Everything You Wanted To Know About Me But Were Afraid To Ask

I apologise for not posting dailywears this week (normal service will resume very soon) but it is the Easter holidays and a little chaotic here.

Right now I am sitting in bed with a cup of tea and will have to get up to walk the dog very soon so I thought I would get on with this. I have been tagged by the lovely Mervat of The Writing Instinct. The guidelines are as follows:


1. Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention; add a question of your own.

2. Tag eight other un-tagged people.

What is your current obsession?
Running. I started running in 2002 when my friend was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer. I signed up to run the New York Marathon. Jim was diagnosed in December 2001 and before I ran the marathon in November 2002 he had died (on October 16th).I raised £8,000 for Macmillan Nurses, the charity which supported his family. His eldest daughter is now 18 and about to go to university. I gave her my medal when I completed the marathon.
I loved running so much I kept it up although following a minor car accident in 2006 I couldn't run for more than a few miles wihtout my shoulder hurting. Now all seems well and I have stepped my running up. I love the freedom it gives me. I run about 20 - 24 miles a week.


Good fika place? (That would be coffee to us non-Swedes)
I like the smell of coffee more than the taste. I go to my local Cafe Nero's to catch up with friends and then order tea!

Do you nap a lot?
I wish!

Who was the last person you hugged?
My husband gave me a hug a few minutes ago as he left for work. A job he hates but one I am very grateful for (and I told him how much I appreciated him for doing it).

What’s for dinner?
For the children - chicken, pasta and pesto with garlic bread. For me - baked potato, tuna and salad. For my husband, baked potato, steak and salad.

If you could be any rock/pop icon for a day who would it be and why? (my question)
I would be Pink. I love the colour, I love her energy and front and she seems to have a fun time.

What are you listening to right now?
The sound of our car outside being revved up as my son drives to his holiday job.

What is your favourite weather?
Warm summer mornings. The skies are hazy blue and there is the promising scent of a hot day ahead (28C) as the sun warms the earth.
The kind of days which seemed to fill my childhood and which seem few and far between now.

What’s on your bedside table?
A cold cup of tea, my mobile phone, a lamp, several magazines (Vogue, Runner's World and Prima), my pink mini diablo Cartier pen in its box, my pink diary, a leather notebook, the following books (Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope, Raising and Praising Girls, The Choice, The Supper Club, Marley and Me, The Audacity of Hope, The Notebook and The dog Years).
I have read most of them.

Say something to the person/s who tagged you.
I love your blogs.
You have such a gentleness about you that invites me into your world. I love your appreciation for all the important things in life and understand and share some of your aspirations.
I feel better for reading your blog each day.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be?
I always dreamt of living in a beach house in California.

Favourite vacation spot?
New York. My aim is to save enough money to take my husband and four children some time over the next few years.

Name the things you can’t live without.
Apart from my family and dog it would have to be a fountain pen, notebooks and a pair of running shoes.

What would you like to have in your hands right now?
Lots of time.

What is your favourite tea flavour?
Yorkshire Tea. (And that from a girl from Lancashire!!!) But I do enjoy Redbush tea too.

What would you like to get rid of?
The constant worry that disaster will befall my loved ones.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Barcelona. It is 21C at the moment - perfect. I would stroll down the Ramblas and watch the world go by as I headed to the beach.

What did you want to become as a child?
A writer and a Blue Peter presenter.

What do you miss? (This is Belette Rouge's question)
My maternal grandmother. She lived two doors away from us but she had a sad life. She was widowed at 38 and brought my mum up alone. She loved to dance and used to go ballrooom dancing four times a week when she was in her 50s but after she retired she suffered an awful depression which lasted more than a decade.
For one wonderful day she was back to her lively self and that was my wedding day in February 1989.
It seemed to mark a turning point and a few weeks later I showed her round my new home city.



Here's a photo of that day taken at The Albert Dock, Liverpool.
She died a few weeks later on April 21st 1989 .

What are you reading right now?
Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope and Dead Lovely by Helen Fitzgerald.It was given to me by the prison librarian, Jenn. It's a dark psycho-thriller.

What do you fear the most? (Andrea’s question)
Dying before I achieve everything I want to achieve.

What designer piece of clothing would you most like to own (new or vintage)?
A Marni dress.

Admit one thing you feel awful about. Once you have written it down, you are no longer allowed to feel bad. (Mervat's question)
I feel I don't show my family how much I love them and that I shout at my children too much. I worry that I am not a good enough mother for my daughter.

So there we are.

I can't think of eight people as Mervat has tagged most of the people I would so here are just a few.

Stacy

The Twin's Mama

Heather