A Small Distinction

I damn near fell off my chair on Tuesday morning when I was skipping my way through Tania Kindersley’s blog and found she’d nominated me for a Beautiful Blogger Award. I should say at this point – cue much weeping and Oscar-style histrionics -  that I am an avid fan of Tania’s books and had been searching the web for news of anything she might have written in the last few years when I happened across her blog last spring. I immediately slid on a pair of virtual shades and trenchcoat and in the manner of a lunatic cyber-stalker, bombarded her with messages, including one on her old Facebook page which I’m pretty sure she hasn’t seen, given she’s not a Facebook fan (and I’m hoping that still holds true) and thankfully she hasn’t blocked me yet. Better still she reads this blog (oh shit) which gives me enormous and grateful pleasure. Anyway, it was T who introduced me to this whole blogging malarkey and you can blame her.

I am supremely touched and grateful and determined to do the right thing and pass this on to those whose blogs I treasure.

As Tania and LLG both pointed out the expected 10-15 blogs you’re supposed to pass it on to seems a little daunting, so I shall also stick with six. Also Tania has already awarded it to a couple of blogs I also adore – namely Mrs Trefusis Takes a Taxi for her elegant, concise, considered writing and Miss Whistle for her stunning pictures which never fail to make my morning – I’ve had to think quite carefully, so it’s actually eight in total.

Firstly A Life Reclaimed for her extraordinary bravery and stoicism about a nasty divorce and her absolute truthfulness without distortion. Up The Women, I say.

Life Happens Between Books by Lucy Fishwife whose blogs make me laugh and with whose sentiment I agree absolutely.

Jacob Wrestling – although infrequent – is always worth dipping into for the quirky random nature of her thoughts.

Hollow Legs – A food blog with good pictures and a wealth of information on just the sort of food I love.

Helena Halme – for her fascinating accounts of How I came to be in England and her takes on life in England and Finland.

Food Stories – Helen’s a well-known professional food blogger and with good reason – stonking recipes from a foodie about town.

And now – seven things you may not know. God, the trauma…

1. My life’s dream (hopefully to become reality in two years time in accordance with The Great Plan) is to move to Dorset. This people know. What they may not know (and T – feel free to call the anti-stalking cyber police now) is that the whole reason for this move to a part of the world I have never ever been to is because I read Tania’s Don’t Ask Me Why when I was 18 and was so entranced with her character Virge and her parent's’ house on The Isle of Purbeck that I immediately made the decision that was where I was going to spend my life. Luckily my husband agrees with me, although he too has never been.

2. My other life dream was to marry Gerald Durrell but unfortunately he died before I could fly to Jersey without parental supervision. I have managed to scratch the itch by accidentally contriving to live in Norwood where he lived both pre- and post- Corfu. Incidentally, it also gives me no end of pleasure that my favourite Dickens novel – David Copperfield – also features Norwood, albeit it’s where wet Dora lives.

3. This might actually be obvious but I have a great passion for anything from the glorious, roaring 1920s and actually the Mitford sisters. Nazi sympathies notwithstanding.

4. I spent many of the weekends of my formative years watching Tom Cruise films as Pa and I loved them. I can quote Top Gun verbatim. I’m not sure this isn’t a rather dubious life skill. And that goes for Pretty Woman too – in fact, every time Pa and I are out to dinner somewhere and I have to go to the loo, he says ‘Shall I order for you?’ and I reply ‘Um, yeah. Yes Please do so’. Again, not completely useful but entertaining even after 23 years.

5. I wooed MCD by playing to his Star Wars fixation with a plastic lightsaber from Hamleys. I bought it and left it outside the door of this flat in Elephant and Castle before going all the way back to my own flat in Finsbury Park. If it wasn’t for this, I’m not sure we would have ever got married.  Although he claims this was his wooing technique – getting me to do the work…

6. If I can find an author that makes me heave with laughter, I’m a devotee forever. I just read Emma Kennedy’s The Tent, The Bucket and Me on Whitstable Beach and I had to get up and walk around to relieve my stomach muscles. That goes for people too.

7. I have synaesthesia. So for me time is a very visual concept (I can ‘see’ all the centuries laid out at once in a distinct pattern, as are days of the week and letters of the alphabet are in definite colours. And – call it 7a – I have no sense of smell, so Ma describes smells and perfumes to me in colours and shapes which makes perfect sense. It’s a little schmear of colour in an occasionally black and white world.

There you go. Have a nice weekend.