draliman on life

Welcome to a special edition of Cee’s Share Your World this week! Instead of four questions to answer, this week we’re asked to list at least 50 things that we enjoy.

Fifty?

FIFTY?

Boy oh boy. That’s a lot of things. Let’s give it a whirl, anyway. In no particular order. Read more…

It’s my regular Share Your World time here, with questions posed by Cee from Cee’s Photography blog. Head over and check out all her lovely pictures!

On a vacation what you would require in any place that you sleep?
Not a bed, is the first thing I wouldn’t require, which is not what the question asked.

That was an odd sentence.

I’ve got a choice of two things here. First, I’ll say my phone. I know this is a common answer to a lot of “what would you require” questions, but my phone gives me a timepiece, alarm, “book”, music, video, light, communications etc etc.

As an alternate answer, a bit of peace and quiet! I love regular sounds, like wind, or rain. I find it especially relaxing on the rare occasions I sleep on a boat, with the throbbing noise of the engines and the rocking, but I can’t sleep if there are sudden noises from outside, like sudden shouts, sirens or cars revving.

Music or silence while working?
Music is the thing for me! I don’t generally listen to music at work, though, because then people have trouble catching my attention. I listen to my iPod or phone before people start to arrive. I could listen with just one earphone in, but I find that really annoying, getting music in just one ear.

The alternative isn’t silence, though. There’s the usual office noises, plus the radio in the background.

If you were to move and your home came fully furnished with everything you ever wanted, list at least three things from your old house you wish to retain.
That depends a bit on what “fully furnished” actually means. I’ll take it to mean “actual furniture”, in which case first of all I’ll need my “entertainment corner”.

Matthew MacFadyen, as featured in Entertainment Corner

Second, I have some mementos from my dear Granny, who passed away 15 years ago – the candlesticks you can see in the picture below, and the gong. When we were little and visiting her in Scotland, often before dinner my brother or I would bang the gong to say “dinner time!”

From Granny’s house, now on my mantelpiece

The gong-banger (I’m sure there’s a proper name for that) is actually from a larger gong, which is why it’s not hanging on the side.

My third item? I guess my photos, as they are memories which can’t be replaced. I haven’t gotten around to scanning them all to the cloud yet.

What’s your least favourite mode of transportation?
I think that would have to be air travel. It’s not the travel itself, though that can be a bit of a chore. It’s all the security and hassle at the airport. It was bad enough the last time I travelled by air, but it’s awful now. I’m hoping never to have to travel by air again. Although if I ever have enough money to travel to New Zealand to visit the Hobbits, I’ll have to. I’d be willing to put myself through all that to see the Hobbits!

See you again next week for more Sharing of My World!

Hello, it’s that time of the week when it’s all about me in Cee’s Share Your World challenge. Pop over to her photography blog and check out her cool pictures!

What is your most vivid memory of the kitchen in your childhood?
Hmm, kitchen, kitchen… Is that the one with the “cooker” in? Where the “food magic” happens?

Just kidding. I cook! Well, microwave. I remember standing on something and helping mum wash the dishes (at least I thought I was helping). I was 5 years old and we’d just moved to a new house. I was too old to go to nursery and I had to wait a couple of months for the new school year to start, so I had time on my tiny hands!

As a child, who was your favourite relative?
That would be my granny up in Scotland, who sadly passed away about 15 years ago.

Every summer, we went up to Scotland to spend a couple of weeks with her, and every Christmas she came down to spend a couple of weeks with us. Granny’s arrival was when Christmas really started. She was a very kind-hearted person and she’s sorely missed.

Here she is in the middle, with my Mum and Uncle, taken at Cape Wrath (Northern Scotland) in 1954.

What did you or did not like about the first apartment you ever rented?
We’ll pass over the room in student residences I had in my first year at university (it was a boring, standard student-issue room – bed, desk, chair) and go straight to the house I rented in Guildford with three other students in the second year. That was way more fun!

Our landlord was Iranian and as dodgy as they come. He didn’t even pay tax. He was the “agent” for the landlord, who was supposedly in Iran. Yeah, right. He used to go round to buy houses for “the landlord’s” portfolio with suitcases full of cash.

He’d come round to check the house, complain about the kitchen floor, then race around with a dustpan and brush demonstrating how to clean while we all stood and watched, trying desperately not to laugh. It was hilarious to watch!

Another time one of the lads had dropped tomato ketchup on the carpet and this guy came round. I had to stand on the stain and as the guy walked around the room, I just rotated on the spot to keep my foot on the ketchup.

We didn’t half have some fun that year. Ah, halcyon days!

What kind of TV commercial would you like to make? Describe it.
I’d prefer to make a comedy spoof TV advert. It would have loads of that “but wait, there’s more, order in the next 10 minutes and…” in it. I don’t really have any interest in adverts. I record most stuff that I watch on commercial TV and fast forward through the ads. I refuse to spend an hour of my life watching something that’s only 40 minutes long.

