Seven Secrets

OK. Nearly a month ago Wendy nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!


Wendy and I met sooo long ago when we both attended our first screenwriting course.  She writes brilliant YA novels and is tackling an adult one at the moment.  Click on her link above to find out more.

Anyway, it has been a few weeks and I am well overdue. Wendy is stalking me with her favourite weapon. A ball and chain improvised from an old Remington and a Victorian toilet chain. I'd better get it done.

Can you hear her?

Grunt, scrape, gasp.

Wendy. I'm doing it! Stop dragging that thing about.

Now the Very Inspiring Blogger Award is given by bloggers to bloggers and here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person nominating you for the award -done
2. Display the Very Inspiring Blogger logo -done
3. Reveal seven things about yourself (see below) but these are secret, just between us. OK?
4. Nominate seven others to receive the award (see below) though I can't promise I will manage seven.

Okay.  So seven things about me that you won't find on my profile:

1)  I can make my knees bend backwards. Yep. I must have some alien genes buried in there. Not a party trick to demonstrate at meal times because people do get queasy.

2) On that theme, I once threw up in the ballroom of Charlottenburg Palace. They were renovating the floor and we all had to wear special felt shoes to protect it. Unfortunately they also had all the windows shut to stop dust getting in. A wall of glass in a heatwave with toasty toes was never going to end well.


3) I won a limerick competition when I was 10. It was a class competition and submitted more entries than the rest of the class combined.
         There once was a fine Hampshire Hog
         Who noticed her old writing Blog
         Was feeling bereft
         Of her postings most deft
         So she dragged her Muse out of the Bog.
I know. Not wonderful. But it is late.

4) I can't drink alcohol. It makes me sick. Yes. I know it makes everyone sick eventually but it only takes a couple of sips for me. It is an intolerance rather than an allergy. On the plus side - never had a hangover. On the minus side - guess who is always the designated driver.

5) My family is HUUUUUUGE!!!!  Twice a year my Nan, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins would all gather. In the summer this meant a convoy of cars heading somewhere green.  Of course it had to stop regularly so the cousins could play musical cars. One of the sprogs was asked to do a family tree, just three generations.  We had to get the wallpaper out.

6) My favourite Christmas as a kid was when my Mum and Dad invited friends round and we had a multi-religious day.  It was a mix of Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Each brought traditional food and showed how they celebrated that time of year.  Moussa brought a Hookah but Mum said I couldn't have a go.  He gave me some Sesame Halva instead. Yum.

7) I have just won a battle against Breast Cancer.  It took nearly 2yrs, I am still recovering from side effect, but I kicked its butt.  I now have a cyber-boob too.

Right.  Now for my victims nominees. Don't worry folks.  I won't hold you to it.

Elinor, Lucy, Northern Scribbler (your identity is safe with me), Adaddinsane (also hush hush), Rob (yes this is revenge), Connie and Emma.  Phew.  Done.

Now put that typewriter down Wendy!

A Post Of No Importance

1) Put the link of the person who tagged you on your blog. Lianne waited until I was away and then tagged me. I'm going to have to stop all this travelling or who knows what will happen next time I'm away.
2) Write the rules. Please read paragraph above and a few below. Done that? OK Job done.
3) Mention 6 things or habits of no real importance about you. Talk about myself? Hmmm. I wouldn't know where to start. Still, if you insist...
4) Tag 6 persons adding their links directly. Ermmm. Well there's...nope they've been tagged. Right I can do....again someone got there first. I tag Dave, Robin, Colin (if you're still out there), Jon (also a bit quiet), Paul (super quiet) and none blogger Caroline. (Aha. You thought you could escape. Nope. There's still the comments section girl.)
5) Alert the persons that you tagged them. Are you reading this? Good. Then consider yourself tagged. Ha.

So here's my little list.

1 I can make my knees bend backwards. It does tend to make people go yuck followed by retching noises so it is a habit I've worked hard to break. But it is so comfy when you have to stand for ages.

2 I've eaten raw meat. Yes I'm a vegetarian but that happened in my late teens. Before that I was known to partake of animal cadavers occasionally. Mum bought a packet of what she thought was luncheon meat and made our school sandwiches with it. Sadly it was a slab of raw pork. Tasted kind of chewy and sickly sweet. Like you'd imagine the rotting contents of a bin to taste. Just remembering it makes me feel a bit...OK, excuse me. Got to go throw up again.

3 I was called Cannonball when I played hockey. Maybe because my technique relied completely on momentum. Once I was racing down the pitch, anyone who got in my way would make a beautiful trajectory into the distance. And I wasn't averse to hooking my stick around ankles.

4 Every room in my house has piles of books in it. And I mean every room. Last time we moved the removal company had to get a second van because they had considered all the furniture and ignored my comments of : there are books inside there; have you spotted the piles of books?;and under those books there's...well...books. (Yes I know ?; is not a valid punctuation combination but I'm being creative and anyway it's my list.) Lots of moans about not being told it was a bleeding library and did we really read them.

5 I won a limerick competition when I was 10. The judge said it was because I entered more limericks than the rest put together. Well it was a class competition and any limerick that was obscene was binned. In the school I went to that meant nearly every entry got binned. But I was a good girl so I won. And the judge was a real poet too. Little did I know that early success would be followed by years of failure.

6 I want to travel up the Amazon before I die. But first I have to invent the perfect spider detterent. I can handle all sorts of creepy crawlies and actually like snakes and lizards but those 8-legged beasties. I even have to watch Arachnaphobia with my feet off the floor and a cushion to hide behind. And in our old house you get some big, hairy meanies. The sort that bounce back like a facehugger when Dave chucks them out. That carry their own suitcase in when they arrive. That knock plaster off the ceiling when they have their wild parties in the attic. Ever told a weightlifting, steroid enhanced spider to turn the music down? They just give you that unblinking, multi-eyed glare and you find yourself wearing slippers in Tescos at 3am looking for earplugs.

So that's my list done. Hope you enjoyed the read.