Erm...I was that...in..in that office for...before I was in the Cabinet office and I had a view from my office window of the back garden of Downing Street...

Wow!

Which was quite cool. Erm...and so I did that for about six months and then I moved departments to the Department of Trade and Industry, so only about a year and a half.

So, you..erm...decided to leave that job as..er...working for the civil service and wha.-..why was the decision to come...how did that...how did it happen that you came to..decide..

Valencia?

Spain, Valencia.

Valencia because..erm..I'd got some friends here I met when I was a student and I came to visit them a few times. So, "I've got a couple of friends there..why...why don't I go there?"

So, did you...when you first came here, was it just a ho...an extended holiday, or did you make a decision to leave.....?

I made a decision to leave the UK and then come here for...who knows how long? And then 8 years, 9 years later I'm still here!

What do you...erm...dislike about living here?

I could reel off a few things...

Ok.

No, but I mean, the main things are, I mean I miss my family and lots of friends back in England, massively. And not being able to go and see (Crystal) Palace play.

Football!

Of course!

So, your family are still in the UK.

Yes, yes. Everyone's still in Crystal Palace.

Do you get to see them often?

Yes, erm...every...every...I have to go back to England at least every four months, otherwise I feel lost.

Do they not come here?

Yeah, they're coming here, they're coming here for a month in July, so...

Wonderful!

It should be really good fun, I'm looking forward to it, yeah.

Erm...Lucy, what's the best thing about being a teacher?

Erm...I think it's being with people. It's really nice to meet new people, you can meet some really interesting people. Even the kids, I mean, kids can be fantastic, and they're so different, as well. Such a variety among classes, a variety of per..personalities and characters. Really good fun!

What ages do you teach?

Erm, at the moment I've only got 6-year-olds and a group of 13-year-olds, so...interesting!

What's been your most memorable moment in the classroom?

It's a real...that's actually....

The question used to be "What's been your most embarrassing moment in the classroom?", and then I changed it. Memorable is probably....

The thing is I started to think of y'know these times when you go bright red because, I remember teaching this adult class, a really good looking guy and he asked me...he asked me what a word meant and it was just literally....wow!

Because of the word?

Yeah! And he was...he had an inkling what it meant, as well..

What was the word?

...........and of course.....

He knew!

I went purple. I was so embarrassed! And he was...I think he knew..."Lucy, what's this word ............

Was it from a text?

I have no idea. I've no idea where it came from.

Erm...what advice would you give Spanish speakers who are trying to learn English?

Little and often.

Sorry?

Little and often.

Can you expand on that?

Erm, when you've just got...ok, so they'll come to class every week and they expect to go home and do a bit of homework and that's it. Ten minutes every day, just have a quick look at something. Whether it's your verbs, whether it's....whatever. A little reading....a little....ten minutes. Everyone's got ten minutes every day that they could just spend. When you...when you eat your breakfast, I don't know, whatever.

What do you do with your time when your not teaching? Do you have any hobbies?

Erm...at the moment I've been going to lots of pilates because I've been spending lots of time at the computer, so pilates is really helping me in terms of relaxing afterwards.

Is that something you do every day, every morning?

Twice a week.

Twice a week, yeah. And then try to do a little bit at home every so often as well.

Do you have..erm..kids?

No, no.

So, you must have more free time to....

Yes!

And what do you do?

Erm.....sleep! I think that's what people without kids do, isn't it?

So, apart from Pilates...

Oh.. Pilates, a bit of running.

You go running.

Oh yes, I like a bit of, y'know go for a.....listening to....listen to the radio as I run, as well.

Wha...what sort of things do you listen to?

Desert Island Discs.

The BBC.

Yeah.

Are you a big podcast fan?

Mmmm, I do, I'm ...the thing is, I started off running with music and then I realised that it wasn't, it didn't do it for me. So now I've..erm..I've changed to Desert Island Discs and it's fantastic, they have some fantastic guests on there, and i really like Kirsty Young. She's really good. Erm...I'm trying to think what else I listen to. I...I mainly listen to BBC programmes, actually, it's Radio 4. So, I mean, so they have loads, Women's Hour...erm...

