Thanks to Emily Nagoski over on Facebook, I bring you a slightly different meme — well at least one I’ve not seen before. The original is somewhat too American for my liking so I’ve Anglicised both the language and some of the questions. So here goes …
Piercings : 1
Children : None
Surgeries : At least 5
Fired a gun : No
Quit a job : Twice
Flown in a plane : Quite a few times
Been 100+ miles by car : Only twice (there and back) so far this year
Been 100+ miles by train : Oh so many times
Been zip lining or bungee jumping : No way!
Cried over someone : No
Fallen in love : A few times
Skipped school : Once, when aged 8, my parents took me to the Chelsea Flower Show
Watched someone give birth : No
Watched someone die : No
Been to Canada : No
Been in an ambulance : Yes, once
Bid at an auction (eBay doesn’t count) : Yes, and I won
Been to Egypt : No
Been to Scotland : Yes
Visited Disneyland (US or Europe) : No, and I have no desire to
Visited Poland : No
Visited Las Vegas : No, and again I have no desire to
Sung karaoke : Not on your life!
Had a pet (or pets) : Yes, many
Been sledding on big hill : No
Been downhill skiing : No, I have no wish for a broken leg
Ridden on a motorcycle : Scooter yes, motorbike no
Ridden a horse : Yes, once and never again
Been in hospital overnight : Yes on at least 6 occasions
Donated blood : No, to my shame
Driven a Transit van or bigger : No, I’ve never driven anything
Been in the back of a police car : No
If you’re daft enough to want to play this very silly game — well at least it will provide 5 minutes distraction from these trying times — then copy the list, past it to your blog or Facebook, oh and don’t forget to update your answers!
Toodle pip!
Category Archives: personal
Ten Things
Something much more mundane for this month’s Ten Things, if only because I have numbness of the brain!
Some are obvious, some are not, but here are Ten Things on my Desk:
- Desk tidy containing pens, scissors, screwdriver, torch, nail clippers, emery board, 20cm rule, paper clips
- Mug of tea
- Watch
- Calculator
- Electric stapler
- Cheque book
- Hearing Aid Dryer
- Box of tissues
- Monocular
- Bottle of aftershave
And then of course there is the plethora of computer stuff. But no, no cat — the current set don’t seem to like my desk, but then I don’t have a hot desk lamp these days.
Why?
No, OK, I do understand why. But it is a real pain …
Yesterday morning I had my ‘flu jab. I do this every year as (a) I’m now over 65 and (b) I have diabetes so I’m considered to be at “high risk”.
By mid-afternoon yesterday I was feeling rough. Last night I might as well have had ‘flu, I felt so awful — and I was so hot you could have fried an egg on me. (What a nasty idea!) I felt marginally better this morning and luckily I’ve gradually been improving as today has gone on.
Every year follows a similar pattern. 10+ years ago when I first started having ‘flu jabs they would make me feel rough for maybe half a day; on one classic occasion I felt awful for just one hour.
However a few years ago, when the vaccine contained “bird ‘flu” it knocked me out for over a week. Each year since then the vaccination has affected me for at least two full days, usually starting about24 hours after the injection. Consequently I scheduled this year’s shot when I knew I had three four days clear afterwards. It’s just as well I did, although if it has knocked me down for little more than 24 hours this year that’s definitely progress.
Yes, I do understand why this happens. Although the vaccine cannot give you ‘flu (the constituent strains are either live but attenuated or are totally inactive) like all vaccines they stimulate the immune system into producing antibodies — that’s what they’re supposed to do. And it is this reaction of the immune system, which thinks the body is being attacked, which causes the “illness” side-effects. What’s curious is that not everyone get these side-effects; and of course there are a small number of people (eg. those who are allergic to eggs) who cannot have the vaccine (or have to have an expensively produced alternative).
While the side effects are not pleasant they generally only last a day or two, and for my money they are far better than having real ‘flu which could last 2 weeks even without complications.
It’s just a nuisance to have to go through this every year. However until a way is found to produce a reliable “one shot forever” ‘flu vaccine we are stuck with annual injections. The ‘flu viruses are so variable, and they mutate so quickly, that the vaccine has to be changed every year. The game is to pre-guess which strains are most likely to be active during ‘flu season — for the northern hemisphere this guess has to be taken in February for the following winter; that’s because of the time required to produce the vaccine. When the experts guess right the vaccine is maybe 75-80% effective; guess wrong (as happened last year because of a late mutation) and effectiveness may be down at around 10%.
So while having a ‘flu jab is an annual PITA, it is one which for me is worth it. Until we get a universal vaccination, that is.
Ten Things
Ah, yes, it’s Ten Things time, so here goes with this month’s instalment …
Things I’ve Done Today:
- Read my email; also Facebook, Twitter and several weblogs
- Wasted time — on what I don’t even know
- Written the slides for AP Soc AGM in 10 days time
- Helped clear bedroom for decorating; and did some hindering too
- Read news items online — and wondered why I bother
- Slept — not enough when I wanted to, and too much when I didn’t want to
- Scanned lots of my mother’s paintings to make a calendar and our Christmas card; must get both off to the printers soon
- Revised the talk I’m giving on Wednesday evening
- Not gone to a meeting this evening
- Added more to the “to do” list than I’ve managed to take off
Ten Things
This month’s Ten Things is for those, like me, who were children in the 50s and 60s. It is a little nostalgia about radio programmes, in the days before everyone had television and before there were hundreds of radio channels — ie. when there was BBC Radio or nothing; the days of the Home Service, the Light Programme and the Third Programme.
