When Didi was 18 years old, she went to Paris as an au pair. She already spoke French well, but quickly became bilingual. She stayed with her parents' friends Georges and Micheline Mangin for a while and took classes at the Sorbonne. She made good friends and had a ball. She then returned to the UK and took a bilingual secretarial course. This was the time that all three Simms children had a really lively social life together - a party wherever they went. The year later she took up a post with a Catholic charity for children in Geneva. Whilst working there, she had an Italian boyfriend and learnt Italian and skiing. Still in Geneva, she met and became engaged to a Tunisian and moved with him to Tunis in 1970. Her long love affair with the Arab world, weaving and carpets had begun. In Tunis, she lived in Carthage and again, made lifelong friends.