Q11.At what point in your life were you the happiest you have ever been?

So, I think my answer is a bit bittersweet. As I appreciate the terrible sadness it caused. But, for me, my happiest time was the first lockdown. Although, like everyone else, I was terrified of myself or my family getting COVID and was gutted for all the people who were affected. I loved how the world just stopped and we all just got back to basics. Having to learn to not do anything, not rush, not go outside and not have to live at such a pace. I loved learning how to cook and allowing myself to do nothing. It was so different from my normal usual life.

It taught me so many things about myself and changed me forever. I am a much calmer person, I do not need to do anything anymore. I am happy just sitting, much to the joy of my husband. I loved sitting out in the garden, drinking with my family and just being content doing nothing. Walking at 6am because we could, with no cars on the road and people on bikes. It was such an unbelievable time, for those lucky enough to survive a life-changing experience.

I don't think a certain moment has stood out for me in this question. I don't think I have ever been sad in my life, but I don't think there was a moment in which I was happier than the rest, which I think is a good thing. I would probably say when I was about 6 because I was young enough to get things but not old enough to worry about situations. Also, I feel a lot of memorable things happened at that age, like getting my dog and going away with my family to Portugal and for some reason, that holiday has always stood out compared to the rest. Probably, because both my brothers were there and most of what I remember was just playing around in the pool.

I straight away thought of meeting and marrying my husband and all the wonderful happy holiday memories we had. But along with that came saving for extra bills, insurance and buying a house. In fact, it had it's up and downs.

Then I thought of my childhood days. Not a worry in the world. Each day was an adventure and wonderful and loving parents. Running home from school to play with friends(court street had many children and we rarely saw a car in those days). Holidays were rare, but who cares we were busy playing marbles in the street or mob in the field at the end of the street.

Happiest time? Pass.

The happiest time in my life came the week after being dumped. I remember waking up every day smiling and being completely at peace. I was just happy for no reason for what felt like the whole day, every day. This pure tranquillity lasted about 4-5 days and I started to get worried that it wasn't going to last.

Of course, it didn't last forever and a fairly long low phase came afterwards but nonetheless, the feeling I had those 4-5 days is unforgettable. Loads of things have happened in my life which has made me happy but that's what was different about these 4-5 days, nothing was actively happening to cause happiness. I was completely content. Wanting and needing nothing. I was just completely and utterly content. Happy for happy sake.

My happiest point in life is when I had my girls back from the ICU, and I knew I had my whole family back home and safe.

Probably between the age of seven till 12, the seventies were such a great time to grow up in, probably the end of the relaxed parenting that there was back then and just before the start of the tech age that we live in now. The summers were great then, the weather was always warm and there was always so much to do, there were fields and woods to explore all around our estate and a huge park with a playground and a football pitch. There were trips to the beach, mostly Jacksons’ Bay, as Barry Island could cost a parent a lot of money with the flashing lights and noise of the arcades and the smells of food.

Then there were the Knap bars with its three diving boards, where all the older kids would bomb each other in their bum smackers, jeans cut off at the knee that helped make it not so painful. The next year I had pestered my mother so much that I had a season ticket to the bars and now I was one of the older kids in my bum smackers.

There were bike rides to Cosmeston Lake where we would jump off the bridge into the freezing water. One time more than twenty kids off the estate rode over, how there was not an accident I don't know. Then, when the farmers baled up the hay in the fields behind our estate, we would make dens out of them, it would take four or five kids to move them, you would make two dens one on each side of the field and then play cowboys and Indians or war games, sticks for guns and stones for hand grenades, the game would usually end with someone getting hit on the head by a hand grenade. One year someone set fire to one of the dens and the fire brigade was called, it was great fun for us kids watching them try to put out the fire, so setting fire to the bales became an annual event (probably why now the bales are bigger and covered in that black plastic).

Then there were bluebell woods where there was a rope swing across a brook, we would spend hours there as it was nice and cool in the summer. A game we played was to see how many kids at the same time we could get on the swing, it was never good to be the last to get on, you would always end up wet. One summer we walked to the Wenvoe golf club through the woods and spent the afternoon diving for golf balls in the pond, none of the golfers seemed to mind, we even managed to sell some golf balls to them and left with two carrier bags full of balls. The next day we took them to a second-hand shop in Main Street, he was buying them for 10p a ball, but we traded them for two air pistols and two boxes of lead pellets as long as we didn't say where we got them from, let’s just say the game of war had just escalated, it didn't last for long, the line was drawn by the parents, apparently this was not the wild west. If we found an old pram we would find some old wood and make a bogie (go-kart),not always successfully. But then the skateboard arrived, our street was on a hill so it was all about speed and not tricks, so you had to have Kryptonik wheels or you would never win a race.

Then there were the mystery trips that the parents in the street organised, camping holidays with my dad and his new family, carnival street parties, new year parties and bonfire nights where we would spend weeks gathering anything that would burn, we would go on raiding parties to steal the wood from other streets, but you had to guard your own because they would raid ours. All the parents would bring food and drink and we would all sit around the fire, great nights!

The winters were just as good, we would hang out in each other’s houses playing card games, Game of Life and Monopoly. TV was amazing, we had the Laurel and Hardy double bills, Monkey, the Water Margin, one year a season of Elvis films and if you were quiet you could stay up late and watch The Sweeney or The Professionals, but you had better go straight to bed after or you would not be watching it next week.

So hard to pick but my days where I was born in Glebe St ' with my adorable Mum, Dad and Gran. 4 doors away and 8 cousins 3 doors away. No aches and pains. A field at the end of the street where we all played, even though there was a war on!

School days time before work started.

But also the period of my later life when l was surrounded by my children Grand and Great Children!

The happiest time in my life, was when I met my wife, it shouldn’t have happened really, cause I went out with her mate, but I always thought she was a bit of alright, and after I split with her mate, we stayed friends and just clicked, I found my soul mate and I couldn’t have been happier, so much so we got engaged after a few weeks, seems mad looking back, just felt the most natural thing to do, I was the happiest I’ve ever been, so why not keep that feeling for the rest of my life

I honestly can’t think of a stand-out moment for this one

think it’s yet to happen I dunno

the happiest I’ve been recently was after a concert in London watching a live band with good mates and good vibes and an 80s disco to finish the night off, was truly the most fun I’ve had in a good while I remember leaving that place absolute buzzing with joy, even the 7-hour journey home the next day was enjoyable, being content for two whole days was a welcoming feeling I need more of!

I've recently got with a boy that I really like. I'm curious! We keep it a secret around our friends but our family know.

I really like this boy and we have a proper connection. That's what makes me happy and keeping it a secret, that's what makes me happy. Call me weird or shit but you always have to experiment in my opinion.

YOLO.

Well, that's a hell of a question. Most people would say when they had kids but when I was fifteen me and a few close friends worked on the fairground twelve hours a day seven days a week for three quid a day but we were fiddling at least a tenner a day I was earning more than my father! Met some good people, had great times, got in a few scrapes but didn't have a care in the world. I had more money than I could wish for, grew up fast loved every minute.