Lynne, how did you come to live on the Costa Blanca

I’ve been here for 18 years. I’m originally from Yorkshire but spent 10 years living in London, working on a magazine for Condé Nast Publications. After commuting for several years, I wanted a different lifestyle. I knew this area a bit – I have relations here – so I thought I’d give it a go. Eighteen years and two kids later, it’s home. 

And quite different to Yorkshire! How old are your children?

Yes I’m definitely used to the warmer weather now! My daughter is 12 and my son is 15. They’ve just finished school actually. They break up in June here so it’s a long summer holiday for them until the second week of September. It’s amazing for them, I could do with another month or so without them under my feet!

Tell me about work – how long have you been working with the Privacy Compliance Hub (PCH)? 

I’m a full time freelance graphic designer and PCH is one of my clients. It’s been about four years now that I’ve been working with the team. I’m on hand for anything design related, so that might be redesigning the website, designing training handouts for clients to download, and putting together graphics for the blogs, case studies and banners for social media. 

How has working with Nigel and Karima changed your outlook on privacy? 

I hadn’t really thought much about it before, so it’s definitely opened my eyes. I think it’s really valuable to know what rights you have, what you should or shouldn’t do with passwords, and how tracking cookies work. Considering I work on a computer all day every day, I’m a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to things like this but I do try to teach my children not to share everything online. My 15 year old is just getting started with an Instagram account. For them, it’s literally a part of life. I do have a Facebook and Instagram account for work but I barely use them. A lot of my work comes from word of mouth. 

What other clients do you have?

I work with a couple of magazines – Go Wild and Anthology magazines are two regular clients of mine – designing pages and adverts for them. Other clients will want a corporate brochure or business cards designed, something like that. It’s interesting and varied. It allows me to be flexible around the children and I enjoy being able to work remotely. I’d say 80% of my clients are in the UK or are expats living here. 

Lots of people have recently discovered the benefits of working remotely but you’re ahead of the curve! What has the past year been like for you? 

I live in the countryside, about five minutes from my local town and don’t have any neighbours so our daily lives didn’t change that much. I did have the children home when the schools closed and I had been working part time in an office, which obviously closed too. The first six months of lockdown here were very strict. We weren’t even allowed to leave the gate except to take the dog for a quick walk, 50 metres from home. But we’ve got a lot of space outside and the children were able to run around and burn off some energy. We feel we’ve been quite lucky. 

What do you like to do in your spare time? 

I love the countryside. I go for a walk or a run most days. It’s my headspace and my ‘me time’. I need to get away from everything, burn off some energy after sitting at my desk all day. I’ll take the dog out for a walk or go up the mountain and just disappear from everything for an hour or so. 

What kind of dog do you have?

She’s a retriever labrador cross called Bailey. 

What are you most looking forward to once the world goes back to normal? 

Definitely coming back to the UK to see family. That’s been the biggest impact of the past year, I haven’t seen them for nearly three years now. I’m ready for my Yorkshire fix. I definitely took travel for granted – the ability to pop over for the odd weekend, or for family to come over here, just that freedom of travel. I think you only realise how important it is once it’s taken away from you. My partner is Italian, so we would like to go and see his family too. 

How was the atmosphere in your house during the Euro 2020 final?

It was very tense. He’s a very passionate football fan.