draliman on life

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Di. These questions were posed by Melanie last August – she sadly passed away this time last year after hosting SYW for many years.

Do you ever feel more excited about getting the package in the mail, rather than the item that’s in it?
Not really. Though it can be exciting wondering where the delivery driver will leave the package. Usually they knock on the door, but sometimes I get a “delivered” notification on my phone and I have no idea where the package is. This is why I got a doorbell camera. Once I saw the driver ignore the front door and go through the side gate out of view. He’d left it in my outside storage bin. I was right there waiting!

What is the difference between your ideal self and your real self? (i.e. what attribute or physical feature would allow you feel the ideal ‘you’?)
My ideal self has a smaller waist size, for a start…

If you found $2,000 on the ground and there were no witnesses, what would you do with it?
I’d feel sorry for the poor American tourist who dropped it… If it were pounds, I’d call the police and tell them. I have no idea where the nearest police station is which is open to the public, so they can come and get it if they want it.

Are you ever morally obliged to take action? Under what circumstances?
That depends on your own moral compass I guess. I’m assuming “take action” means actually doing something to help, rather than videoing the whole thing on your phone to post on YouTube later (other platforms are available)…

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

Do you have carpets, rugs, laminating flooring, tiles, or wooden floors (or something else) in your property?
Mainly carpets. The kitchen has a sort of parquet flooring made of up dinky blue wooden boards. The previous owner of my house had the kitchen completely remodelled a couple of years before she sold it to me.

Do you have a bathtub and separate shower, or a combination of the two?
I have one of those mixer tap affairs, where you switch between bath and shower with a little lever. I would like to have the tub taken out and a proper shower put in, but that’s very expensive.

What is your favourite room of the house, and why?
The living room. It has the TV, PS5, best Echo device and so on in it. It’s where I spend most of my waking hours.

How many televisions do you have?
Two, but the one in the bedroom is just in storage and not hooked up. It’s an emergency fallback in case my actual TV breaks. Though to be honest, it’s so quick to buy stuff like that these days I could watch on my computer while waiting for a next-day replacement.

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

When food shopping, do you prefer to shop online or in person?
I prefer not to have to do it at all.

Do you take/stick to a shopping list?
I do use a shopping list, but don’t always keep to it. I don’t go crazy or anything, but sometimes I see something I forgot on the list, or something that looks like a nice treat!

Do you shop around or are you store loyal for convenience?
For shopping week to week, I use the one single shop in the village, so shopping around isn’t really an option unless I want to drive somewhere, and if I did that any money saved on the shopping would be spent on petrol.

I also do a “big shop” once every 6-8 weeks or so. That mainly consists of stuff I can’t get in the little village shop plus stuff which is cheaper and can be bulk-bought like canned goods, toilet rolls, cleaning supplies and such. I always use the same shop for that. This shop is online and delivered.

Roughly how long does it take you to do a weekly shop?
That’s the one I do in person in the village shop. About 3 minutes walk there and back and about 4 minutes in the shop so about 10 minutes 🙂

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

What is your favourite dessert?
Choclate gateau. Black Forest gateau. Other sorts of gateau. Ice cream of nearly any flavour. Ice cream-based desserts. Chocolate eclairs, profiteroles and choux buns. Cheesecake. Eton Mess.

Desserts are my favourite dessert, really.

Do you still use cash to pay for goods?
I do at the once-a-month village market as mostly they don’t take cards. Apart from that I use cards and occasionally my phone.

Apart from a house, car or holiday, what is the most expensive thing you’ve purchased?
Probably various computers. I tend to buy something around mid-range – the one I’m typing this on is a Microsoft Surface, mid-range at just under £1000.

If you are going out for a special occasion, what is your favoured outfit?
It depends where this “special occasion” is taking place. If I can get away with jeans, trainers and jumper I will. Otherwise I have various things up through the “smart scale” all the way up to a suit.

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

Do you prefer a duvet, quilt or sheets and blankets on your bed?
Definitely a duvet. I hate being all squished in under sheets which are tucked in. Whenever I’m anywhere with sheets, the first thing I do is untuck them.

