- I play the trumpet. Most people remember me from school as ‘blond, glasses, plays the trumpet.’ One of my happiest memories is playing the A-Train solo in the middle of a packed out square on a school music tour in Limono, Italy (and getting a free gelato for my efforts).
- I was a bit of a square at school. And a goody two shoes. I liked school. Got on with my teachers. Did three thousand extra curricular activities. I was that girl.
- I used to be a management consultant. I spent four years working for PwC Consulting. During that time I ran graduate training programmes in Tampa, Florida, learned to code (and teach to code) computer programmes and partied (and drank), a lot.
- I can down a pint in about 6 seconds (see above).
- I love baking. I wooed my husband with a lemon drizzle cake. Still my signature cake.
- I’m petrified of spiders, mice and anything that moves fast. Occasionally my own shadow.
- I got straight A’s for all my GCSEs and A-Levels and a First class honours degree. It seemed important at the time!
- I’m very creative. I love to paint, do crafts, sew and decorate cakes, homes, anything.
- I was selected to be an international Girl Guide.
- My favourite drink is a gin and tonic. Bombay Sapphire, ice (about 5 small cubes – not too cold), a large chunk of lemon, with a little juice squeezed into the glass and Schweppes tonic. A short drink if it’s a summer garden party. Gin and tonics always taste best when my dad makes them!
- My big sister, Sue, taught me to read before I went to school so I spent most of my primary school teaching other kids how to read Roger Red Hat or sitting on my own reading from a very small selection of ‘clever kids’ books (I remember most of them were pretty dull).
- I’m obsessed by stage musicals. Perhaps it’s the escapeism, perhaps it’s the fairy tale romance, perhaps it’s the music and spectacle but I love them and will defend them to the death. Much of my life is spent in an internal stage musical.
- I once won an award for choreographing our University production of Guys and Dolls which we performed at the National Student Drama Festival.
- My roles in theatre productions have included, courtesan (in the Comedy of Errors), Shy (a young whore in the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) and Mona (killed her husband due to artistic differences in Chicago).
- For as long as I can remember I’ve fiddled with my hands. I used to bite my nails until they were sore. I hate that I do it.
- I once played the part of a ‘mourner’ at Lord Byron’s funeral in a BBC adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (I was a runner for the programme).
- My grandfather is racist. A month before my wedding he sent me a letter explaining how he thought my marriage would offend many people and how he had no desire to meet my future husband. He has never acknowledged the existence of my son, Isaac. I have learned an awful lot about different kinds of racism since knowing and loving Chris. I have learned through asking questions – if you don’t think racism exists anymore, I’d suggest you start asking questions too.
- I’m a Christian. It’s brilliant. I can’t imagine life without my faith.
- I’m a sobber. I cry at happy films. I wail at tragic films. I cry when people tell me sad things. I well up when I remember moving bits in books. The Color Purple nearly destroyed me and War Horse was a traumatic event in my life.
- When I walked down the aisle to marry Chris, I’m convinced I saw a glimpse of heaven. It was the most on track, on purpose, spiritual moment of my life.
- I used to work in McDonalds. I had all five stars on my badge.
- I have ridiculously thick hair. Having a full blow dry generally takes so long that I end up with a migraine. My hair is like a rope.
- I’m a dreadful procrastinator. I put things off. I don’t think I used to as a child but somehow the dreaded put-it-off demon got stuck in my head (I wrote this post a very long time ago but have only just been brave enough to publish it).
- I was pretty rubbish at sports at school (see my blog post about P.E.). I tried really hard but to only thing I could really do was dance.
- I genuinely often wonder why people would want to spend any time with me! But then when I look at all my beautiful friends, from different stages of my life, I realise I can’t be that bad!
Really poignant, yet funny and surprising too. Glad you were brave enough to share it xx
Thank you x
Hi Karen,
I’m so happy you felt brave enough to share this. I was tasked to do something similar and I’m still sitting on it but it will be done 🙂 Thanks for sharing a funny, enjoyable, personal post.
Stopping by from #19day 🙂
Thanks Gillian. Funny how it seems such a scary thing to do but such a personal post has made me feel more authentic in my work. Go for it!
Karen