Jasmine is currently working for the internationally renowned hairdressing company Warles Chorthington where she is involved in a project to produce a conditioner worthy of taming the most unruly tresses. She is particularly self-motivated in this line of work as she hates her own style and has resigned herself to the fact that if the team don’t come up with something soon, she may have to resort to re-root surgery.

TANYA

Tanya is Pippa’s cousin (on her father’s side of the family). She is a definite daydreamer, but it would seem as though her daydreams have paid off. Whilst working in the local garden centre, filling up the gnomes, elves and fairy display, she was talent spotted by film director Petey Jarkson. He was entranced by her elfin appearance and whispy pale blonde hair and thought she would make the most divine fairy queen in his forthcoming production ‘Lord of The Wings’. Before she knew it, Tanya was whisked off to Hollywood for a series of auditions, and yes, despite only ever-acting once- in the school nativity, she landed the part. On set, filming in Poland, she fell in love with the lead actor Stirgo Nordestam and they have been together ever since. They currently live together in The Aragon Hotel Penthouse where they love to spend time flitting around in their fairy costumes. He is currently having an enchanted castle built for her in a secret location on the north-east coast.

EFFIE

Effie is one of Pippa’s friends from Primary School. They hadn’t seen each other in years until last November when Pippa heard through the art-world grapevine, of a new model doing the art class circuit as a life study model. Rumours of Effie’s child-like qualities prompted a visit from local artist made good David Hackney, who hired her to pose for him and the product was a series of paintings entitled ‘Waifs and Straights’. The paintings are now on display in the world-renowned MIMA Gallery. Pippa reacquainted herself with Effie at the opening of David’s exhibition. Effie is currently modelling a series of Edwardian inspired underwear for designer Daphne Jaeger.

TAMMY

Tammy just loves the party circuit. The illegitimate child of Pippa’s wayward aunt Firenza, Tammy had a rough start in life. Not that the social circuit she now mingles in know anything about it. Her mother was not a lady of leisure, more a lady of pleasure. They lived ‘across the tracks’ in a small industrial town until, when Tammy was nine years old, her mother inherited a huge amount of money from one of her clientele. Firenza thought he was just another sailor on leave, but it turned out he had been a Greek shipping Tycoon with a penchant for Redheads and his estate was divided up between the five redheads he visited regularly, one on each of the earth’s continents.

Unfortunately, Firenza continued to be a bad mother despite the money, and Tammy was pretty much left to grow up without parental guidance. Hence by ten years of age Tammy was drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. She’s been in and out of rehab ever since, although she always manages to bounce back, well so far, at least.

ROSIE

Pippa first met Rosie when she attended a ceramics class, as part of her art therapist’s training. Rosie attended the class too, in fact she was always top of the class, even though, for her it was only a hobby. She works full-time as a check-out assistant at the local Mesco supermarket. She is a quiet girl, although never an astute academic she has always been good with her hands. Ceramic painting and decoration has given her the opportunity to save a little money as she can often be found on Sunday mornings selling her pottery at the boot fair. Her heroine is Clarice Cliffton, to whose work in that field, her own aspires.

Rosie is single; she lives in a small rented apartment with her dog, cat and two hamsters. After feeding, exercising and playing with her pets, she likes nothing better than to settle down to watch Coronation Square with a can of lager and a packet of crisps, to her this is the zenith of relaxation and the height of sophistication.

BRITT

Britt is Pippa’s Swedish penpal. Pippa has been writing to her since she was seven years old. She has met her on two occasions, the first was when they were both sixteen and spent a week in the summer holidays with one another’s families. Pippa’s visit to Stockholm proved to be one of the most eye-opening weeks of her life. Britt hails from an all singing, dancing family. Her mother and father were members of a very popular seventies pop group and Pippa was amazed at the free-living lifestyle and environment Britt inhabited. They were so uninhibited that our middle class English rose was totally gob-smacked to say the least. Sauna’s, Hot tubs, body massages, twig body thrashing, and all completely naked. When Britt visited Pippa and her family she too was amazed, but mainly by their old fashioned ways and the lack of communal naturism. She certainly left a lasting impression on Pippa’s family, well, on the male members at least.