It’s time to Share my World again. This is a weekly challenge hosted by Cee over at her photography blog – go check out her wonderful photos. Thanks for posing the questions, Cee!

What is your favourite time of day?
This is a tricky one. I’m a morning person in terms of getting things done, so I start work quite early. I really enjoy the evenings though, especially in the winter when I can snuggle up in the living room with the fake fire on.

Action shot of my fake fire.

The middle of the day is rubbish. I’ve started to get tired from my early start, but it’s ages until the evening.

What’s your favourite charitable cause and why?
Probably Macmillan Cancer Support. They help cancer sufferers, send round nurses, give advice and so on.

How do you like to spend a rainy day?
Watching TV, playing on my PS4. Colour me boring :-(.

When writing by hand do you prefer to use a pencil or pen?
I don’t prefer writing by hand at all. My handwriting has gone seriously downhill over the years, whether a result of age, laziness or lack of use I don’t know. I prefer pens to pencils because they “slip” across the page more easily, if you see what I mean. Pencil would probably improve my handwriting though, as “easily slipping” across the page is part of the problem, I fear.

Here’s an example I’ve scanned in. It appears to be a rapid “brain-to-page” poem-type thing I must have had some ideas about a while ago. If you can make any of it out, it appears to be about some cute little birds, then some lines I haven’t worked out yet (the dotted lines), then they all die! Presumably because they didn’t get up early, didn’t catch any worms and starved to death.

Does anyone know what this says?

That’s all for this week!

It’s Sunday morning and therefore time for me to Share My World again. Thanks as always for hosting and posing the questions, Cee!

What would be your preference, awake before dawn or awake before noon?
If I’m awake before dawn, I’m automatically awake before noon as well!

Seriously, though, I’m very much a morning person so I prefer to get up early, whenever I wake up (within reason). Not on a school morning, though. I have trouble getting up when I have to go to work!

On a weekend or a day off, I often have an afternoon nap to make up for any lost morning sleep. My bedtime at the moment is around 10pm.

If you could choose between Wisdom and Luck, which one would you pick?
Luck is all very well, but I think I’ll go for wisdom. Hopefully one day I will be wise enough to make my own luck!

Anyway, the question doesn’t actually specify “good” luck. Let’s not take any chances.

If you were given the opportunity for free skydiving lessons would you take them? Why or why not?
No way. Maybe once, but not any more. I’ve never had any broken bones and I don’t intend to start now. I’m not very adventurous and I always see the worst case scenario. Just thinking about skydiving, I can feel myself splattering against the ground in a tragic accident.

Since I’m so short-sighted I’ve been told I’m at risk of detached retinas and to avoid hard knocks to the head, so splattering against the ground would not be good for my eyesight. I would imagine skydiving might also invalidate my life insurance, as they need to know if you do anything “dangerous”, lifestyle-wise.

With all this over-thinking and worry, it’s a wonder I summon up the courage to get out of bed. I think I worry about dying of terminal bed sores.

Is the glass half empty or half full? What is in the glass?
After my last answer, can you guess?

That’s right, it’s half-empty. Probably a little less than half. It contains contaminated water. Or maybe lemonade that’s got all warm and lost its fizz.

Week 40 already! I wonder how many sleeps there are until Christmas…?

Here’s my answers to Cee’s questions for this week on Share Your World. Thanks for posing the questions, Cee!

You’re given $500,000 dollars tax free (any currency), what do you spend it on?
“Money money money, It’s a rich man’s world” as Abba famously sang in 1976. $500,000 was probably a huge amount of money in 1976 too.

Copyright some music company probably

Tax free? Awesome! First, I need to convert it to pounds so I know how much I’m actually getting – £311,000. It doesn’t sound so much now, but still enough to have fun with! That’s enough to buy a house at the current average house price, with some left over for a car and holiday of a lifetime!

I’d pay off my mortgage, credit cards and so on. That would leave me with some money in the bank and lots of monthly disposable income. I’d maybe have a nice holiday in New Zealand to visit the Hobbits.

What’s the finest education?
Oxbridge? The University of Life? The School of Hard Knocks?

Whatever works for you and lets you get what you want out of life, I suppose.

What kind of art is your favourite? Why?
I don’t really have a favourite. I like different kinds of paintings, different kinds of music, sculptures, literature (if you can call the stuff I read “literature”). I know what I like when I see/hear/read it. That’s my favourite. What I like.

Is there something that you memorized long ago and still remember?
Nope.

You want more? Okay then. “Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom friend of the maturing sun.” That’s all I got.

I’m hopeless at remembering stuff from long ago. I have friends who seem to remember all sorts of quotes and so on. Not me. I can’t even remember stuff from very recently.

