Hi! My name is Julia.

I spent much of a very enjoyable long weekend playing with my great niece and her dolls. we played cafes, post offices, stables and airports. Pictured are Barbie (in the middle) and Anna and Elsa from the Disney movie "Frozen"

I was telling my great niece about my first Barbie called "Julia", a black doll, made by Mattel, a special edition Barbie and based on Diahann Carroll in the TV show of the same name where she played a nurse. I was 7 years old and I was the only person I knew who had a black Barbie. She was a gift from my generous big brother Ian who was at University in America and who brought me wonderful gifts when he came home, a yo-yo that lit up in the dark, a base ball mitt and the wonderful Julia.

Julia had three phrases....yes, that's right, she talked! "Hi my name is Julia", "Nursing is great fun", "Do you want to be an actress". She came in a gold and silver jump suit and my sister made me three more outfits for my Christmas that year, including an evening cloak with a fur collar.

Talking about Julia to my great niece brought it all back and I googled her today and looked on her beautiful face again.

So this blip is to say thank you to Ian for a brilliant present, thank you to Helen for the fabulous outfits and thanks to little A for letting me play with her all weekend and bringing back a whole heap of wonderful memories.

I wonder if any blippers from the USA remember Julia?