draliman on life

Here is my post for Share Your World Week 4, hosted by Cee over at her photography blog. Pop over and take a look at her wonderful photos!

Where did you live at age five?  Is it the same place or town you live now?
I lived in two (technically three) places at age five. We were living in the little village of Carnon Downs and my parents bought a house in Truro, but it wasn’t quite built yet so we had a rented house in Truro for a few weeks. My brother and I called it “the Little House”.

I’ve lived all over the place since then – South East England, Germany, Ireland, and now I am just a few miles outside of Truro. Back to my roots!

You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met.  Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself?
I wonder who has described these people as “fascinating”? If these “fascinating” people are going to regale me with stories of the great artists and composers of the past five centuries I think I’ll pass. If, on the other hand, they wish to compare similarities and inconsistencies between various series of Star Trek, I’m in! Because they’ll likely be as socially hopeless as I am.

An original Klingon

Next Gen mutated Klingon

Judging by these pictures, the new Klingons aren’t as happy as the original ones.

Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?
My “formative” years were spent in Truro, Cornwall’s only city! I guess the population is somewhere around 20,000. So I guess that counts as a small town?

Did I like it? Yeah, it was fine :-). I’ve lived in a few villages, which I prefer. The village I live in now is a couple of thousand I suppose. A new housing estate has just been built so that will swell numbers a bit. We have a pub, a post office and a little shop.

When I first moved in I noticed quiet. I could hear the birds and there was no distant road noise. Also, people passing by wished me “good morning”. I’m happy here :-).

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Lots of things! Sometimes a spy :-). After watching Wimbledon I wanted to be a tennis player. During the FA Cup I wanted to be a football player (that’s soccer, not American football). After our annual summer trip to visit Granny in Scotland, I wanted to be a train driver.

Obviously I never wanted to work in IT as a kid, since the entire world contained about 2 computers so there weren’t many jobs in that area.

It’s (the end of) week 3 on Cee’s Share Your World challenge. So I’ll jump straight in!

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
Anyone? Anyone at all? One sec while I type “supermodels” into Google…

No, seriously I reckon I’d like to meet Ade Edmondson. I first knew him as “Vyvyan”, the punk rocker in “The Young Ones“, the programme I consider to be the first in the “alternative comedy” revolution in the early 80’s. He’s done TV, stage (Rocky Horror Show in the West End), music, all sorts. He’s multi-talented and I’ve also seen him on an art program where celebrities are asked about their favourite art or whatever it was. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy and very clever.

Plus he’s married to Jennifer Saunders so I’d get two comedic geniuses for the price of one!

When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
Probably yesterday in the car, though I sometimes quietly sing bits and bobs during the day without really realising it. I only really sing in the car because the music drowns me out. Otherwise my lack of singing ability annoys me.

I tend to “burst into whistle” a lot more often. My pitch is pretty good, whistle-wise.

I won’t do either within earshot of anyone else.

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
I really have no idea.

Flying sounds cool. Or the ability to channel the energy of the universe and bend it to my will I SHALL RULE THE WORLD AND ALL SHALL BOW BEFORE ME bwahahahaha.

Oh dear. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea after all. Maybe I’ll go for more confidence instead. That sounds safer.

What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
More things than I can list here. Poverty, racism, The Holocaust and similar atrocities, the list goes on.

See you again next week!

Here is my Sharing My World, hosted by Cee over at her photography blog.

Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?
I like hugs but I never initiate them, because I don’t know if the other person would want a hug from me. Of course, they may be thinking the same thing, so everybody goes hugless. It’s a hugastrophe :-(.

What’s your favourite ice-cream flavour?
This question looks familiar and I’m trying to remember what I said last time, for whatever challenge it was. Nobody’s checking, right?

I guess if I’m not sure then it’s hard to pick a favourite anyway. Vanilla always works. Chocolate is good when I’m in a chocolate mood, or mint choc chip. I also like stuff like black cherry.

Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?
I prefer to exercise neither my mind nor my body. For preference it would be my mind.

I’m stuck exercising my mind when I’m at work. I can’t do my job if I act like a dimwit. As for exercising my body, I go for the occasional walk. I did the vacuuming last week, does that count?

Are you more of a dog person or a cat person? Why?
Cat person all the way! I should mention at this point that I’ve never had a dog.

I know that dogs are loyal and all the rest of it, but I’m quite lazy and dogs are much higher maintenance than cats. Cats pretty much take care of themselves. Just bung them some food and water, change their kitty litter and give them hugs when they want one. That’s the sort of pet I could handle.