Umm, banana? Pencil sharpener, there’s always a pencil sharpener. Stuffed Aardvark? I’m sure there was a stuffed aardvark…

On the other hand, I can quote most of “Black Adder” and “Red Dwarf” off the top of my head. Very useful.

See you again next week!

Wow, Week 39. It’s almost Christmas 🙂 At least it is at the office. They’ve already started one day a month where you’re supposed to wear a Christmas jumper and they put on Christmas music and have mince pies.

Bah humbug.

It’s still British Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time). It’s not even Halloween yet for weeks. Heck, it’s not even my birthday until next Friday (shameless plug) and I’m hardly a Christmas baby.

Rant over, time to start Sharing My World, hosted by Cee. Thanks, Cee!

Did you ever get lost?
Did I ever get lost? That’s like asking if monkeys like bananas. Actually, do monkeys really like bananas? Surely bananas can’t be the natural food for all monkeys around the world.

I have zero sense of direction. When I’m sitting at work I don’t even know which way home is. I once got lost on a forest walk in Germany and only found my way out by working out direction from the setting sun. A couple of years ago I spent over an hour travelling just a few miles because I got lost twice – read all about it here.

Photo from whyquantumphysicists.com.

Who was your best friend in elementary school?
One sec while I Google “elementary school”… meep… meep… meep… and I’m back! It looks like it’s what we would call “primary school”, which incorporates “infants” and the first couple of years of “junior” school.

My best friend was a chap who started when I was around 6. He came down from up-country somewhere and we became friends. In fact, we were so close that when a group of us were playing in the woods and he fell off a rope swing and lay on the ground moaning and jerking, I was the one who stopped laughing first and went to get help! (He’d broken his arm, if anyone’s interested).

We lost touch after school and I’ve not seen him since. Funny how that happens 😦 .

Since the new television season has started in the US, list three favourite TV shows.
I don’t know anything about the new television season in the US as the nearest US transmitter is 3000 miles away, so I’ll try to identify three fairly current American programmes that I enjoy.

First up is “Grimm”. I’ve watched the first two series on Amazon Prime streaming and really like it! Basically, a cop finds out that he’s a descendent of the “Grimm” family, and can see nasty creatures from the fairy tales. There’s action, fantasy stuff and the characters are likeable. One thing which really sets it apart for me is that in a nasty situation, he actually calls for backup. I’m fed up of shouting “call for backup!” at the TV in other series – it’s a weak plot which depends on the star “forgetting” to call for help.

Next is “Bones”, of course. Humour, great characters, a few shocks, science and action. What’s not to enjoy?

Finally. “Lost Girl”. Which I believe is Canadian, and is why I specified “American” earlier. As in “the American continent”. This has fantasy, action, great stories and… cute babes! It’s features “Bo”, who discovers that she’s a powerful Succubus and gets drawn into a dangerous fairy tale world she never even knew existed. My favourite character is “Kenzi”, Bo’s human friend, who’s a bit out of her depth sometimes but is clever, brave and sassy (and cute). Apparently, series 5 (2014/2015) will be the last – it’s great news that this is planned as they should be able to finish it properly. I hate shows which go on and on and then when ratings fall they get unexpectedly cancelled, with no proper ending.

Picture from tv-facts.net

If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing?
That’s easy. Nothing. I live alone!

Phew, I went on a bit this week, sorry about that and see you next week!

It’s time once again to join Cee in her Share Your World challenge. Thanks for posing the questions every week, Cee!

If you could be a tree or plant, what would you be?
I wouldn’t really like to be stuck in one place, so I think I’d like to be an Ent. I haven’t ever seen one personally, but they featured in a three-part documentary I saw once about a “ring of power”. Ents are cool, they can move around and they’re friendly to Hobbits. And if they get attacked by evil sorcerers they can give as good as they get!

Me as an Ent attacking an evil sorcerer

If you could have a servant come to your house every day for one hour, what would you have them do?
They’d do everything I tell them to do without complaining. If they didn’t, they’d be out the door and they’d never work in this town again, buddy!

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
Hmm, that pretty much depends on the consequences. If it’s consequence-free I’ll go for an endless supply of curries. They’re expensive, bad for my ageing stomach and massively calorific, but if there’s no consequences, bring them on!

If this is not consequence-free, I guess an endless supply of celery sticks 😦 They’re particularly slimming for me as I absolutely hate the things. Though I suppose if I dipped them in an extremely hot, very expensive and calorific curry I could force a couple down.

What was one of your first moneymaking jobs (other than babysitting or newspaper delivery)?
Very boring – I had a summer job (before I left for university) working in the county council’s computer department. Since this was the “olden days”, they were huge things and actually had tapes spinning round, like you see in old films. Part of my job involved waiting for the computer to tell me it needed a tape, then I had to go off and find it and load it up.

Not a job which makes this post any more interesting, but it did earn me a nice bit of money to start university with.

See you all again next week!