After her parents divorced Britt opted for a less cosmopolitan lifestyle and is currently working as a crèche assistant in the Swedish mountain resort of Are.

GAIL

Gail is Pippa’s stepsister. Sadly they have never bonded in sisterhood and is possibly the only person Pippa feels unable to show any affection for. When Pippa’s father left her mother for a ‘younger model’ he remarried, far to quickly for Pippa’s liking and became stepfather to Gail and Marieanne. Gail is just like her mother Anna, Pippa’s stepmother, and she is an all and out snob. Whatever it is, Gail needs the most expensive version of everything yet refuses to get a job and earn her own money, and continues to sponge unmercifully off Pippa’s Dad. She spends her days shopping, primping and preening, whilst Pippa’s Dad has to work at least eighty four hours a week to meet the minimum payments on the ever increasing amount of debt run up by Gail and her mother. What keeps him so enslaved?  You may well ask, Pippa often ponders this question as she looks lovingly at the dark circles accumulating beneath her father’s once vibrant blue eyes. Well, Anna used to be a glamour model and her more than voluptuous assets keep him ensnared. As Gail came with his second time round package he endeavours to keep her happy in order to please her mother.

JADA AND ED

Jada was once Pippa’s hairdresser, she used to have the most beautiful long pale blonde silken locks. Then, on a package week to Vegas she met Eddie. They fell head over heels and made a great couple. Eddie was a motorcycle stunt rider, his lean physique raged beneath his silken cat suits, and his rugged features caught the eye of 

all the girls. They met when Jada was at one of Ed’s shows and she was chosen from the audience, at random, to ride with him during the ‘Glory Parade’ at the end of the show. I say at random, but in truth Ed always directed his honcho’s to choose a girl with ‘big bazooka’s’ that was the way he liked them. One ride with him and he usually dumped them, but in Jada’s case it was different, she had a cute English accent and he thought she had class, she could really do something for his redneck image. Before he knew it he was marrying her at the Vegas ‘Chapel of sweetness and Light’. In the coke infused fluorescent lights, they promised to be true to one another. And they were, for the next three years at least. Jada gelled his hair every morning, and settled into his stunt show tour routine admirably, always making sure, of course, she choose the random riders for the Glory Parade. Usually the unattractive flat chested ones. Jada , the working class English hairdresser was living the American Dream.

They attended star-studded parties and film premieres together. You may have seen pictures of her in the diamond-studded dress Ed had Gianni Versatchel design for her. It was a lovely long, one shouldered silver number, with four huge pure white daisies across the front, at the centre of each lay a huge diamond. Those Diamonds came in real handy after the 17^th September 1979, for that was the day Ed had his terrible crash. He only made it over eleven of the twelve buses in his finale jump; he was rushed to the Mount Rushmoron infirmary where he spent three months in the intensive care unit. Unfortunately his insurance company would not pay out for the accident or foot the bills due to the large amount of ‘illegal drugs’ found in his blood at the time of the crash.

With sixteen metal pins holding his legs together and a metal plate in his skull he was no longer able to perform. Oh…and the money had run out. And his temper had run in, big style.

 Jada endeavoured to earn enough from home hairdressing to meet the bills, but she so often found that once people knew she was married to a one time drugs baron (the touring show had in fact been an good cover for Ed’s vast drugs empire, now also collapsed) they would have nothing to do with her. She realised her life was on the decline when she could no longer afford Warles Chorthington superior conditioner, and her once beautiful long silver blonde tresses began to dry up and horror upon horror, split ends.