You listen to Women's Hour?

Sometimes! Sometimes, you've gotta (got to)....y'know...come on!

Ok. Erm...Lucy, what makes you happy?

Aww...lots of things. Being with people who I like to be around. (A) nice sunny day. Some nice food. Preferably a nice glass of wine.

And what makes you sad?

Aww...negative people. I can't stand negative people, being...and...rain.

Which is why you live in Spain.

Exactly!

Which famous person, dead or alive, would you like to meet or have dinner with?

Can I have two?

Yes, it would be a dinner party.

Ok. I had a think about this, ok, because....again, this is going back to my Desert Island Discs thing. A couple of....no, it was a few months ago now, Dustin Hoffman was on there, and he was absolutely.....

Is he still alive?

What do you mean! He was fantastic! Really interesting, funny...ahh...so I'd quite like to have a chat with him. And, because he's a fellow south-Londoner, and also would be quite interesting, David Bowie.

Oh, David Bowie, that would be one of my, he would be one of my choices. What would you ask him?

Oh God! Where would you start? I mean, actually..I'd...I'd ask him to sing a song.

In an ideal world, what would your life be like?

Calm and....ok, I'm I thinking of...

Would you choose, for example, would you still choose to live here, or would you make your life somewhere else?

Mmm, I think my life is pretty ideal. Can I...? I mean...obviously it's not perfect but, I'm perfectly content of where I am and what I am doing at the moment.

That's good to hear.
So, if you could plan your ideal day, what would it be like?

Ok, it would involve some element of competition. So, I don't know whether it would be a..a card game, or....

Are you a competitive person?

Oh my God, I'm terrible! Yeah. Maybe some sport, or...or some sport involved, like a...a tennis match. or even watch it, I mean, it's terrible being English because it's...it...it's not fun watching England play, as you know.

Watching them play anything!

Exactly! So, I'd rather not watch. I'd rather compete.

Have you ever run a marathon?

No, never. I don't run far enough to...

It's not something you'd consider?

I'd consider running a half marathon, yeah. And it's something every year I say to myself, "Ok, I really must start training for this, 'cos the Valencia half marathon, 'cos (because) I've got lots of friends who run it. But I just haven't got round to it yet.

Ok, so you...you're doing something competitive, an..and then what?

Oh sorry, this is my..erm..

Your ideal day.

Oh, my ideal day, and then..erm..(a) nice lunch with some fantastic friends, preferably my family, preferably my mum and dad..erm..and obviously my boyfriend, he'd have to come. And, somewhere nice as well, pref...I don't know, on the beach, or in someone's house. And it would be summer, so you could have a quick swim. (Some) Nice food, (a) nice bottle of wine. Siesta, 'cos (because) it's....

Of course!

And then out in the evening again..

To....where?

Oh, this is my....this is my ideal day...aww...then I think I'd have to go out with my...erm...my friends from....my friends from school, from London. (A) bit of a girlie night out.

Where would you go?

Aww...we would have dinner in someone's house and then turn up the music and have a bit of a...a bit of a boogie.

If you had 6,000 euros to spend on yourself, what would you buy?

Right, ok. I would buy an iPad, and....

You'd have some change.

Oh yeah I would, yeah. I would buy lots of new books. I don't...I don't want to put them on my iPad, though. And I don't want a Kindle. I want some new books 'cos I love reading, as well. That's a...so, lots of new books and, I've still got some change, haven't I? I've still got some money.

You could probably buy 8 or 9 iPads if you wanted to...

Oh no, I don't want as many as that..aww..I think I'd have to buy myself a holiday.

Where would you go?

Erm...I quite fancy a trip to Australia, although six grand, probably get me the flight and not that much more really. Well, the flight and a nice little hotel somewhere nice. And yeah, visit some friends and family I've got there. So, that'd be nice.

I'm curious, why would you prefer to have the hard-back books and..er...paper books, and not have...read them on...on a device?

There's something about having a paper book. I can't..I ..I can't do it. I'm not doing the Kindle. I can't do it yet.

Ok.

(I) Can't do it!

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much Craig.