After reading my good friend Anne-Marie’s 11 questions, 11 answers over at Childledchaos, I was very keen to join in.
The idea is to share 11 things about yourself, to answer the 11 questions asked by the previous person, and in turn to ask 11 more.
So – here goes!
11 things about me
1. Most days I’m on my own for hours on end – which I love.
2. I can’t work our DVD player, and have to pretend to be very busy while actually waiting for someone else to put it on.
3. In my head I go back over conversations in which I didn’t manage to say what I wanted to say, but THIS time I am brilliant, witty and devastating.
4. At the moment, my favourite animal is a pygmy goat.
5. When I was small I had short hair but wished it was long, so I wore tights on my head and pretended they were two long tresses.
6. I’m a careful driver, and if someone is impatiently tooting their horn to hurry me I take huge pleasure in annoying them by going even slower.
7. My favourite colour is duck egg blue.
8. My favourite weather is sunny but cold.
9. I’m not a great fan of self-denial and feel that everyone should have treats pretty much all the time.
10. I need two pairs of glasses: one for close work and one for every thing else. Sometimes I wear them on a cord around my neck. It’s bad enough being ‘four eyes’, but now I’m ‘six eyes’.
11. I love chocolates aimed at children, like Milky Bars and Crunchies, but posh chocs not at all.
11 answers for the questions asked by Childledchaos
1. If there were no constraints, what education would you want your children to have?
Normal – if there’s any such thing! But if there was one change I’d make to the schools that I come across: I’d like to see more time to play, to daydream, to mooch around… there’s too much structure in the average school day I think.
2. Again no constraints, which organisation would you be most likely to volunteer for?
Years ago I set up an art club for homeless people, so it would probably be something like that.
3. What’s your favourite genre of book to read, for yourself? For your children?
Terrible confession – I’m not a big reader! If I do, it’s something contemporary and probably funny. For my children, I’m not a huge fan of mushy sentimentalism, or gloomy realism… again, actually, I rate the funnies very highly indeed.
4. At what age would you consider ‘letting’ your child have a tattoo or piercing, if at all?
I’m a bit of an old Victorian here…
Ears: 14.
Piercings NOT IN EARS and tattoos: over my dead body!!
5. Where in the world do you want to live?
Right here, because in my imagination I can go all around the world in my pyjamas and still be back in time for breakfast….
6. Where in the world are you?
Still here!
7. You’ve got 30 minutes all to yourself: no children, no housework. What are you doing?
I am reorganizing my button box.
8. Who are your five favourite children’s illustrators right now?
Shirley Hughes, Charlotte Voake, James Mayhew, David Melling, Alexis Deacon.
9. Did you have a favourite soft toy as a child? What was it called?
I had a grubby, shapeless lamb called Love-a-dees, who was then reinvented by my Mum as Annie Rose’s toy lamb in the Alfie stories.
10. Montessori or Steiner?
Don’t know enough about either to say, so I’ll have to stick with neither.
11. Favourite cake?
Ooh, tricky! So many to chose from…
Vanilla sponge with whipped cream and raspberries, I think. A slice, anyone??
11 questions for you…
1.Where is your favourite place in the whole world?
2.What is your favourite colour?
3. What lovely thing you would like to overhear someone saying about you?
3. Classical music – do you like it, or are you just pretending?
4. Cats or dogs?
5. What’s your perfect night in?
6. Are you squeamish – and if so what about?
7. Cautious, or ‘what the heck, let’s go for it!’ ?
8. Camping or luxury hotels?
9. ‘real’ books, or on screen?
10. Weep at happy endings?
11. Singing in public: a chance to show off, or horribly embarrassing?
I’d LOVE to hear your answers! Link in, or get in touch here – I’ll be looking forward to reading! 11 things about you, 11 answers, 11 new questions for the next person…
Thank-you! Fantastic answers, and I love your 11 things – I am so with you on number three! Great questions, I want to answer them too! Now, why do I have a sudden craving for smarties?! 🙂
Well, thank YOU for getting me started! Number three: I do that A LOT – sad, isn’t it?! And as for the smarties, I am hoovering them up right now, very greedy…
Joining in the answer gang:
1. For places I’ve visited, Vancouver is wonderful and if it wasn’t so far away I’d live there. For places I’ve lived, Woodstock in Oxfordshire is the only place I ever really felt like I was ‘home’. Or bed, bed is a good place to be!
2. Blue, most shades but I quite like paler blues or teal.
3. That I am a good mum.
3. I love classical music, but not all of it. I have a fondness for Mozart violin concertos. DH is hugely into ‘modern’ classical e.g. film music, he also composes so I get introduced to lots via his passion, his favourite composer is the late great John Barry.
4. Cats.
5. Um… The housework fairy has tidied and cleaned the entire house, all the clothes are clean and put away, the girls have fallen asleep with no argumentss and I have no work to do… After that I’m not too bothered, maybe a film and an early night to catch up on sleep!