They went to live with Ed’s Mum in her trailer. And then the beatings started, poor Jada could not put a foot right now, in Ed’s eye’s she was just trash and her treat her like it. Ed’s Mother just looked the other way as her son reached for the bottle in order to assuage his thirst for the life he had lost, and beat Jada to assuage his anger, any anger, every anger. Their economic situation had reached an all time lowly lowest of the low, when Ed had a ‘great idea’. Jada thought he had left the trailer to go for fresh booze supplies, but much to her surprise he came back with a present for her. Momentarily she thought she saw the old Ed, .The one she had fallen in love with. Had he been out for a years supply of Warles Churthington superior hair products? A shudder of excited anticipation engulfed her from head to toe. She carefully opened the huge package he had set down before her, the tissue paper sighed sadly as it fell away, a pair of silver lame thigh length boots, a small silver lame crop top and some hot-pants. Yes, they were nice, but cheap, she thought, she’d look like a tramp in these. Tears streamed down her face the first time he ordered her into them, pushed her into their tiny bedroom. ‘Remember’ he said ' we need the cash' She knows she owes him for all the years he gave to her and lies back on the sweaty, stain encrusted sheets, closes her eyes, and thinks… for the first time in many years…of England.

MANDY

Mandy was Pippa’s psychiatrist when Pippa was admitted to the Vines Psychiatric unit following her mental breakdown. A straight ‘A’ student all the way through school, college and University, it had always been studious Amanda’s ambition to help those with mental health illnesses. She had seen first hand the problems her own mother’s decline into mental illness had caused for her Father and two young brothers. Her Mum suffers from manic depression so Amanda was always well versed in the extreme mood swings, from manic highs to depressive lows. When Mandy was eight, during one of her ‘highs’ her Mum had sold all their furniture to a door- to- door salesperson for £1.59…. Another time Mum had declared herself Cleopatra Queen of Egypt and insisted they all bow before her. During her depressive lows Mum had attempted suicide on several occasions. Overdoses, cutting, Mandy had seen it all. And this had made her determined to devote her life to helping mentally ill people, and offer support for their families. She is a totally unselfish individual, and was pleased to be a fundamental source of support to Pippa during her crisis.

It was Mandy who furthered Pippa’s job application, when, having recovered from her breakdown, Pippa applied to work in The Vines art therapy department. They have become firm friends, both on a professional and personal basis. They have worked together on several projects now, both within the psychiatric unit and on projects concerning the image promoted regarding the social stigma attached to those with mental health problems.

To escape the pressures of modern society Mandy finds solace not only in the positive outcomes she achieves, treating many of her patients, but also in the world of Dance. In her spare time she keeps fit and dances at the Planetary Dance School. Freestyle disco is her major here, and she has recently qualified to dance in the adult champions section at freestyle disco dance competitions. Sometimes Pippa goes to watch and support her friend, cheering her on to the winning title, just as Mandy has been and continues to be a source of strength for Pippa.

MARIE

Marie is literally ‘the girl next door’. She lived in the house next door to Pippa when they were children, and as coincidence would have it, when Pippa recently moved into her new house, she was amazed to find Marie (who she had lost contact with over the last few years) living next door to her once again. It’s almost as if their paths are destined to cross. Marie works as a booking clerk at the local Civic Theatre, she had always dreamed of working in the theatre, but after failed audition after audition she settled down for an administrative position. Well, technically she still works ‘in the theatre’ as she tells anyone who asks (and spares them further detail), though her ambition to tread the boards still burns strongly within. A photograph of her in her ‘Oklahoma’ audition costume takes pride of place on her mantelpiece.

Marie is full of admiration for her old friend and hairdresser Jada, whose brush with fame when she married famous stunt cyclist Ed, is chronicled in the well-thumbed newspaper cuttings Marie fantasises over whenever she feels a little down. She was on holiday with Jada in Vegas when she met Ed, but unlike Jada who, she believed, went on to enjoy the luxurious languorous life of a superstar’s wife, Marie had to return to England and a humdrum existence.

Funny that, come to think of it, neither Ed nor Jada had featured in any newspapers or magazines lately. When she had run into Jada’s mum in Mesco’s the other week, she had felt sure Mrs Cummings was rather trying to play down Jada’s good fortune, she had quickly changed the subject, in retrospect Marie pondered perhaps she was trying to hide something.