So here are Ten Radio Programmes I Remember from My Childhood:
- Listen with Mother
- Mrs Dale’s Diary
- The Archers (and OMG it’s still going! Why?)
- Round the Horne (Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick)
- The Navy Lark (Leslie Phillips and Bill Pertwee
- Music While You Work
- Down Your Way (with Wilfred Pickles)
- Children’s Favourites (introduced by Uncle Mac, aka. Derek McCulloch)
- Does the Team Think?
- Palm Court Orchestra
How Long?
As of about 3 o’clock this afternoon, Noreen and I have been married for 37 years! Eeeeekk!
That’s 10 years more than we haven’t been married!
I can’t decide whether if feels like forever or feels like for never. It just is; it’s like an old shoe that is so comfortable you don’t know you’re wearing it. Although like all shoes you get a stone in it occasionally — indeed, contrary to the usual tenet, marriage is a bed of roses: it looks pretty but has thorns too!
Back in 1979 we were still coming out of the hippie-ness of the 60s and 70s, and we were still students at heart — we still are! So we did the wedding our way, slightly eccentrically. There wasn’t a lot of money around — the country was crawling its way out of recession, we didn’t have any spare money, neither did Noreen’s mother, nor my parents. So we did it all ourselves, made it all up as we went along, did our own thing, very simply, and still had a good time.
We were married at St Peter’s, Acton Green; at the north end of Chiswick where it merges into Acton. We had been living there for about 4 months, and going to church, so it seemed sensible to get married there. St Peter’s was Anglo-Catholic, and sufficiently high church that it even satisfied our RC friends.
We lived just 400 yards from the church, so we walked to church, from our flat. No, cars; what’s the point when it is less than a 5 minute walk? My best man was my friend Victor, from my post-grad days, who was old enough to be my father. Noreen had three “maids of honour” all her own age — friends from school and university — and all four had made their own frocks. Noreen was given away by another university friend, her mother did the flowers and one of my aunts made a cake.
The reception was in the church hall next door and the vicar (who was later unfrocked!) made us a present of his fees. So the only think we had to pay lots of good money for was the caterer and the wine. And a few days away in Salisbury.
Total, a few hundred pounds. All in contrast to weddings, even then, which were costing thousands. And worse today when tens of thousands get spent.
Ah and like today, it was a lovely, bright, sunny, warm day.
Every year on our anniversary, Noreen and I look at each other and ask “How have we done it?”. We still don’t know! But I did wonder today, to Noreen, whether we might manage another 37 years. Now that would be something as we’d both be over 100!
Ten Things
In keeping with the randomness of this series, this month’s Ten Things is words.
10 Words I Like:
- Cuneiform
- Halberd
- Petrichor
- Psittacosis
- Varmint
- Verisimilitude
- Vermifuge
- Vespiary
- Yoni
- Zanzibar
Interesting that I seem not to have written a word post about the last two. This will have to be rectified.
Note to Self
Ten Things
Thirty-six years ago tomorrow, 11 July 1981, Noreen and I moved into our present house, and in that time a lot of water has flowed under the bridge — and the house has acquired a lot of “silt”. So for this month’s Ten Things I thought we should have a look at some of the things that have happened to me over those years.
10 Things I’ve Done Since July 1981 (in no special sequence):
- Started (with others) the Anthony Powell Society
- Taken early retirement and got my state pension
- Had 7 cats (not all at once)
- Had 3 months off work with glandular fever
- Built a koi pond
- Got the local council to plant a tree in the pavement outside the house
- Had an affair (yes, it’s OK, it’s public knowledge)
- Planted at least 12 trees in our suburban garden (much to the bewilderment of the neighbours)
- Lost both my parents
- Developed Type 2 Diabetes
And here is another view …
10 World Events that have Happened since July 1981 (again in no special sequence):
- America’s first black President (Barak Obama) (2009)
- Iraq War (2003 and years following)
- IBM PC announced (1981)
- Fall of Berlin Wall (1989)
- Chernobyl Disaster (1986)
- Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing (1989)
- Introduction of the Euro (1999)
- 9/11 “bombing” of World Trade Centre (2001)
- Queen Elizabeth II becomes the UK’s longest reigning monarch (2015)
- Worldwide banking collapse (2008)
Interesting times we live in, but I wonder how many of those (or what events I’ve excluded) will be remembered in 100 or 200 years!
Good Deed
It isn’t often that one gets the chance to a really good deed for the day, and dig someone else out of the midden. And what’s more someone you don’t know, and will likely never meet again.
On Saturday morning I was in central London and stopped for a coffee in the Brunswick Centre. On leaving the Centre I was stopping to get some cash from the machine outside the small Sainsbury’s store. As I approached it a large, foreign-looking, middle-aged man walked away and into the Sainsbury’s store … leaving the cash machine beeping at nobody.
As I approached I could see that he’d left his money in the mouth of the machine! Duh!
Luckily there was no-one else much in the immediate vicinity. Arriving within seconds at the machine I removed the money, folded it and held onto it. I considered running after the man, but figured this would be pointless given my crocked knees, especially as he was unlikely to disappear from the store in the minute it would take me to get money for myself. So I did just that.
I then wandered into the Sainsbury’s store, easily located the man, who was quite distinctive, and handed him his notes. Needless to say he was profusely grateful.
I’ve no idea how much money was involved as I didn’t count it; it looked like about £50. I could have had a nice little bonus at someone else’s expense. But I didn’t.
However I did get something back. The satisfaction of saving some guy’s embarrassment. Oh and a £25 win on Saturday evening’s National Lottery.
It isn’t that often one gets to do a significantly good deed for a random stranger. But it feels good when you do.