I was recently tagged by Mel du Jour to answer 11 questions about myself - thanks for choosing me Mel, they were good fun to answer.
1. Who would you invite to a dinner party, living or dead? Morecambe and Wise - funniest double act ever; Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni - the original 'Essex girl' and JK Rowling - I know quite a few other bloggers have chosen Ms Rowling too but I think she's the most amazingly inspirational woman and I'd love to know how she ever thought up such wonderful plot ideas for the Harry Potter novels.
2. Is there any book that you have read lots of times and you still enjoy it every time? I re-read quite a lot of books - especially Ruth Rendell and Barbara Vine. My all-time favourite book of her's is 'A Fatal Inversion' (written under her nom-de-plume Barbara Vine.) It's set in the the halcyon long, hot days of the summer of 1976 and is a genuinely fascinating read - it's a murder mystery / whodunnit type of book but with a fantastic twist at the end. Plus the descriptions of that amazing scorching summer bring that time back to me very vividly.
3. Do you have a middle name? Yup, my middle name is Helen and I was named after a friend of my Mum's.
4. If you were an animal, what would you be? No contest, I'd love to be a pampered pet cat - who always had food in their dish and could sleep for 18 hours a day - bliss!!
5. What would be your dream job? When I was little, I wanted to read the weather on TV. I've always been fascinated by weather - the more extreme the better - but this was in the 1960s when only bespectacled middle-aged boffins from the Met Office read out the weather. More realistically, I always fancied owning a second-hand / antiques / junk shop and although I don't have a bricks and mortar shop, I do make a kind of living doing this online these days - so in a way, I am doing my dream job.
6. What is the best thing that you cook? I like cooking a lot and have a few dishes that usually turn out quite well - sticky lemon chicken, salmon fishcakes, Chicken Mexicana - but as I'm a bit of a hit or miss cook I can never guarantee something will turn out just as it should.
7. Do you believe in ghosts? If so, have you ever seen one. I've never seen a ghost but I wouldn't say I don't believe in them - I keep an open mind and would never rubbish the idea of the supernatural. Though as my Dad - a total sceptic on all things like that - used to say, it's the living you have to fear, not the dead.
8. Would you like to live forever? Short answer, with my painfully creaking hip joint - no. If I could be guaranteed both good health and a happy time then why not.
9. Who would you chose to play you if a film was made of your life? Hmm, tricky one this as all the 'full figured' actresses have had drastic weight losses recently. I think I'll say Dawn French but she'd have to wear a fat suit to play me now.
10. What is the one item or object in your life that you could not live without? Presuming that this question doesn't include people (wouldn't want to live without my nearest and dearest) then probably the one item I would be most upset to lose would be the toy cat I was bought for my first Christmas - Kitten. He's raggedy, faded and rather threadbare but I would be seriously upset if anything happened to him.
11. Do you have any beauty secrets or products that you woud like to share? Aldi's own brand under-eye concealer stick - very effective at reducing my Panda eyes.
Ah yes, I'm a big fan of Barbara Vine and Ruth Rendall's books. I've read all of Barbara Vine's, so yes, A Fatal Inversion was good. I think my favourite are Asta's Book and The Blood Doctor.
Posted by: Loo xx | 03/19/2012 at 07:01 PM