6. I was going to say yes, but I think mostly I’m not. I think. Giving birth and having small children gets you over a lot of “ugh, that’s icky” thoughts I found! Oh, and I like zombie movies so I guess probably not…
7. Very, very cautious with moments of idiocy.
8. Luxury hotels, I can’t stand not being able to wash properly and am not a fan of the great outdoors.
9. I have a Kindle and I do really love it and it has its place but if I had to chose only one option forever, real books every time (but can someone else carry them if I’m travelling?)
10. Sometimes, since I’ve had children, damn hormones…
11. Never going to happen, I’m far too shy / social phobic. Therefore definitely horribly embarassing.
Thank you so much for being in the answer gang…
I too was bowled over by Vancouver, and was really interested in your Q3 (part 2; I know I added a question 3 twice by mistake!)…
Q3 part 1 is an absolute certainty!
Can I do mind on my blog and then ask 11 more?
Yes that’s it exactly! Let me know when it’s posted?? Brilliant…
I have blogged!!
Caryl’s 11 answers and 11 questions are on http://carylhart.blogspot.com/ – pop over and have a look, they’re brilliant!
Oh, and I just noticed you cheated. You have two number 3s!
Oh PAH – having only one question 3 would be so DULL…
1.Home
2.purple……red…..sometimes green…..definately pink…..
3. That I made them smile
3. Don’t like it, makes me nervous
4. Neither , bears more my thing
5. Pink fizz, take away & karaoke
6. Yes – horror
7. Cautious – I’m a librarian
8. luxury hotels
9. ‘real’ books
10. No, well only if no one is looking
11. chance to show off
Thank you so much – I love your list! We have a lot in common: the bears, pink fizz and luxury hotels especially… put those three together and what’s not to love??!
Did you spot that you and Elli gave the same answer to (the first, oops) question 3?
I am SO with you on number 3. And same experience with 5, although it was towels for me. I now have really short hair again LOL.
My replies
1. Le Rozel beach, back home.
2. I would say black, but that’s not a colour so purple is second best :0)
3. That I am a good friend
3. I don’t like it and I don’t pretend that I do LOL (though I like the Nutcracker!)
4. Dogs of course!
.
5. A good meal, and a good movie.
6. Not particularly, apart from anything involving maggots!
7. Too cautious, I NEVER take risks
8. Luxury hotels but can only afford camping LOL
9. real, of course.
10. Weep at nearly everything, not only happy ending!
11. Horribly embarrassing and highly unlikely to ever happen LOL
Thanks so much for sharing your answers, Melanie! Very reassured that you are a weeper, non-risk-taker and non-singer like me!
(I consider black as THE colour, btw – with a dash of purple thrown in: divine…)
1. Either the New Forest, or my insanely cluttered work-room.
2. Let’s go with rusty orange.
3. Hmm … I think if I’d like to hear it, I probably shouldn’t.
3. I don’t even pretend!
4. Cats. Although I’ve lately been favouring pygmy goats (same as Clara); a website I was reading described their brains and behaviour as ‘working kind of like a dog’s, except they don’t have any sense that they must please humans’ which makes them all the better.
5. A nice meal, and then TV and art. Mostly the former – for some reason starting to saw up bits of wood and stone at 11pm at night doesn’t go down too well …
6. Not massively. I’m not a great fan of (say) the various mouldy/burned/alien bodies on the X-files, but I can watch them without hiding behind the sofa.
7. Cautious, definitely. There’s a time and a place for ‘let’s go with it’ – and being cautious can set you up well for it – but I don’t think I’ve ever regretted thinking things through.
8. Modest self-catering. I always feel oppressed and guilty about staying in luxury hotels, but camping’s so much hassle for relatively little enjoyment, imo. Best go for a compromise.
9. Real books, pound for pound, page for page, are probably better; but Google Books and Jstor mean that I can get so many more books. Not so good for fiction though …
Audiobooks – especially Librivox-esque free, out-of-copyright, volunteer-produce ones – beat them both though.
10. Don’t think I’ve ever cried at a book, I’m afraid. Closest I’ve got is *maybe* end of Paradise Lost, which is pretty bittersweet as far as endings go.
11. Both – the worst case is other people who sing and for whom it’s a chance to show off, but terribly embarrassing for everyone else. See: the rugby people who invade our town most Saturdays.
Thanks so much for sending in these brilliant answers! Very clever answer to (the first, oops) question 3, I liked that a LOT.
And that’s a great goat-quote (goat-quote? that should be a blog in it’s own right): I love that they couldn’t care less about pleasing humans.
Another late-night artist, I see… tell everyone else in the house that art take priority over sleep and they just have to lump it!
Since everyone else seems to be answering on here, then I will too!
1. For me it’s not so much about place as about memories and associations. There are places in the world that I love – I literally cried when I had to leave Indonesia after 6 weeks there in my early 20s (despite narrowly avoiding death in a road accident there) – but things aren’t the same without family, so maybe I’ll say home. Although having said that, one of the things I like best is solitude.
