Window1

That is what is left of the door...actually, since the dog cut his paw on it earlier, the glass has gone and now there is a hole! And it's blowing a gale...

For Bittersweet, who says I give nothing away...

What time did you wake up this morning?
First time? About 7:30, when the evil alarm went off...then there was the evil alarm 2, evil alarm 3 the revenge, and by the time the whole evil alarm franchise was running out of steam, we'd got to some time around 8:30 and a bit and I had to get up.

What do you like most about yourself?
I don't really know if I like anything much about me. If we are talking looks, then nothing...nothing at all. I wanted a larger nose, nicer eyes and hair that would do as it is told at least once during the day. I suppose I like my ability to curl my upper lip à la Elvis, but then, I can only do that on one side.
Characterwise, is there anything to like about being curmudgeonly, stubborn, honest to the point of painful and totally lacking the tact gene? At this point, I could say that I like my ability to get up in the morning and carry on being this way: my tenacity,

What do you like least about yourself?
My inability to like myself and to believe that anyone else could actually proper like me.

Can you sing?
I can sing whenever I want to; whether this is a good idea or not depends on the listener.
An ex said I had the admirable quality of being able to replicate any tune I heard with my voice and he makes guitars and basses for a living (bloody lovely they are, too), and therefore, since he plays also bass like a bass-playing genius and knows when something is rotten off key, I can't be totally tone deaf, can I?

Can you dance?
Dancing is supposedly the vertical expression of a horizontal desire, is it not? I don't think horizontal desires were very well expressed or even very vertical in the mosh pits of my youth, though. Were bruises an expression of anything? I always got plenty of those...
I will dance to music I like, but again, whether I can as in am I able, depends very much on the casualty toll after my exploits, doesn't it? I no longer have the fear of making an ass of myself that the self-conscious teen has to deal with; I simply don't care, so I do just get on with it. This means I have never had a problem in my project of ensuring The Child has no fear of improvising a tango or waltz or indeed anything else I might possibly think of in the supermarket whenever she accompanies me, so a weekly swinging of pants is usually on the cards.

Do you smoke?
I did, for years. I really enjoyed smoking. Probably because my mother is the world's most passionate non-smoker.
When I finally gave up proper, it was obviously the right time, because I had no trouble, even when drinking coffee or having a beer with friends, and I still don't fancy a cigarette at all. Downside? My already copious love of chocolate then grew out of all proportion.

Do you drink?
Tea. Lots of tea. And coffee. I don't really drink with meals because I don't much like water and I don't often consume alcohol while eating (yes, living in the wrong country here).
I used to drink. Quite a fair bit in my misspent youth.
I still love wine. And Guinness. And a good whisky or a G&T. And being drunk (slightly). The problem is that alcohol doesn't like me any more. So I stick to a glass or two of (good if not, excellent) wine when I feel like it and I won't buy rubbish - unless it's for making risotto!

Can you swim?
I can. I can't really remember when I couldn't. My stepdad used to have scuba lessons in the local pool and take me along. I was about 4 or 5 and used to love jumping off the top diving board with my armbands on?That board was actually pretty high come to think of it and I would plunge into the water, get really far down (it was over 12 feet deep), and then come back up - armbands innit. Then one day, I didn't need them anymore.
I wonder at my younger self; now I can't even stand on the table to change a light bulb without getting wobbly legs and having The Child talk me down.

Year you were born?
The best. They had revolutions and everything. Well, my grandparents did come home from working in Nigeria to find out my mother was 8 months pregnant...I think a revolution was the least they could do!

Favorite colour?
Black. Always.

Sleep with or without clothes?
I can't sleep with naked shoulders, I need to have a t-shirt. Once my shoulders are covered, then it is fine. Bad move in the summer, when it is so hot and humid that all dreams turn to snow and ice cold baths and wouldn't it be nice if skin just peeled off because it's too damn hot to wear skin? I still have to have the t-shirt.
Winter is another thing entirely. Most people would prefer naked in my bed and here's why:
the mattress is covered by a very soft, fluffy duvet;
the duvet is covered by a sheet;
there is another sheet on top;
this is covered with a winter duvet (one of those double things);
on top of that is a lightweight quilt;
and on the top is the great big huge eiderdown cover I was given by a random aunt (it weighs about as much as The Child and she is hefty).

I don't like cold. And I have no qualms about big socks.

What time do you go to bed?
Whenever it feels like bedtime.

Song...