9 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me.

Hello and welcome to my blog, I haven’t written a post in the longest time and I’ve decided to blog every day in September 2020. 

I’ve done this challenge a few times and I’m not sure why I always seem to pick September to do it, maybe because September is the start of the new school year so it feels like a fresh start.

I thought as a refresh and introduction I’d do an about me post. Here are nine things you probably didn’t know about me.

1.   What was your best vacation/holiday?

I’ve been really lucky in my life to have lots of holidays and I’ve been to a lot of different countries and there are two standout places for me. Mexico, I really didn’t want to go, the flight felt too long, I didn’t want an all-inclusive holiday. But it was fantastic, and I’d go back in a heartbeat. I won’t talk about that but I did vlog bits of it which are on my Youtube channel if you want to have a little look.

My overall favourite was a trip to Australia when I was 14. I was probably too young to fully appreciate it but to go all that way and see things I never expected to. From the opera house, Sydney harbour bridge. Going to the zoo on Christmas Day. Visiting my mum's Uncle in the Blue Mountains.

Sitting in our hotel room watching the new years fireworks over the harbour bridge at midnight.

It probably was a once in a lifetime trip. It was such a long time ago now. (Michael Jackson was Christmas number one that year!) but I have such strong memories from it.

Not all of them good. My mum got bitten by a spider and we spent the day after boxing day in a hospital that looked like it was part of the set of Son’s and Daughters. The walls wobbled when you walk. In the waiting room, there was a load of day patients in gowns who’d got bored sat on the ward and wandered in for a chat. We’d forgotten our insurance documents so my mum’s uncle said she was his daughter. There is only about 12 years between them but no questions were asked and she got the antivenom.

I would go back to Australia but the flight length puts me off. Maybe one day I will go back.

2.     What is your favourite smell?

This also related to holidays and I can’t tell you the exact name of the smell other than the trees in Benidorm (applies in other cities but I smelt it first in Benidorm when I was 8)  

It might be some type of honeysuckle or apple blossom as I recently got some Cath Kidston products which has a slight reminiscence of the smell.

I smell it periodically and always after it has rained. I can’t even really liken it to anything but when I catch the smell it's just so lovely.

3.       Have I ever skipped a class

I wasn’t going to include this as it’s such a long time ago since I left school and I didn’t really skip classes, however, the only time I did try and skip something in school I got caught along with my friends!

I went I Sixth Form within my high school and we had a service of reconciliation. When all the priests from the associated parishes / primary schools do mass and we decided to skip it but we were also too lazy to actually leave school, so we went to a sixth form study room and hid under the tables.

As so few sixth formers had turned up, most other people had done the sensible thing and left the school grounds.

We got marched through school and didn’t even take the short cut to the hall and made to sit on the front row and it was so embarrassing, we should have just gone to it. I think everyone who had left school got detention for it so at least we didn’t get that. Just the humiliation of being marched through school.

4.      Would you ever become vegetarian?

Never say never, but probably not. I love a lot of vegetarian meals and I do want to have more plant-based meals but I don’t think I could do it long term.

When I was at uni my whole flat did vegetarian week and when I went to buy my lunch at work the only hot veggie option was tuna past baguette! I had a bit of a do with one of the kitchen staff and ended up with a cheese butty instead of the warm heart veggie feast I’d hoped for!  

5.       Top 5 Biscuits

I love it when people ask fun questions, not that the others aren’t fun but biscuits are a bit of a hot topic on my work team. We even have some who gets called Jamie Dodger as he loves biscuits so much.

Picking 5 is hard, I imagine it’s like picking your favourite pet. It’d probably be easier to pick my 5 least favourite biscuits (Digestive biscuits are on my Tom Cruise list!)

In no particular order; Jam Cream Biscuits (Ikea one are excellent bit not really fussed on the brand), Party Rings, Pink Wafers, Ginger Lemon Biscuits (Hills) and Hobnobs (All variations).

6.       Where would you like to travel to if money was no object?

Japan, I’ve recently fallen in love with the country. I’ve watched a few JVloggers for a while but in lockdown, I’ve been watching more and more and I think the fact we can’t go has ignited my want to go more.

I’m attempting to learn some basic Japanese (Duolingo and a few other bits and bobs) but it’s been added to my bucket list. I think if I went I’d want to go for 3 weeks (if I could get that long off work in one go) and as much as I want to do the big cities I’d also like to go off the beaten track a little bit and see some of the countryside.

7.       What was the first film you saw in the cinema?

I thought this was an interesting question, as I am an avid cinema, goer (pre-lockdown) so you might be shocked to learn I didn’t go to a cinema until I was 11 years old and only because I didn’t really have much choice.

The first film I saw in a cinema was Beethoven. It was 1992/3 we were in Florida and it was the cinema in Downtown Disney.

It was a rainy Florida afternoon and it was a choice of sit out in the storm or go and see the film. I’m so glad I went in and saw it and I think it sparked my love of cinema. Although it was about 12 months before I went to the cinema again. The second film I ever saw at the cinema was Jurassic Park, the last day of Year 7 in high school. Sadly it wasn’t at downtown Disney and just at the local Roxy.

8.       What is your favourite musical?

This might be the hardest question, there are a lot of factors at stake. In a theatre? At the movies, modern? Old school? Cheesy?

I’ve narrowed it down to three but now I’m typing I’m thinking of more. Ohhhhhh

Theatre: Singing in the rain, We will Rock you and Evita.

Movies: Evita, Grease 2, and State Fair.

9.       What is your day job?

I’m a billing analyst. I deal with queries, complaints, stats, process improvement. I’m sure that raises more questions than it answers.