Skip to main content

Seven Not So Secret Things About Me

Lifeinthemud http://inthemud-lifeinthemud.blogspot.com/ has tagged me to reveal seven bits of old dross about myself and since I must be one of the few people waking up in Wales without a hangover this morning (honestly, not a mention of the Welsh rugby team’s fantastic achievement on Radio Four’s early morning news – how rude!) I’ve written a quick response. The rules are over at Muddie’s blog if you, dear reader, would like to continue this game. Anyway, here we go:

1. I hate tomatoes but they started it. I was violently sick after eating a couple of them raw and over the years I’ve become quite tomato-phobic, flinching at slimy pips or anything too red and shiny – Red Nose Day is quite an ordeal, I can tell you.

2. When I was five I tobogganed downstairs in a cardboard box. The descent was terrific but the landing – into a glass front door – not quite so much fun since it involved much blood and a trip to hospital to be stitched up.

3. I fell in love with Tom at first sight, which was berludy inconvenient to say the least.

4. I can do that Vulcan, Mr Spock salutey thing but Tom can’t so I like to waggle my fingers whilst telling him to live long and prosper for the sheer fun of watching him struggle to do it back.

5. When I was a first aider at work my first ‘patient’ died. Well, to be fair, I think he was already dead when I arrived, poor chap.

6. I watched the 1999 total eclipse of the sun in Cherbourg harbour. Lily, Rose, Tom and I had sailed there in our ancient wooden boat.

7. I am the mother of two astounding, beautiful and strong young women – I still can’t believe how fortunate I am to have them in my life and nearly burst with pride every time I see them.

Now, over to you...



Comments

Well done, Wales!

I'd love to hear the story of how you and Tom met sometime - it sounds as though it was some coup de foudre, however inconvenient.
Yes agree with LBD ...we just NEED to know now you have whetted our appetite.....with you on the tomato phobe ...should be banned berludy vile things ...wont give 'em house room ...not even a plant!!
Eeeek to the going through a glass door that sounded horrific.

I LOVE tomatoes - no apologies. But your comment - they started it made me laugh.

Oh no how awful to have your first patient die like that - even if he was dead before you got to him.

And having and bringing up kids and giving them their independence and watching them grow is the most wonderful thing.
Pondside said…
Perfect seven! Just enough to tell a bit and just enough to leave us wanting more! So, how did you meet Tom?
Norma Murray said…
A magnificient 7, now I feel all guilty as I haven't done mine.
Flowerpot said…
yes I'd love to hear how you and Tom met - always a sucker for those kind of stories. I don;t like tomatoes either!
Fennie said…
Yes, I have that proud feeling too (also about two daughters) and especially when they can do things that I can't!

Never heard of tomato-phobia. Must be sad for you. I love tomatoes - if they are properly ripened that is. Winter tomatoes, grown in hot houses and ripened artificially and then kept in a cold store are enough to give anyone phobia.

Pob Hywl
Un Peu Loufoque said…
oh dear I am number 7 What a pity...no secret revealing for me then!!!A bit of advise from an old hand...Next time you tobaggan down staris leave the door open dearest!
Cait O'Connor said…
Radio 4 did mention it in the What the Papers Say section on the Today programme but you are right nothing on the news only about the berludy English cricketers!
I am really tired out today, think it was all the emotion!
I must do my seven soon!
Maggie Christie said…
I had to laugh at the tomatoes comment! But, like WW, eeek at the downstairs tobogganing. No visible scars, though. No wonder you were a little coy when I asked you how you met Tom. Now we have to have another coffee! Great list xxPM
That's two, was there a match on somewhere then?
I travelled to Newport on the train a few weeks ago when Wales also won. It was lovely and civilised in First Class (cheap at the weekend), then the train to Abergavenny pulled in...bodies hanging out, the toilet door opening and closing while a chap 'went', bottles and cans everywhere. Don't get me wrong, they were all lovely (boyo), really friendly and nice, but nonetheless, it was scary!
Now if this was my first time in Wales I would have scapered very quickly.
Great comment about Tomatoes.
Lane Mathias said…
lol at red Nose Day and ouch at glass door:-(

Love at first sight? I didn't think that was actually possible. I'm adding my name to the list of those wanting to hear more:-)
Milla said…
Like tomatoes if hard and on the green side. Must NOT be squishy or red. Change it to courgettes though and quite another story. And was there not wall to wall wretched rugby for, like, the last 3 months??? It's England's cricketers I want to hear about. (Ducks.)
I love tomatoes and am relieved that I grew up in a bungalow and never felt the need to toboggan down any stairs! I also need to know more.

Well done Wales.
I'm another one without a hangover but it was a great match and English coverage has been patchy at best.

Loved your list and share absolutely your pride in children. Aren't grown up children the most wonderful thing!
Tattieweasle said…
I keep VERY quiet in the house WALES is a bad word and mention of being WELSH is absolutley verboten. So I rush down to the end of the garden and snigger LOUDLY!!!!!!!!!
You've definatley whetted our appetites about how/when you met Tom.....
Sally Townsend said…
Bit funny about tomatoes myself, can't abide the hard out of season ones !!

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Endings, New Beginnings

Blended families come with conflicting loyalties and at Christmas time nearly everyone has somewhere else they feel they ought to be. Throw partners into the equation and it gets even more complicated. Since Tom and I aren’t especially hung up about Christmas we’re happy to let our children go with the strongest flow, but I have to say it was a great delight to have the girls and their partners staying with us this year. When such moments are few and far between they become very precious. My stepsons weren’t far from our thoughts either, not least because we had the very happy news on Christmas Day that my elder stepson and his girlfriend had become engaged. Congratulations Dan and Gill, here’s wishing you every happiness together. Tom and I end a year that has seen the fruition of many years work, both of us crossing important thresholds within weeks of each other. I’m really looking forwards to seeing Turning the Tide published next year and it’s been so satisfying, after al

Reconnecting

I hadn't realised it until now , but it’s probably no coincidence that my last post was about our trip to Norwich, a city I’ve loved since studying at UEA. I wrote, then, that coming home was a hard landing, a feeling that took me completely by surprise as it’s been such a privilege to live in this beautiful, remote spot on the very edge of the west Wales coast. A trip to Skye at the end of October - Tom’s choice - with Ma, was a truly lovely holiday. The weather was kind, the colours of those breathtaking seascapes will stay with me, as will all the happy memories we made that week. And, because our small cottage had been so beautifully modernised and worked so well for the three of us, it was easy to imagine what it might be like to live somewhere different. If travel doesn’t broaden the mind, it certainly brings a new perspective. By the end of the year, Tom and I had decided that it was time for a change, time to move closer to a town (we are neither of us, as they say, getting

Fly Free, Dottie Do

‘How many days to my birthday?’ Ma asks. I do a quick calculation. ‘Eighteen,’ I reply. ‘Eighteen days until your ninetieth birthday.’ Ma pulls a face and shakes her head. Every sentence is hard work for her now, when each breath is a struggle. ‘You’ll have to write a book about this, you know,’ she says, with one of her quick, mischievous smiles. ‘“Carry On Dying”. Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry.’ The smile fades. ‘Who knew,’ she adds wearily, ‘that dying would be such a palaver?’  It’s only eleven days since Ma was diagnosed with a high-grade, aggressive lymphoma, four days since she was overwhelmed with pain and breathing difficulties and was admitted as an emergency to hospital. Until a few weeks ago, she lived completely independently; shopping, cooking, cleaning and tending her much-loved garden. The deterioration in her health is shockingly rapid. The eight days preceding her death are a living hell, a constant battle with the ward staff to get Ma the pain relief she’s been presc