OK so I got a covert tag from Katy over at Katyboo1 to do this meme. I can’t resist a good meme.
What I have to do is …
Post 11 random facts about myself.
Answer 10 questions set by the person who sent me the meme.
Pick 10 people to tag myself.
Set 10 new questions for the people I tag to answer.
11 Random Facts Those who read here regularly will know quite a bit about me so some of this may be duplication; can’t find 11 totally new ones if only because don’t remember what I’ve used already! So …
I’ve worn glasses since I was 14 (that’s nearly 50 years! Eeeek!) ‘cos I’m short-sighted.
I have a residual third nipple.
I have never broken a bone — and have no wish to! — although I’ve had a couple of close calls.
I have known as many heart transplant patients as kidney transplant patients (precisely two of each). Odd considering the high number of kidney transplants compared with heart transplants.
I hate formality and dressing up so I’ve never worn a DJ/tuxedo in my life and I don’t intend to start now.
I read very slowly; I always have done, and I’ve never managed to master speed-reading.
I have never learnt to drive.
I was born in University College Hospital (in London’s Gower Street) so on a very good day I’m a Cockney.
I terms of doing anything practical I have 10 left thumbs. I can put paint on walls and doors and that’s my limit.
My parents were somewhat bohemian so I had a very liberal upbringing which included nudism, being allowed to read whatever I wanted and being allowed to make up my own mind on most things.
Consequently, although I have investigated several religions, I’m now an atheist libertarian myself and believe freedom of speech, sexuality, religion, body freedom and lifestyle are all fundamental rights.
Here are my 10 questions from Katy:
Cute pictures of animals on the internet, nice or insanely annoying? Cute pictures of anything are insanely annoying.
What is your favourite meal of the day, and why? All of them; I just like food. But anything with chips or full English breakfast or curry. That’s why I’m obese!
What is your stance on swearing in front of children? They have to learn the words, and they’ll learn them soon enough at school, so better they learn them from me and can then understand when to use them, what they mean and when they shouldn’t use them. And for what it’s worth I feel the same about sex and nudity — they’ll (half) learn soon enough from their mates so better they learn the truth from their parents/friendly adults.
Beatles or The Stones? Late Beatles (ie. Sgt Peppers et.seq.) every time.
Are you a morning person? If not, what time of day sort of person are you? Neither. I’m good in the morning if I wake up early and I’m wide awake; then I can get going and get lots done. Otherwise forget it. Evenings? Not for anything brainful.
Croutons in soup, right or wrong? Yes, but they have to be proper fried croutons; bits of dry toasted bread are just pointless.
Favourite moustache. The one I don’t now have. I once had a moustache for about 5 years; it even got on our wedding photos. I grew it for no good reason and shaved it off because I got fed up with it.
What do you wear in bed, and why? Occasionally my wife, otherwise nothing. I stopped wearing nightclothes when I was a student. Skin is so much more comfortable than clothes that just tie your dangly bits in knots.
Lace curtains or let ‘em look? Lace curtains are the work of the Devil. I need daylight. Al fresco lifestyles are us. If anyone looks too much they get a wave or a finger.
Will rockeries ever make a resurgence in these modern times? Probably when some poncy “garden chef” decides they’re fashionable.
Tag 10 people Like Katy I don’t generally tag people by name. So anyone who wants to do this can post their answers on their blog and post a link in the comments. I promise I’ll come and read yours if you do. But to encourage you all, if ten people contribute (and do it properly) I’ll give £10 to a UK charity nominated by the 10th contributor posting a link to their contribution in the comments.
10 New Questions for Anyone Accepting a Tag
When did you last go to the dentist?
Your favourite poem?
Something that made you happy this week?
Soup or sandwich?
What’s the furthest you’ve ever travelled from your home?
Both Katy (Katyboo) and Emma (Belgian Waffle) have invited us all to document what we are good and bad at. So who am I not to comply with such royal command.
So here goes …
BAD
GOOD
Drawing and painting DIY — actually anything dexterous Spontaneity Anything athletic Reading quickly Complaining about service Being active & getting out Respecting management Suffering fools & the pretentious Saving money Vanity Phoning people Foreign languages Latin Patience Erections Logic Puzzles Exercise Self-publicity
Nagging Navigation & map reading Organising Project management Maths and science Logic Analysing situations, quickly Being idle Eating and drinking Thinking Bending the rules Telling it like it is Sleeping in late Research Arguing & disputing Computery things Making decisions Finance Being stressed Being overawed by the great & good
So how about you all tell me what you’re good at — either in the comments or on your blog and leave a link in the comments?
I’m glad that Kate’s Listography this week has eschewed the temptation to ask about our New Year Resolutions — if only because I don’t believe NYRs!
No, this week Kate has asked us to choose our five favourite photos of 2011 from amongst those we’ve taken. This I like! I could easily do a lot more than five. So I decided that I’d give you my five favourite 2011 flower photographs from my Flickr photostream.
1. Crocuses (taken in our garden in February)
2. Jonquil (taken in our garden in March)
3. Peony (taken at Kew Gardens in May)
4. Hebe (taken in our garden in July)
5. Hollyhock (taken in Chipping Norton in September)
The Peony and the Crocuses appeared in my photobook (see on the right).
Back in January I set out to write ten things each month so that at the end of this year you knew 120 more things about me: things I like and things I dislike. Just for the record, and seeing as it's the end of the year, here is the complete list …
Brown, Fergusson, Lawrence & Lees; Tracks & Signs of the Birds of Britain & Europe
John Guillim, A Display of Heraldrie
Diary of Samuel Pepys
AN Wilson, After the Victorians
Florence Greenberg; Jewish Cookery
Nick McCamley; Secret Underground Cities
Douglas Adams, Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
Charles Nicholls; The Reckoning
Music I Like
Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
Beatles, Abbey Road
Yes, Close to the Edge
Monteverdi, 1610 Vespers
Caravan, In the Land of Pink & Grey
Carl Orff, Carmina Burana
Amanda Palmer, Map of Tasmania
William Byrd, The Battell
Pink Floyd, Learning to Fly
Moody Blues, Octave
Handel, Messiah
JS Bach, Christmas Oratorio
Food I Like
Curry
Pasta
Sausage
Butter Beans
Whitebait
Avocado
Cheese
Smoked Fish, especially Eel
Chips
Swiss Chard
Pizza
Treacle Tart
Food & Drink I Dislike
Egg Custard
Carrots
Sweetcorn
Pernod
Sheep's Eyes
Green Tea
Tapioca
Absinthe
Marron Glacé
Milk
Sweet Potatoes
Butternut Squash
Words I Like
Cunt
Crenellate
Merkin
Merhari
Amniomancy
Vespiary
Numpty
Halberd
Verisimilitude
Persiflage
Mendicant
Antepenultimate
Quotes I Like
If you don't concern yourself with your wife's cat, you will lose something irretrievable between you. [Haruki Murakami]
When we talk about settling the world's problems, we're barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It's a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives. [Joseph Campbell]
The purpose of our lives is to be happy. [Dalai Lama]
The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. [Flannery O’Connor]
I like small furry animals — as long as they're tasty. [Lisa Jardine]
The covers of this book are too far apart. [Ambrose Bierce]
It will pass, sir, like other days in the army. [Anthony Powell]
The gap between strategic rhetoric and operational reality remains dangerously wide. [Prof. Gordon Hewitt]
Pro bono publico, nil bloody panico. [Rear-Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles]
Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And East is East and West is West and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste more like prunes than a rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know? [Groucho Marx]
The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. [JBS Haldane]
If we don't change our direction we're liable to end up where we're going. [Chinese Proverb]