Despite much Googling, a duvet may or may not be the same as, or similar to, a “comforter” in the US. Though I’m afraid whenever someone says they use a “comforter”, the following image always pops into my head…

Do you sleep with one or two pillows?
There are two pillows but side-by-side, so technically I suppose the answer is one. Two pillows are too high, your neck ends up at a silly angle.

Do you prefer a single, double, or kingsize bed?
I don’t know about “prefer” – I have a double bed. Which, according to “the Google” is roughly the same size as a “full” bed in the US.

In the winter, do you have a hot water bottle or an electric blanket?
A hot water bottle, but I don’t take it to bed with me.

Fun question: have you ever slept in a hammock?
No. It looks fun to try, though I expect I would fall out and break something I need. Like my legs.

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

When you were a child, did you have your friends round for tea even if it wasn’t your birthday? Were you invited to stay to tea at a friend’s house?
Yes, everybody did that back then. Over to a friend’s, play on the computer or race around on our bikes, fishfingers and baked beans for tea, then back home 🙂

What was your first job in adult life?
I had a summer job at the County Council in their computer department between finishing school and starting university. That was back when computers took up most of a room and had big machines with tapes spinning in, like you see in old films on the telly 🙂

Do you enjoy shopping (food, clothes, gifts etc)
Nope, not at all. Surgical strike – straight to the goods, pay, get out.

What was the best bargain you ever got?
In all my life? Let me think dearie ooh there that one time 1974 I think it was or 1975 that there sweet shop was doin’ them penny chews at a ha’ppeny each if you can believe that ha’penny each my word you don’t get that these days don’t know what the world’s coming to 300 quid for a loaf of bread it’s disgusting I blame the government gibber gibber mumble…

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

Do you remember your first teacher at school?
No! I remember one or two teachers from Primary School but not my very first one from Infants School. I was only little!

What was your best and worst subjects?
English (language) and Physics went well, maths and Latin not so much.

Were you encouraged in class or did you just muddle along?
Some teachers encouraged, some didn’t. You’ll always get a range from “exciting enthusiast” to “nasty asshole”.

Would you like to be a student today?
I would at university – that was great fun – but not back at school, no way no how. Being completely under someone’s control again, being told what to do and what not to do? No thanks 😮

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

How well do you know your immediate neighbours?
To say hi to and wave. Comment on the weather, that sort of thing.

Do you notice changes in your neighbourhood : ie. new car, new dog, home improvements, etc.
My neighbour got a new car but I couldn’t really miss that as he has the driveway next to me. I notice home improvements if there’s scaffolding up. Once it comes down I’d have no idea what’s been done, though.

Should new neighbours move in next door, do you introduce yourself once they are settled in?
Only via “chance encounter”. I’m not going round there with a “welcome to the neighbourhood” casserole or anything.

Have you ever had to complain to your neighbours?
No. It would take a lot for me to complain.

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

Do you like change?
No. Not things changing or the sort of change you get when you buy something. Unless it’s pound coins.

Can you remember the last time you had to use an operator service?
I’m not sure what that is, but based on the following questions I’ll assume it’s the telephone operator. In which case I can’t remember. I don’t even know if there still is an operator. As for private companies, it’s always a computer service these days.

What is the best and worst ‘hold’ music you have had to listen to?
I don’t really remember hold music. I think that’s the point – it’s designed to be as unforgettable and inoffensive as possible.

Do you find numerous ‘options’ annoying when connected to an automated service?
Yes. I usually don’t phone companies if I can avoid it, I use online chat instead. Of course these days you often have to fight your way past a bot there as well. In fact last week I was in town and I actually went into the bank and spoke to a real person because I can’t handle all the automated shit any more 😮

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

How do you get on with your in-laws/partner’s family?
I don’t have any but if I did I expect they would love me to bits on account of how awesome I am 😉

What is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?
I really have no idea. I tend to remember the not-nice things people say.

What was your favourite ride/stall at a fun fair?
I haven’t been to a fun fair for many many years and never really did anything much while there. I seem to recall I went on the bumper cars once maybe 40-odd years ago. I suppose that was fun 🙂

Would you like to be a child growing up in today’s world?
There’s pluses and minuses I suppose. It felt like a simpler time, but I was a kid after all so I didn’t have “responsibilities”.