Blog Award - Q&A fun

The Liebster Blog Award is given bloggers who have less than 200 followers. 

Liebster is a German word meaning sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, pleasant and valued.

It is a casual award to show appreciation for the blogs that you follow and a fun way to be more involved in the blogging community.

The rules…

Create a new blog post similar to this one. Start off by writing 11 random facts about yourself, and then answer 11 questions which were left for you by your nominator. Then you can nominate up to 11 blogs and leave 11 questions for them to answer in return.

Don’t forget to link back to the blog of the owner who nominated you!

And that would be Samantha of Samantha’s Blog. Her blog is a good read, nice and varied, open and honest. Here she is: http://samanthatgirl.blogspot.co.uk/

11 random facts about me:-

1. I still have a bump on the back of my head which I grew just after falling off a pram which I was trying to use as a stepladder, age 3.

2. I was (and I believe that technically I still am) a member of the Airfix Modeller’s Club and still have all my certification and vouchers, and a welcome letter signed by the president, Dick Emery. (He liked models so much he actually married a few.)

3. I like travelling on the London Underground. It’s true, I actually do. Maybe this makes me a Boris Babe (oo-er, missus).

4. I love mushrooms.

5. I never found it strange to play with toy soldiers whilst wearing a dress.

6. I never eat pudding unless it has chocolate in it.

7. My favourite colours are grass green and cerise. But they don’t go together.

8. My favourite form of entertainment is live theatre of all kinds.

9. In 1985 I bought myself the cheapest electric kettle in the Argos catalogue. It has been making my tea every day since.

10. I still have no idea what algebra is all about.

11. Despite having first been aired 30 years ago, this sketch still cracks me up every time I see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2N1mBsEdM

Samantha’s questions and my answers:-

1.  What are your Religious beliefs? Are you Spiritual or Atheist?

            Convinced atheist.

2.  Favourite Cartoon growing up?

            This is the hardest question here. So many great cartoons. My tastes developed as I grew so I guess I’d go for Mary, Mungo & Midge, Wacky Races and progress to Dangermouse. You said cartoon, not animation (in which case, how about the Clangers, Camberwick Green, the Herbs, and Morph)

3.  What trait(s) do you deplore in other people?

            Rage, shouting, domineering and aggression. Save them for the sports pitch.

4.  What was your favourite subject at school?

            Believe it or not (in the light of the answer to 1), Scripture. OK, so things went wrong.

5.  Astrology... Load of Horseshit or perfectly believable?

            I’m an astronomer (albeit an amateur one), so astrology makes me cringe. But, to be fair, astrology was mainstream science once. It would be great, though, if we could really plan daily life according to the motions of the planets.

6.  What sort of traffic warden would you be?

            I’d make a terrible traffic warden as I’d be way too compassionate. Besides,  those polyester khaki uniforms some councils supply now – no way! This girl has standards!

7.  Every xmas people always seem to say "You're difficult to buy presents for" and your left thinking 'Eh? You could have bought me this or that'...

    What xmas present would you buy yourself every year because nobody else ever buys it for you?

            I actually do buy myself two presents each year that no-one else buys me. One to appeal to my feminine side, and one to appeal to my boyhood side that I can’t quite shake off. The feminine gift is always fancy hosiery, the boy gift is usually a book about London’s transport history.

8.  What is the funniest thing that has happened in your job?

            Caption competitions: we used to cut dull photos of staff doing worthy things out of the in-house mag, paste them on a sheet of paper and circulate them for people to write captions to. Some were hysterical, and much better reading than the mag itself.

9.  What is the best internet enabled 'SmartTV' around at the moment?

            Err … I guess TV here stands for Television not Transvestite. Apart from that, I’ve no idea what the question means. It’s something modern. Now pass me that chisel, I must continue with the Pharaoh’s blog inscription.

10. Have you ever cheated death or serious accident?

            Yes. When I was 5 I ran across a road in Italy. A van driver did the world’s most award-winning emergency stop. The burnt rubber on the tarmac was there for ages after, and it was constantly pointed out to me as an admonition. A few days after my non-death we happened to encounter the driver, a local baker, in a car park. He ruffled my hair and said he was glad I was OK, though he’d been pretty shaken. Guess Italians aren’t all bad drivers!

