About Nicola
Nicola practised as a solicitor in Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and Wilmslow.
She now lives in Derbyshire, after upping sticks and leaving West Yorkshire to live with her long-term partner.
She describes herself at school as a goody-two-shoes – that annoying child who always stuck her hand up in class to show she had finished first. Her studious nature made her a natural fit for working in the law, until that day when she decided she had had enough. Writing is a way for her more playful nature to exert itself.
When her partner was asked to sum her up in one word, he thought about it for two seconds and agreed– annoying! She says that sounds like a great title for her next book.
Activities include riding out on her Harley Sportster, yoga, and walking, with relearning Spanish an essential now she has a daughter living in Peru. Two more children and three grandchildren are a little closer to home.
In life she has learned that people see what they want to see, good does not always prevail, and happiness lies in the simplest of things. The interesting and chaotic people she has met along the way have given her plenty of fodder for her new career in writing.
And her plan? Well, that’s the problem. She has never really had one. She has been in the habit of standing still and letting the cosmos spin around her. Peacock on the Moon is her way of metaphorically sticking a leg out to see who falls over. If anyone notices, she might stick the other leg out too.
She has put together her bio for those who want to read more.
About Nicola
Nicola practised as a solicitor in Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and Wilmslow.
She now lives in Derbyshire, after upping sticks and leaving West Yorkshire to live with her long-term partner.
She describes herself at school as a goody-two-shoes – that annoying child who always stuck her hand up in class to show she had finished first. Her studious nature made her a natural fit for working in the law, until that day when she decided she had had enough. Writing is a way for her more playful nature to exert itself.
When her partner was asked to sum her up in one word, he thought about it for two seconds and agreed– annoying! She says that sounds like a great title for her next book.
Activities include riding out on her Harley Sportster, yoga, and walking, with relearning Spanish an essential now she has a daughter living in Peru. Two more children and three grandchildren are a little closer to home.
In life she has learned that people see what they want to see, good does not always prevail, and happiness lies in the simplest of things. The interesting and chaotic people she has met along the way have given her plenty of fodder for her new career in writing.
And her plan? Well, that’s the problem. She has never really had one. She has been in the habit of standing still and letting the cosmos spin around her. Peacock on the Moon is her way of metaphorically sticking a leg out to see who falls over. If anyone notices, she might stick the other leg out too.
She has put together her bio for those who want to read more.
Bio
I arrived in the Luton and Dunstable Hospital maternity ward in 1961. My father was working as a solicitor in London at the time, but this was a temporary position, with my parents soon relocating to Huddersfield. After an uneventful time at primary school, I was sent to a boarding school at age eleven, in accordance with family tradition.
I fell into the law by inadvertence, as a Law degree from Manchester University led to the College of Law in Guildford, which led to a training contract in Manchester City centre, which led to my first qualified position, working for my father at Owen & Briggs, solicitors, in Huddersfield. I heard that I had passed the solicitors’ exams on the day I got married, in 1985. During the eleven years I worked there, I had my daughter and son, got married and divorced, and moved house three times.
My second husband was always clear he wanted a stay-at-home mother to his only child, my daughter and third child, so I gave up my career for a short while, until I divorced again. If life had been hectic before, it was even more so now, as I became a single self-supporting working mother of three. My previous experience of residential and commercial conveyancing with Owen & Briggs won me my next role in Dewsbury, where I worked within three different firms in the town over the next sixteen years.
Bio
I arrived in the Luton and Dunstable Hospital maternity ward in 1961. My father was working as a solicitor in London at the time, but this was a temporary position, with my parents soon relocating to Huddersfield. After an uneventful time at primary school, I was sent to a boarding school at age eleven, in accordance with family tradition.
I fell into the law by inadvertence, as a Law degree from Manchester University led to the College of Law in Guildford, which led to a training contract in Manchester City centre, which led to my first qualified position, working for my father at Owen & Briggs, solicitors, in Huddersfield. I heard that I had passed the solicitors’ exams on the day I got married, in 1985. During the eleven years I worked there, I had my daughter and son, got married and divorced, and moved house three times.
My second husband was always clear he wanted a stay-at-home mother to his only child, my daughter and third child, so I gave up my career for a short while, until I divorced again. If life had been hectic before, it was even more so now, as I became a single self-supporting working mother of three. My previous experience of residential and commercial conveyancing with Owen & Briggs won me my next role in Dewsbury, where I worked within three different firms in the town over the next sixteen years.
Working as a high street solicitor is never dull. The pleasure in the work is gained from the interactions with clients. I always loved my little old grannies and grandpas, but seeing them at the end of their days, in their care homes, isolated, hearing their stories, made me love living, want to get it all in before it is my turn.
I jumped across the Pennines after the last of my brood left home, to live with my long-term partner. I know the Woodhead Pass well, especially the bridge at Millhouse Green, on the occasion of my writing off my car, a big red bus, and a white van. I am lucky to be here. Shortly thereafter I moved lock, stock, and barrel, and found new employment in Wilmslow.
Moving from job to job never gave me the opportunity to be anything other than an assistant solicitor, but not everyone wants to be boss. There are those who say I never met my full potential, but being tied to a desk for the hours that requires, week and weekend, has never been something I wanted for myself. And when the burning urge to write a memoir took over, the chains to the office were not that tight.
My itinerary to where I am now has not been plain sailing. I could not have written what I now write, and will write, any sooner.
Working as a high street solicitor is never dull. The pleasure in the work is gained from the interactions with clients. I always loved my little old grannies and grandpas, but seeing them at the end of their days, in their care homes, isolated, hearing their stories, made me love living, want to get it all in before it is my turn.
I jumped across the Pennines after the last of my brood left home, to live with my long-term partner. I know the Woodhead Pass well, especially the bridge at Millhouse Green, on the occasion of my writing off my car, a big red bus, and a white van. I am lucky to be here. Shortly thereafter I moved lock, stock, and barrel, and found new employment in Wilmslow.
Moving from job to job never gave me the opportunity to be anything other than an assistant solicitor, but not everyone wants to be boss. There are those who say I never met my full potential, but being tied to a desk for the hours that requires, week and weekend, has never been something I wanted for myself. And when the burning urge to write a memoir took over, the chains to the office were not that tight.
My itinerary to where I am now has not been plain sailing. I could not have written what I now write, and will write, any sooner.