called Angela i have never met.

13)My cousin Andy Rourke was in The Smiths.

14)I grew up in Cumbria, and spent my formative years in Penrith, with my second family in a pub that no longer exists called 'The Sally'.

15)My dad was in the army for 25 years and spent almost his entire service abroad on non-european tours of duty. These included Eygpt (during the Suez crisis), Benghazi (during the six day war), Cyprus (when arch bishop Makarias and the turks were rising), Ethiopia and Eritrea (working alongside Haile (Rastafari!) Selassie). I got my earliest history lessons via his wonderful stories and the black and white photographs he took and developed throughout -he left me his trusty Nikon and incredible albums stuffed with 40s/50s and 60s life in foreign lands when he died.

16)I used to be a chef, as my mum was before me. The ridiculous hours and paltry pay are the reason i stopped, but working in kitchens during a crazy-busy service when the checks are flying in, the burners are firing and sweat is dripping off your nose is the most enjoyable, adrenaline-fuelled fun i've ever had with my clothes on.

17)I can drive a tractor but not a car.

18)I find Christmas and it's run up an absolutely magical time of year, and despite not being a fan of travel - my greatest wish is to one day visit Lapland, meet Father Christmas and see the northern lights, it might sound twee, but snow, sleigh-rides and santa rock my little world.

19)I'm crazy about all things aquatic and love visiting aquariums, there's something ethereal about being in the darkness with the blue shining water and brightly coloured fish and coral.

20)I've had some wild times and have tried most things at least once, and am glad i did, and have no regrets. But, I am so glad to be exactly where i am right now, happy and contented in the countryside with those i love close about me.