60 Seconds With…Ailsa Buddle

Favourite place you have ever visited? 
Salamanca, Spain. I spent a year studying at the university there as part of my Spanish & Drama degree and it was one of the best years of my life – full of travel, adventure, fun, new friends and fiestas!

What is the best piece of advice you have been given? 
‘This too shall pass’ not exactly advice but a proverb someone offered when I was going through a tough time with family health issues, but it is a phrase I come back to now in the good and bad times. It’s a reminder for me to grab every moment but to also know you can get through this. Resilience and respect for life are key. 

Ideal restaurant meal option? 
I am going to have to join the QCPS crew and admit I also adore Italian food. A love borne from extensive travelling across Italy – the majority of which was with my lovely twin sister. I have many happy memories of picnics we made from provolone dolce and piccante, tomatoes (that really taste of tomatoes!), fresh rosemary focaccia followed by it can only be, authentic gelato, preferably Amarena. 

What scene in a movie always gives you goosebumps every time you watch it? 
This is cheesy and gives my age away but I’m a huge fan of the movies of the 80s and one of my favourites is ‘Three Men and a Little Lady’. When Mary closes her eyes to imagine her family, who will be living far away, so she doesn’t miss them so much, it always brings a lump to my throat – my own family is spread out too. The theme tune at the end, ‘Waiting for a star to fall’ is also one of my absolute favourites! 

What do you wish someone taught you a long time ago? 
How to drive…I can’t believe I’m sharing this here as I am in truth very embarrassed about it. I stopped and started lessons around university and travels but never quite finished and time passed. I have always thought I wish I had done it sooner. Living in London there’s less motivation and fortunately I do love to walk – a lot! 

What book had the most significant impact on you? 
I am an avid reader and can honestly say so many have had impact. So, I’m going to cheat on this one and name a few which have stayed with me for a long time: ‘Home Fire’ by Kamila Shamsie, ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ by Anthony Doerr, ‘Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ by Gail Honeyman and ‘Living to Tell the Tale’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. All very different and all equally wonderful! 

Tell us something you are good at that may surprise us! 
Acting! At one point in my life, I was convinced I would be an actress (that or a paediatrician…) and I spent every weekend doing drama classes. I auditioned for and joined the National Youth Theatre, starred in (a very unknown) film as an extra and was convinced I would go on to drama school. I still love theatre and film but am not so keen to be at the front of the action. 

What, in your opinion, is the most amazing animal? 
A horse. I was lucky enough to go on horse rides at a very young age on annual trips to Banff in Scotland. My entire family of 8 (5 sisters, brother and mum and dad) would do hacks on country lanes and beaches. I thought it was incredible how the stables would match the horses to the temperaments of their riders and found a perfect fit for all of us. I rode more and more as I got older and their gentle but powerful nature and their ability to ‘read their riders’ always impresses me. There is nothing like going for a canter on a beach. 

What TV show are you hooked on or were recently hooked on? 
I am watching ‘Four Seasons’ on Netflix now which I am loving! It is funny, well written and all about the relationships between friends and family. 

If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you choose to lose? 
It would have to be smell – all the others are too precious to lose. 

Has there ever been a time when something so amazing or unexpected happened that it literally left you speechless for a time? 
It was not unexpected as it was an incredibly hard labour to get there (both times!) but without doubt the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me was the birth of both my children, Eva and Finlay. They leave me speechless regularly – for many different reasons!

What card or board games do you like to play? 
Masquerade – I’m not sure anyone will know this one! It’s a board game where you are given different cards to act out and we used to work in pairs or threes. We would play it every year on New Year’s Eve as part of our family party and the best bit was the collaboration of very young imaginations with older ideas – safe to say it sometimes took a long time for them to be guessed!