A Little Bit About Me

My friend, Mel, is a journalist for a local newspaper and spends all of her time interviewing people. She is constantly nagging me to reveal more about myself on my blog, claiming my readers want to know. I have told her that I am not that interesting but she persists, nay insists. So she has given me one of her interview templates to use in this post as a way of enlightening you, my dearest readers, about the real me.

It is kind of like a meme.

Please feel free to use it if you wish.

It’s in a fill in the blanks format.

My earliest memory is…..

my 3rd birthday. I was living in Glasgow, Scotland at the time and it was a crisp, spring day. My mother had knitted me a red cardigan for my birthday with ladybug buttons. I had on a green pleated skirt, white stockings and red Mary Jane’s. I probably looked like I had just stepped out of an Enid Blyton book. I remember standing at my garden gate and saying to our neighbour Aunt Aggie (we called everyone in the street Aunt or Uncle) that it was my birthday and I had a new cardigan. I remember feeling so proud to be 3 years old!

At school I…..

got in trouble for daydreaming and answering questions too elaborately in exams. I was also the only student to bring Sister Benedicta close to apoplexy by telling her my Catholic mother had married a Protestant – my father. I think she regarded me as a little heathen after that!

My first relationship was….

with someone I’ll never forget. He was a sensitive, artistic type who unfortunately loved drugs more than he loved me. We were both 17 and it was too difficult for me to handle his addiction. I have concocted many stories over the years that involved me saving him from his demons like some kind of Buffy-esque figure. In the end he saved himself but he was not the same person I had known at 17.

I don’t like talking about……

stocks, shares, property, equity and so on. I like to get to the nitty gritty, the essence of a person, not their net worth.

My most treasured possession is….

I don’t know if it’s right to call it a possession, but the love of my husband and son. Soppy, but true. Watch out, I feel a bit of Debbie Boone coming on (remember her.) OK, boys, this one’s for you….

“And you, you light up my life, you give me hope, to carry on…”

I wish I had…..

got a black belt in karate like my sister did. I would be kicking butt all over the place.

I wish I hadn’t……

eaten that last square of Dairy Milk chocolate. Sometimes it’s that last square that pushes you right over the edge.

At home I cook…..

soups, pies, salads, cakes, cookies, french toast. You name it, I cook it. But I don’t do tripe or brains. Not ever.

My favourite gadget is….

My Apple Powerbook G4 computer. Me love!

I’m very bad at….

asking for help. I sort of don’t like to bother people. Mel often says to me that if I were drowning I wouldn’t call out to the lifeguard for help in case he was on a break or something. She’s right. I do need to learn to ask for help. I might even start right now. HEEEEELLLPPP. Someone. Anyone. Help me, I’m help-phobic.

I’m always being asked…..

a)have you lived in Australia long? (I have a Scottish accent courtesy of being born in Scotland.)
b) for directions to places, which I hate giving because I am notoriously bad at giving directions but still they keep coming for the directions – enough already, I’m not a tour guide and I get lost on the way to the highway!

It’s not fashionable, but I love….

cheese sandwiches on white bread and a cup of plain, good old-fashioned tea. Not chai, or peppermint or lemon verbena or fennel twig tea. Just plain, straight-up tea.

The last big belly laugh I had was…..

when my son showed us how he’d walk on the catwalk if he ever auditioned for America’s Next Top Model. Even Tyra Banks would have been impressed.

If only I could be sure….

the people I love feel comfortable in their own skins.

Friends say I am….

not good at checking my messages.

The song I’d like played at my funeral is….

anything by Gladys Knight. Boy, can that woman sing.

My greatest fear….

is that the people I love will suffer at some stage in their lives.

At the moment I’m reading…..

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It is about a little girl who steals books from book-burnings in Nazi Germany. I am really enjoying it!

At the moment I’m listening to….

The album Dummy by Portishead. Great writing music!

My favourite work of art is…..

Matisse’s The Red Studio.

My worst job was…..

folding bras in a lingerie factory during Summer holidays when I was 15. The bras had to be folded a certain way then placed neatly into tiny plastic bags. You might not think so but the larger the cup, the harder it is to fold. And the bags didn’t get bigger just because the cup size did. Needless to say, I didn’t get the prize for Fastest Folder of the Month.

I often wonder…..

if we look after one another as much as we should.

Well, Mel, I hope you’re happy. That’s it. All about me and then some.

Have a good day, everyone!