Poles Apart!

My beautiful niece, Angelica has shoulder length red, wavy hair. She has always been a good looker. Where she gets these good looks or hair colouring from we have no idea.

My mother once said that before I was born, my father grew a moustache that turned out to have reddish tints but he was dark haired and couldn't really be regarded as handsome.

My brother, who is Angelica's father, is quite ordinary and none of the rest of the family are particularly good looking, except for the Japanese girls, who are stunning. But they are a product from outside our family and therefore have no bearing on Angelica's looks or hair colouring at all.

So, it seems these assets must have come from her mother's side. Angelica's mother is Polish, so it must come from there!

My lovely niece is a talented young girl too. She is a very good singer and often does gigs and when my energy levels have permitted me, I have been known to be her groupie, following her round pubs or wherever she has been singing. She sings like Eva Cassidy ............. and would be famous now, if she'd got there first!

As a child, Angelica was always confident and would jump on a chair to sing to anyone who would listen to her and her hand always shot up at school to be chosen for a play or musical, where she always managed to get a leading part. She always loved to dance and sing on stage and could play the piano to an audience without nerves.

I was the exact opposite as a child and would go to great lengths to keep myself out of the limelight and would try and make myself look small so that I wouldn't be chosen for anything that would draw attention to myself and had very little confidence even though I was talented in some ways. I didn't pursue piano lessons after I learned that I had to take exams and I would be physically sick with nerves, if I had no choice.

So is it in the genes, this confidence thing and does it come from Poland?