When Pippa moved into her new house Marie was straight round with a casserole dish of heart-warming stew, an apple pie, and a bottle of Ernest and Julio. They had a good gossip and talked about old times and caught up with the new. She had always admired Pippa’s level headed take on life and was quite surprised when Pippa told her she had spent time in the nut house, why she even worked there now. ‘Perhaps’ thought Marie ‘I had better be a little more wary of her in future’ not to say that she was prejudiced but well ‘with those sort, you just never did know’

MARINA

Marina is Gail’s younger sister, Pippa’s other stepsister, and Pippa loves her. Down to earth and refusing to be downtrodden by her snobbish mother Anna, and spoilt brat of a sister Gail, Marina is hard working, kind, loving and generous in all the right places. She is currently completing the last year of her A level examinations at St Agnes College for Girls. More often than not, it is Marina who cooks her step- father’s dinner, washes his clothes and keeps the house tidy. She is too polite to confront the shopaholic duo Anna and Gail face to face, thus she does what she can in order to keep the peace and to help her step dad as much as she can.

Marina is aptly named; in her spare time she enjoys sailing. She has a small sailing dinghy and is a member of the local sailing club. Here, to earn some extra cash she serves behind the bar. She has recently taken her examination in vodka-based cocktails and gained a one hundred per cent pass. Storli, the vodka suppliers have promised to use her in forthcoming advertising campaign, about which she is literally brimming with excitement, although as yet she has not dared tell mother or stepsister about it, fearing their jealous reprisals.

DAWN

Dawn is Pippa’s American cousin. She is a one hundred per cent all American girl. She grew up in a small town in California, loved school, high school and college, where she always scored the highest marks in every exam she ever took. She studied hard and played hard. In high school she was the number one cheerleader, all the boys adored her long flowing blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes and to-die-for figure, but none ever got even the opportunity to get to first base with her. In her spare time, when most teenagers were necking, drinking or dabbling in drugs, Dawn could be found volunteering her time either as a ‘Candy striper’ at the local hospital or as a ‘Companion’ at the local home for the elderly.

After she had graduated first class at high school, Dawn won a scholarship at the prestigious Smithsornian Women’s College where she studied Literary history and Journalism. This certainly relieved her parent’s, who then invested the money they had saved for her college education in a chain of clothing stores ‘The GARP’ who had recently advertised for new investors in the San Fernando flagship store.

Dawn loved studying at the Smithsornian, she revelled in the beauty of Shakespeare’s language, Dostoevsky’s daring and Garcia-Marquez’s atmospheric, descriptive, nostalgic recall. It was here that she decided her destiny lay in the art of fine literature. All of her spare time was spent writing, note-taking, scribbling, accumulating raw materials of the writer, the snatched snippets of overheard conversation, in depth observation of her surroundings, and exploring the depths of her imagination. In the final semester of her first year she won a competition, writing a more than excellent article on ‘The role of women in the plastic surgery industry’ The prize was a six week working holiday in Europe, under escort and guidance of the editor of ‘Mademoisellier’ magazine.

Two of the weeks were spent in Paris where she met and fell in love, young love, more in lust really, with a young Parisienne artist Pierre Grandique. Pierre was studying at the Sorbonne, majoring in modern art, and she found him totally enchanting and mesmerising. But, to her dismay, after their relationship had hit a home run, he did a runner. She was gutted; she felt that in her bodily liberalities with him, she had let herself, her college and her family down. She managed to control her dismay and hide her feelings of abandonment from the editor Argeria Stevenson with whom she was travelling, and the next day they arrived in London. She caught up with the British members of her family. Her Mother’s sister arranged for a small reception in The Lyones Corner Tea House, and for the first time ever she met her Grandmother, Grandfather, her aunt Mimi, and cousins Pippa, Red and Nina.

They had travelled down to London the previous day from the north of England, and they weren’t at all stand-offish as Dawn had expected. In fact Pippa reminded her very much of herself, from some angles she could almost be taken for a mirror image.

