draliman on life

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

How many times have you moved house?
Blimey, that’ll take some working out. It’s complicated because as a student I moved almost every year – onto campus, off campus, back onto campus etc.

I think it comes out at 15. At least half of those would have been university student moves.

What are your priorities in looking for a new home?
Off-street dedicated parking, fibre internet (at least to the cabinet), quiet area, private outdoor space.

Have you ever ‘down sized’?
Not for the specific reason of down-sizing.

Have you ever had to move because of your job?
Yes, once for a work placement (Guildford to Stuttgart) but I was a student so not sure if that counts. I moved to Ireland for a new job after being a student.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

Do you like decorating or would you prefer to have someone come in and do it for you if you could afford it?
I’d probably do it myself. I painted my bathroom a few years ago. Not sure I’d be up to wallpapering the living room, though. Too many corners and whatnot.

Do you prefer papered or painted walls in your home?
I don’t really mind. The previous owner wallpapered the living room and it’s very nice paper so I left it alone. It depends on what the paper is like and what the paint colour is.

Where do you go when you want to be alone or have some quality Me Time?
Home 🙂

If you buy a treat for yourself (say a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine) do you like to share?
Nope. It’s mine, all mine, I tell you…

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

Have you ever wanted to design your own home?
Yep. I’ve often thought of the ideal house I would have if I had loads of money. Great location, all sorts of cool rooms and whatnot.

Have you designed anything specifically for you or your family?
No, I’m extremely non-creative. In fact, the afore-mentioned house would probably turn out pretty “wonky”.

Does anyone in your family have ‘artistic qualities? (ie. painter/artist, sculptor, landscape gardener etc)
Not that I’m aware of. I can’t even draw.

When it comes to property or buildings, do you prefer a modern design or a more traditional approach?
I quite like both, but for preference I would like a traditional “country cottage” look, but with modern amenities. Like heating and an indoor toilet.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

When you retire (or when you retired) do you have a picture of a small cottage with a white picket fence outside in a quiet village or something similar?
Yes, but it’ll never happen as that would be too expensive. I have a white garden wall though, and I do live in a quiet village so I’m a decent way there.

What do you associate with school dinners (apart from school of course) ?
The good – chips (that’s “fries” if you’re an American), pasties and the bad – rice pudding, semolina, salads with vast amounts of nuts and sultanas and some sort of cake-related pudding which weighed about 3kg and was completely inedible.

Can you play a musical instrument?
“Play” is going a bit far. I used to “play” the piano/keyboard and had years of lessons as a kid. I have no room for one at the moment but hope to get one once I retire and no longer need my work desk.

I recently took up guitar again, that’s coming along slowly.

What made you smile today?
It’s a bit early in the morning for any smile-related activities to have happened yet.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

Do you have a bestie (ie. best friend)
Yes, I’ve known him since baby-hood.

Do you have a lot of friends?
No. I have a few acquaintances.

Has a friend ever let you down to the extent that the friendship has died?
No.

Are you more likely to confide in a friend rather than family?
I’m not likely to confide in anybody.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

Do you have any Keepsakes?
I have a number of bits and bobs scattered around the place, mostly things like keyrings, little bowls from various places, mugs and the like.

We all have memories, what is your quirkiest?
Hmm, not sure if it’s “quirky” exactly but once when I was little I was hitting one of those plastic practice golf balls in the front garden and after taking an almighty swing the club slipped out of my hand and smashed through our neighbour’s top bedroom window. The practice ball was located in the back garden, I’d hit it clean over the house.

Hilarious.

Who is your oldest living relative?
My Mum I guess, she’s 88.

Who is your youngest?
No idea. I have distant cousins, children of children of my cousin.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

Can you swim?
Yes, though I haven’t for a good long while.

If so, do you prefer a pool, river or the sea? If not, will you paddle or dip your toes?
A pool – I like to know what’s below me. Plus these days, with all the “emergency” sewage releases…

Did you have outings to the beach as a child?
Yes, lots. We’re surrounded by beaches.

Do you like candyfloss?
I can’t remember. I’m sure I must have had some but I’ve only ever seen it at fun fairs and I haven’t been to one of those since I was little.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

What do you miss most, if anything, about your school days?
Absolutely nothing. What a horrific multi-year mandatory experience that was.

Did your school have its own sports field or swimming pool?
Both my primary and secondary schools had sports pitches. That was back in the days before schools started selling fields off to pay for books and shit.

What was your favourite day of the school week?
None of them.

Did you have one teacher for a variety of subjects, or separate teachers for each?
One teacher during primary school, one teacher per subject for secondary school.

Here is my post for Share Your world, hosted by Di.

If you are feeling below par and a bit down, how do you lift your spirits?
I’ll watch some sort of comedy programme. Any old thing will do!

Do you believe that laughter is the best medicine?
It is quite beneficial. But if you’ve got a bad cough, cough medicine is the best medicine.

What makes you smile?
Kittens 🙂 Or how about ducklings? I saw them in the river in Truro when I walked back from work last week.

Do you have a ‘comfort’ food?
Yes. Food.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di.

What is/has been your favourite job/occupation?
Probably what I’m doing now – software engineering. Though the job I had at university was pretty fun, looking after halls of residence, looking after conference delegates in the summer and so on.

Is there a job you would never consider doing?
Quite a few I imagine. I had to do an aptitude test when I was at school in a careers lesson and it came out as “pig farmer”. I wouldn’t want to do that. I don’t think their test was properly calibrated…

Did your family own a business and expect you to join the ranks when you got older?
No.

Did/do you have a career requiring qualifications or did you learn on the job and work your way up?
Only the jobs in physics needed qualifications. You’d think my current job would, but they only wanted to see a potential for computer programming, which they determined via a testing process.