Having accomplished the on-line launch of Viva Mallorca it was time to dig out the unpublished manuscript of my mother’s autobiography From Mink To Sink and finally fulfil her long delayed wish to see it published, albeit in a form which she would have found totally incomprehensible!

From Mink To Sink is a very personal look at life as the wife of a diplomat in the Foreign Office where "pay, pack and follow" is the rule of law. Entertaining royalty, dispensing hospitality to visiting VIPs, meeting some of the great film stars and personalities of the time, many of whom became close personal friends while simultaneously organising staff, producing and bringing up two children was no easy feat. My mother somehow resolved every situation with a touch of luck and an ability to laugh at herself, despite a grave illness at the outset of her life as a diplomat's wife that almost cost her her life and left her lame – but not even that was going to stop an unstoppable lady!

My next project is to publish on-line my father's autobiography Without Let or Hindrance – Reminiscences of a British Foreign Service Officer. Published in 1960 it is a lighthearted look at life in the Diplomatic Service and the many fascinating people with whom he had to deal, from royalty to spies by way of deep sea fishing with Ernest 'Papa' Hemingway. The book is the perfect counterfoil to From Mink To Sink and is superbly illustrated by Anton’s satirical sketches.