Having brushed Pierre aside, she continued to enjoy the European tour, visiting Amsterdam, Venice, Rome, and Vienna before returning home. It had been a long and tiring sojourn but her little notebooks were jam packed with material that would be transformed into short stories and articles for the magazine during the long winter months that lay ahead. Then it went most terribly and utterly wrong. She missed her monthly. Because of the strict rules the college enforced regarding how Smithsornian girls conducted themselves, Dawn was forced to attend a second rate doctor in the next state. The grimy surgeon was all she could afford without asking for outside financial help. She had confided in her roommate Angie, who went with her to the surgery where she underwent the most horrendous abortion she could never had imagined. Angie struggled to help poor pale and drawn Dawn back to the bus afterwards. But she haemorrhaged profusely on the return journey on the Greyhound and had to be rushed to the nearest emergency department. As her private dilemma emerged into the public arena, her once safe life was to disappear forever. The lions were in for the kill, the Smithsornian expelled her, Madamoisellier magazine advised her they were no longer in a position to be able to publish any of her articles, and her parents wept openly at the shame she had brought upon the family. She was so desperate that she wrote to the last known address she had for Pierre, just in case he felt some compassion her situation, but that came back ‘return to sender’. Only Angie was there to help her get through it and hold her hand…

CHARMIAN

Charmian first met Pippa at the Municipal Museum. Pippa often visits the museum to soak up the atmosphere when she is seeking inspiration for one of her ceramic projects. Charmian has worked at the museum for the past six and a half years. Her specialist area lies in the care and research of the Egyptian artefacts. This is not surprising as Charmian’s father is a native Egyptian. He was born in Cairo, although his parents were forced to migrate to England when he was sixteen years old. He shares his love of his homeland with his daughter and has always been a great help and influence in Charmian’s chosen career. In fact he dotes on her.

Charmian is a single girl, any boyfriends she has had have quite simply never measured up to her father’s expectations. His opinion is tantamount in her eyes.

She studied Egyptology at Cambridge and her brilliant thesis entitled ‘The most Recent Revelations in Thebean Hieroglyphics’ attracted much attention. The Rt Hon Sir Richard Ponsonby Gayforth offered funding for a five-year archaeological expedition, studying the Hieroglyphs in situ at Thebes, however Charmian felt she could not accept, as her father did not approve of Gayforth.

Charmian can often be found at the museum in the wee small hours. It would seem she is devoted to her work. However, it is rumoured that she not only works there after hours. In fact Charmian feels the affiliation with anything Egyptian so strongly, that after the museum doors have been safely locked for the night, she dons full Cleopatran attire and worships the effigies of the ancient Egyptian Gods that are housed there. And she often secretly settles down for the night in one of the huge stone sarcophagi.

PIA

Pia works on the Esther Lowder counter in the local department store. Pippa’s favourite fragrance is their flagship perfume ‘Forever Yours’ and she delights in their cosmetics too. As a frequent customer Pippa and Pia have become firm friends.

Pia was born Dilys Hughes in the poor Welsh mining village of Llantwit Ephram but she took the first opportunity she could to get out of there. Her boyfriend, local boy Gavin Dyfed, a brilliant centre half for Swansee Town attained a transfer to Hambletown United, up north, and she sacrificed herself to him so she could go too. They married hastily (shotgun affair) and now have three boys. She changed her name to Pia as she thought it suited her newfound ‘footballer’s wife’ status.

Unfortunately his shining career in football never materialised and he now runs a small carpet cleaning business.

The three boys they had together certainly took their toll, and Pia ‘let herself go’. However, she has recently undergone several plastic surgery procedures and a reroot and looks a gazillion times better. She chose to work for Esther Lowder in order to ensure staff discount rates on the huge amounts of make-up she needs to keep her immaculate complexion in tip-top condition. She may not be the ‘footballer’s wife she had hoped to be but she tries to look like one. 

AUDREY