27.1.07

Six weird things about me. Possibly.

It's like a flu virus at school, everyone seems to have it and despite my best efforts to avoid these things I have succumbed. But only because it was nice Lettuce, who has the world's finest armadillo collection. I don't think these are at unusual, but unless I go back into my troubled childhood, (let's not) I am really a very boring person indeed. So. Here are six 'weird' things about me.

1) As ascertained in the post above, nine times out of ten I would rather go for a long walk in the woods then attend any social occasion. Especially parties or dinners. The woods are more - civilised. And interesting.

2) I regularly bake cakes but rarely eat them. Andy has one most weeks to fill up with, and he always brings me the first slice, so that I can test the crumb and texture for quality control. But I am not a cake person, unless it is coffee and walnut. Or lemon drizzle. Or a meringue. Or a Chelsea bun. Or a slice of Battenburg with a cup of tea. Or best of all, a Frency Fancy or five.

3) I am an excellent napper and can fall asleep within minutes, wherever I am. I usually retire every afternoon and have a kip, but my internal alarm clock naturally wakes me up after about 10 minutes. I even used to do this when I was at college (at my desk) and when I worked (in the canteen, or in the staffroom).

4) I sleep with the radio on, very very quietly so that only I can hear it. Radio 5 Live, or the 'Today' news programme on Radio 4 if it's morning and I can't sleep.

5) Despite having a 'interesting' childhood and rough adolescence, I have somehow acquired what my foster parents would have called a 'plummy' accent. (Mind you, they thought that when I first went to live with them, when it was broad Devonian!) I am a verbal chameleon, and often lapse into various accents. Depending on the circumstances I can drop my h'aitches in Cockney, drawl like a West country bumpkin, split your eardrum with a Portsmouth estate cackle, and even argue in Mancunian, which I picked up from Andy. I can only do this with accents I have lived with though, and it is just a feature of my conversation - I don't 'do' performances. Funnily enough, I never picked up Geordie, despite living in Newcastle for three years. I think they are born with a special twist in their vocal cords. But usually I just sound a bit posh. Especially if I'm confronting stroppy gamekeepers.

6) I like to work in my studio with an audio book on. This is not weird. But I do sometimes wonder why I nearly always end up listening to murder mysteries, preferably some gritty thing about a serial killer, when I am painting sweet children's illustrations.

In the spirit of these things, I tag Rosa, Laundry Fairy, Cotswold Gent, Connie Joanna and Small Town Rambling. No pressure or obligation chaps...should you participate, I believe the idea is to tag 6 other people and inform them of this fact.

4 comments:

Lisa Oceandreamer Swifka said...

As always your stories fascinate me and I can almost hear the tapping of the Woodpecker or the stealth steps of the buck. Thank you for taking us your beloved walks. As for your 6 "things"....I so wish this had audio to hear the myriad accents...I adore the sound of ANY British accent.
and one last thing...yes it is a bit "different" to think of what you listen to while painting for children....but whatever works....you produce such beautiful art!
XOXO

Anonymous said...

I've been tagged by my daughter, but haven't had the chance to write six things yet. What's been so interesting, is reading what other women think is weird about themselves and I'm sitting here saying, yup...don't like cake, yup...nothing like a good murder mystery, yup...I can nod off in the afternoon for a quick siesta and I've never thought it weird. I'm going to have to dig deep to come up with something that hasn't already been written, but can't for the life of me figure out what that's going to be.

joanna said...

I've taken up the tag, but I struggled to find six things that I consider to be weird because, really, I don't think I'm weird at all!!! And it's such a subjective thing, weirdness. Anyway, I've rambled on, but possibly not all that interestingly!!

Soozcat said...

My brother is something of a verbal chameleon as well. Whenever he goes to visit my aunt and uncle in the Midwest, if he isn't careful, he's picked up their accent by the end of the week. (He does have to be careful, as they might think he was making fun of them.)