Day One

Eight years ago I quit my first job in advertising. I told my boss that I was tired of crunching numbers, bored of filling excel spreadsheets with coloured blocks, uninspired by spending corporate millions on colour double page spreads in the Sunday Times.

I told my boss I wanted to be a chef.

She did the most responsible thing possible under the circumstances. She reminded me how hard life was in the kitchen, how I'd have to start at the bottom and what a waste that would be of a university education. In short she implied that I would be mad to do such a thing and sent me for counselling where a dear old man suggested I apply my creativity in another area of the advertising industry. So i did.

I can't say I regret it. If I hadn't stayed in advertising and worked my way up the ladder, I wouldn't be in the financial position to do what I am going to do now. I had fun, I met interesting people, and did some good work. And I also got to work in Sydney, an experience which ended up refuelling my desire to cook. On returning from Australia I gave myself two more years to get out of advertising and that is what I have done.

Today is day one of a new life. I start the Diploma in Food and Wine at Leiths in January, a full time course leading to a professional catering qualification. I'll be skipping the first term so over the next four months I will teach myself new techniques and revise what I already know. I'll also be giving serious thought to what I will do once the course is over. Who knows where it will lead?

There are exciting times ahead, but it isn't going to be easy.

Bring it on.