Page 13 - Through a glass brightly

A week or so after my honeymoon I got a secretarial job in an Estate Agents office which was the start of another chapter in my life. I enjoyed working in the property world, meeting different people either selling their home or looking for one to buy was very interesting and varied. At the end of 1971, I was asked by an old friend of mine to join him in starting up a new business and in January1972 John James Estate Agents was born. As far as my personal life went, I soon realised that getting married at 19 was not the best thing I've ever done and I soon realised that it was a mistake. We grew apart and in 1974 he got a job in Abu Dhabi. I was quite relieved when he took off there. We divorced in 1978.
I knew, however, that I needed to get a qualification if I was going to afford living on my own. I had got more and more involved in the property business so in 1975 when I turned 30, I was eligible to take a Direct Final to the Incorporated Society of Valuers and Auctioneers (ISVA). Living on my own, I had time to study, so it was easier to both study and submit numerous papers to the College of Estate Management. The JJ business had expanded to six offices and I was then a manager of one and after I qualified in 1977 I was now to do professional work, valuations, surveys, etc. not just house selling. It was decided to franchise the business a few years later so I took the office I managed and subsequently opened two further offices within my franchise, taking on partners to run the property selling part of the business so I could concentrate on the professional work.
In the mid 80s, in common with most Estate Agency businesses at that time, we were bought by the insurers, General Accident Together with three other companies we became General Accident Property Services. My former partners carried on as managers of each of the three estate agencies I had formerly franchised and I was appointed Regional Director of Property Management, responsible for six offices within the GA group. This continued for about three years until, at the end of the 80s the property market went drastically downhill and GA decided to reduce the size of the business and take out the middle tier of the company structure which, of course, included me a Regional Director. I was asked to sack one of the property management staff and to take over their job. One, I did not want to do that job and two I would not do that to another person. The 'bottom line' was all that mattered to GA so that suited them and I left at the end of June 1990, after a total of 18 years with the John James empire. The end of an era.
My partner, John, and I bought a house in France in 1989, mainly so he could escape from work tribulations at weekends. During my six months' notice I noticed an advertisement in the Estates Gazette from the, then, Luton College of Higher Education looking for a Lecturer to work on a Higher National Diploma in Estate Management. I applied and got the job to commence at the start of August 1990, leaving me the month of July to enjoy living in France.
I then started a new chapter in a completely new life. The first year or two were quite difficult as this was a new course and, therefore, only the first year of a two-year course was being taught and I had to lecture on a number of areas which were not within my expertise such as building construction and planning. Luckily, I had been together with a new partner, John, for some seven years and we got married in 1993. John was Planning and Design Director of a Property Development company so he was able to help me a great deal. The college became a University in 1993 and we developed a degree in Estate Management. Then the Dean of the Faculty decided I should qualify to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) so I embarked on yet another Direct Final. After qualifying to the RICS my dear Dean had another wonderful idea. Because I didn't have a first degree, I should take a Masters so, in my infinite wisdom I elected to do a MSc in European Property and Planning - I never did things the easy way!
This degree involved a day a week at several Universities, the principal one being University College London (UCL) and then spending my summer university holidays in France where I was based at Marne-la-Vallee (a new town), in the Etablissement Public d'Amenagement (PA) - equivalent of our New Town Commission. During my first year's two months there I
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