At 67,Joyce Faulkner thought she was looking for a holiday.Her husband,Jim,had recently died and exploring possible house swaps on the Home Exchange website felt comforting.In the end,it was not a vacation Faulkner found but a job.She left her home in South Queensferry, to become mother's help to seven-year-old twins in the northern Italian town of Varese.Now she is known as ＂La Babysitter（代人临时照看小孩的人）”or simply “La Joyce".
“Really,when I think of it,it's halfway crazy," she says."I came on the strength of two emails.”A house swap shewas interested in didn't work out,but the owner,Racheal,asked: “Do you know anyone who might help me with the children?'I wrote back and said:"Tell me what that involves!“She wrote me a little list,and I said:'I could do that!'She seemed to trust me and I trusted her."
Two months later,Faulkner was in Italy.When she reached the square in Varese,“the dad, Andrea,was walking towards me with the children hiding behind his legs,kind of shy, thinking:'Who is this woman in a long black coat?'The atmosphere was immediately warm and friendly.”
Eighteen months on,Faulkner's job no longer feels like a job."I just feel like part of the family."They joke:"You think you're going back to the UK? No,you're staying here!” She gives English lessons,helps with the housework,meets the children from school,plays chess or table tennis with them,and takes them to the park."It never feels like work,"she says."lt has been absolutely the perfect match."
Before she made her move,her sister reasonably pointed out:"You're used to living on your own.How are you going to cope?”I said:'Well, if it doesn't work out,I'll make another decision.'You have to take the 'I was looking for a holiday in Italy-but found a job opportunity when it presents itself."
Faulkner is not ready to leave Italy."I haven't started on an exit plan,"she says. "I'll be 70 in January.That looks like a big number when you write it down,but in my head,I'm 30.I still feel the same person,I have the same enthusiasm for life,the same interest in people and things.In that sense,I wish I had another 70."
Why does Joyce say her job in the family never feels like work?