11. Hypothetical scenario: How long would you let this go on?....

An anonymous billionaire is privately funding this.

You will never meet them. They are not filming or recording any aspect of this; they simply enjoy knowing they have this kind of power.

Each day you are woken up by a man peeing on you. This man has been hired by the billionaire to pee on you. They are regularly checked by doctors to make sure they are healthy and infection-free. Regardless, urine is sterile. Stinky, but harmless.

As soon as the pee hits your face (and oh yes, he'll aim for the face) you can jump out of bed and go to the shower. While you are showering the man who pees on you will switch your mattress, put on new sheets and leave £300 in cash on your dining room table.

The above situation will happen every single day for the rest of your life until one evening you decide you do not want to be peed on the next morning and cancel. Then it can never start again. Ever.

A few conditions:

-You may have as much or as little interaction with the man who pees as you want

-The man who pees will act as an alarm clock/wake-up call. You can tell him to begin peeing at 6:30am and that's exactly when he will start.

-If you share the bed with someone he will be aiming for you. Spashback onto the sleeping partner is a possibility.

-If you go on vacation he travels as well. He will typically stay in the hotel room next to yours.

The question is: How long would you let this go on?

            Samantha, you do worry me sometimes!

            Well, let’s turn this question around. In order to earn £300 a day (£110,000 a year, though arguably taxable) and have someone else make the bed, all I have to do is get peed on. Since on many days in my life I’ve had a far worse time and earned a hell of a lot less, I’d go with it. Get up late, spend £300 very enjoyably through the rest of the day – beauty salon, lunch in a smart restaurant with a girlfriend (salade de pis-en-lit?), theatre … – then come home to a crisp, newly made bed. Thanks, Billionaire! Although I know my friends would take the piss, I’d say your canny wee scheme gives new meaning to the term ‘executive jet’.

Here are my 11 questions to 11 other bloggers:-

1. What does the number 11 mean to you?

2. Look up at the moon. What do you think of?

3. What’s your favourite kind of holiday: beach, city break, skiing, adventure … or what?

4. What’s your possession which carries the most sentiment for you?

5. What sort of cheese do you like best and do you like to eat it with anything? (If you don’t like cheese, feel free to condemn it here)

6. Must bra and panties always match?

7. What’s the thing you like most in other people?

8. What’s your favourite tipple? (No, I’m not buying, just curious.)

9. Why does Superman wear his underpants outside his trousers?

10. Which TV programme had the most influence on you as a kid?

11. Congratulations, it was a tough selection procedure but you have been appointed captain of Trans World Spacelines’ first mission beyond the bounds of Earth. Your spaceship is ready; all life support systems, hyperdrives, suspended animation pods, defence shields, engines, computers, etc are state-of-the-art and can take you anywhere; your crew, some of whom are listed below, are fit and drilled (and proud to wear those fabulous uniforms you designed); the ground staff and mission controllers are in position; and the people of the World are excitedly pressing their noses to their TV screens awaiting the launch. The choice of destination is yours, Captain. Where will you fly to, and why?

So my 11 bloggers of choice ("Blake's 11") are …

Emma “Sarah Jane” Walkey http://moreearththansea.blogspot.co.uk/

Lizzie “Leia” Byrne http://elizabethbyrne.blogspot.co.uk/

Becca “Trinity” Pink http://rebeccas-introspective.blogspot.co.uk/

Grace “Trillian” Johnstone http://stateof-grace.blogspot.co.uk/

Tina “Scully” Scott http://tinastparty.blogspot.co.uk/

Kay Denise “Uhura” Green http://kaydenisepublicblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Diana “Ripley” Richards http://dianasreflection.blogspot.co.uk/

Kara “Starbuck” Rowe http://karalouise.wordpress.com/

Bobby “Cassiopeia” Sox http://bobbysox1965.blogspot.co.uk/

Lucie “Padme Amidala” http://lucys-wittering.blogspot.co.uk/

Ann “Barbarella” Drogyny http://transfastic.blogspot.co.uk/

And anyone else feel free to join in.

Sue x