When I was a little girl, I loved to collect things. When I was seven, I lived in London, and all the girls in my class collected coloured beads. Even though they were simply remnants of broken jewellery, to us they were treasures.
Here’s my bead collection – complete with antique tin.

At playtime, my friends and I huddled in the corner of the schoolyard, furiously swapping our treasures, trying to get the best deal – (probably good training for negotiating with publishers in a later life!)

Sometimes we swapped ‘diamonds’ which were even more precious. My diamond collection still survives, and here’s a pic. (The dome-shaped diamonds, like the orange one in the photo, were called cabbages – I have no idea why.)

I spent many happy hours swapping beads and diamonds, but when I was eight, I moved to Ireland and everything changed – but that’s a blog for another day.

(This post first appeared on www.girlsheartbooks.com)