A hard day's rock

I've never had an alarm clock; I'm wide awake at 6.45am and ready to bust out of the door. If I am in America, though, I may have to get up at 5am for television interviews, as I've become an icon there.

It takes me about an hour to pin my Hard Rock badges on my uniform, so I usually do it the night before. Mind you, it only takes me 20 minutes to take them off. I've got 600 badges altogether and I choose about 100 every day.

I wear my uniform even when I am training as it opens conversation. Hats made from serviettes went out when New York opened in 1984, as the girls there didn't want to wear them, but I like to keep up tradition. My God, New York's big.

I'm a big eater, so I have a big breakfast - particularly if I am in a hotel. I'll have orange juice, melon, an egg, a couple of rashers of bacon, black pudding, sausage, tomato, brown bread and a big pot of tea.

I travel most of the time now. When I heard about the MBE, I was in Berlin at a seminar. Someone rang from the office and said, "I've got a huge surprise for you." When she told me about the MBE I was ecstatic. All I could say was "Why me?"

Usually when I'm training we'll have a managers' meeting at 7.30am to sort out the schedule and then a trainers' meeting at 8am.

Then I do the introduction for the kids, talk about the company and how I started. I make them have fun to break the ice. I'll say "Who's going to sing a song? Come on blondie, come up here and sing." I'll help them along. They've got to get to know each other - get to know the Hard Rock family.

I join up with the kids at lunch because I'm interested in them and they relate to me. I still have a burger after all these years. In fact, if I'm on holiday I miss it.

Towards the end of their training I get them to follow me in the restaurant for a few hours. You've got to get 'em in the restaurant. My approach is casual. It doesn't matter if I'm serving the Queen.

I've got three grown-up children and, hand on heart, I do miss my real family when I'm away, but they're on the phone to me. Mind you, after 35 years of marriage my husband's probably sick of me.

If I am in London, I do a day on the floor. I moved to a house in north London about two months ago, so I'll get the tube. All the doormen know me on my walk down Piccadilly to the Hard Rock.

I never feel shy when I meet famous people. It's a classless restaurant - you could have a cab driver sitting next to a lord. I've served three generations. Ringo Starr's eight-year-old granddaughter came in one day. I showed her the Beatles memorabilia and she said, "Look, there's grandad's jacket".

People ask me when I'm on the floor all day, "How do you do it?". I'm a big woman, God bless me, but I find it more tiring when I'm stuck behind a desk. I prefer to spend my time in the restaurant talking to the customers. It's a 10-hour day and it's all talk, but it's great.

If I'm in London, I go home about 6.30pm. I tend to be in bed by 9pm from Monday to Thursday. But at the weekends I go Irish or ballroom dancing in town with friends.

I may be an icon, but I'm down-to-earth. I've just got something special inside me.