there was a time a couple of years ago when we considered moving to scotland and if we had, i can tell you that i'd be hanging out with lisa-marie. not only does she share the name of elvis' daughter, she can cook, she reads lots of books and she makes pretty things. and she asked me to interview her - i jumped at the chance because i wanted to finally get to the bottom of that thing with the kilts. here's what she had to say...

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1. tell us a little-known fact about Scotland.

The kilt, considered by most people to be the traditional Scottish
dress, Is actually only the traditional dress of the Highlands. It's
common now for men all over Scotland to wear them for special
occasions, but in the time that the kilt was worn as everyday dress,
Lowland Scottish people considered Highlanders to be strange and
savage, owing to their strange dress and 'foreign' language, which was
Gaelic.

2. would you ever participate in one of those changing rooms programs
(if they're still making them - do you know what i mean?) and whose
house would you want to make over?

As someone who is relatively artistic, they way all of the interior
designers on them make 'art' that matches the colours they've chosen
for the room really annoys me, so I'd participate so that I could give
people proper art that doesn't blend in. It's would be cheating, but
I'd probably make over my little sister's house, and let her do mine,
as she wouldn't put in things I wouldn't like!

3. the best part about your job?

Being a nanny is quite different from most jobs I think. I am actually
part of a family, and happen to be paid for being so at the end of
each month. My very favourite part of the days is when I walk in the
door in the morning. Anna tends to run towards me for a hug, and Tom
starts telling me what he's been doing immediately. It's wonderful to
walk into a room and automatically feel welcome and like you arrival
has been anticipated with happiness.

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4. coffee or tea?

Tea, Earl Grey with milk if I have a choice. Tea has a very relaxing,
restorative quality, which is probably why it's a cliche that people
in the UK see it as as solution to everything,

5. the worst book you've read in ages...

Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer. It's badly written,
and paints both of the girls with weight problems as being quite
pathetic. I picked it up as a light read, but it's one of the few
books in my life I've stopped reading halfway through. Being somewhat
chubby myself, I am generally interested in how chubby girls are
portrayed in books, and this one is not painting us in a good light!

6. and of course, the best one...

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. It's the coming of age tale of
two 17 year old girls, living in poverty in a large, rundown castle in
England, with their eccentric family. Smith turns the picture-box
image of families living in large estates on it's head, and creates
characters who are individual, multidimensional and loveable. I read
this first when I was 13, and loved it then, but having re-read it,
I've taken even more from it!

7. don't go another year without...

Learning to crochet - I've been saying I'm going to for ages, and
haven't. Oh, and seeing some new places. I want to see as much of the
world as I can in my life!

8. your life philosophy in one sentence:

Be true to who you are.

9. so are the men wearing underwear underneath those kilts?

In my experience, nothing! :)

10. if you could invite four authors to dinner, who would they be and
what would you serve?

Jane Austen, Muriel Spark, John Steinbeck, and Margaret Atwood.
Imagine the conversations!

I'm assuming our dinner would be in winter, and I'd serve - Leek,
potato and bacon soup, Cider and mustard pork chops with roast veg(and
some German white),my chocolate truffle cake with ice cream(and a nice
bottle of Spanish red), and a cheese board with port and whisky.

* * *thank you, lisa-marie! i hope i can come to that dinner too!and i'm with you on the crochet, tho' it's not going THAT well for me.