2. Red, undoubtedly. So much so that I got married in a dark red dress – it was a December wedding in a beautiful church, and the red seemed very fitting. And as I was 7 months pregnant with Child3 at the time (although not a shotgun wedding, I hasten to add!) I thought I might as well play the part of the scarlet woman.
3. That I make them smile.
3. Love it. I grew up playing the piano and viola, and was a choral scholar at university, where I also sang in the university choir. I don’t get much time to play or sing now (other than nursery rhymes and the like), but classical music is in my blood.
4. Cats. I had a lovely soft tortoiseshell called Bertha growing up. Although my daughter loves dogs, and is slowly bringing me round to the idea that they’re great too. (Unfortunately we can’t have indoor pets, as my husband is wildly allergic, which is why we’ve only got outdoor guinea pigs).
5. If there was ever a night when the housework was all done and I felt I could relax…mind you, I’d probably have a heart attack if that actually happened.
6. Yes, about loads of ridiculous things, from slugs to stringy cheese.
7. Bit of both. I think my four children were the result of the second attitude!
8. Camping in theory, luxury hotels in practice. Although as we can’t afford holidays other than staying with family, it’s all wishful thinking. And to be honest most of the travelling I did when I was younger – visiting places in Southeast Asia on my own and chatting a lot to the local people (who thought a lone young female traveller was completely bonkers) couldn’t have been done had I stayed anywhere luxurious.
9. Definitely books. I find reading on screen really difficult.
10. I weep at ALL endings, sad, happy, funny – the lot! I still remember when I was in primary school and we went to see a dramatised version of Hiawatha, and one of my classmates came back announcing to the class ‘Elli cried when Minihaha died’. Thanks George. I haven’t seen you for 30 years, but still haven’t quite forgiven that.
11. I love singing with a choir, but I get waaay too nervous if I have to sing a solo ever, and my voice starts cracking up. I actually wanted to be a classical singer when I was about 15 – I would have been hopeless! I’d probably be fine though if no-one could see me.
Elli, I got married in dark red too! I went to Southall to buy Indian silk. Not sure why I chose to marry in Indian colours (red and gold) as i never wear either usually, but I have always been fascinated by India and we went there a few months later as a late honeymoon.
Another beautiful bride in red – how lovely, and what a coincidence…!
I opted for non traditional Indian & got married in Purple instead, my wedding outfit was fron Southall
You must have looked absolutely stunning!
Beautiful answers, Elli, thank you… I can just see you in my mind’s eye, most especially with your travels and your music. And in your dark red wedding dress: that must have been stunning!
I so agree about a magical place, home, solitude. That’s it in a nutshell.
(I notice that we mostly all have pretty much the same dream night in, and a modest one at that – some nice food, a movie maybe, no chores – but that it’s a very rare treat! It will come, though, one day…)
here goes….whilst munching a handful of your smarties- excuse me talking with my mouth full.
1. an off season British seaside resort wall with an open bag of hot chips looking out to sea.
2. It’s been yellow since birth so I will still say yellow (but truthfully it’s now probably orange and pink next door to each other)
3. not sure but the nicest thing that ever happened to me was a complete stranger trusting me to hold her baby for her whilst she got her shopping and buggy on the bus when I was about 18.
3. Yes but not when it gets too Radio 3- not hard German opera for instance.
4. Both but current company a fine Bengal Puss called Jones
5. too much wine and sushi and pudding with girlfriends
6. Used to be a midwife so generally no. Treading on slugs with bare feet not good tho.
7. by nature cautious trying to be less so.
8.How about luxury camping? Canvas with flushing loo and hot water please- partial to a nice yurt.
9. real books…although Colin Firth in a wet shirt worked for me.
10. dreadful inveterate weeper at everything from successful Blue Peter appeals to reunited lost pets.
11. LOVE a bit of collective karaoke- though the private booth sort not a crowded pub. ‘Joelene’ my speciality.
Hello Polly – so glad to see you on board at Sunny Side Up!
And thank you so much for joining in, and sharing your brilliant answers… I especially love your perfect place in question 1: very evocative… and your lovely weepiness in question 10… and I wish I was one of the guests in question 5!
Meanwhile, I will keep trying to comment at http://thelittlewoodenhorse.blogspot.com/ – which I urge anyone who hasn’t called by yet to visit. I really wanted to say how much I enjoyed your post about reading to older children (http://thelittlewoodenhorse.blogspot.com/2012/03/arabels-raven.html); I believe in it whole-heartedly. In fact I read MR James (there’s NOTHING spookier…) and the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series to my son as he was growing up, and I love Arabel’s Raven too, so we are pretty much snap there! Long may it continue for our young folk: there’s something very special about this little piece of theatre performed just for them.
thank you Clara- a lovely welcome to your lovely blog.