30 things about me for Kerrie

About a month ago, Kerrie suggested that we supply 30 facts about ourselves. Of course I can no longer find the original message, but will post this all the same.

1) It will be surprising if I haven’t yet missed the deadline for this.
I tend to live by a “more haste less speed” rule rather than the “focus” or “simplify” that I mean to adopt.

2) Purple is my favourite colour, despite having worn a purple and grey uniform in secondary school. I look good in it. I also feel drawn to the ochres and acid greens that complement the purples, but only in minute quantities.

3) The NHS just replaced my digital hearing aids with more modern purple ones (my choice). I have had some hearing loss since childhood, but this got worse when I developed tinnitus in my listening ear about 15 years ago.

4) I am a hoarder, but very good at “cosmetic” tidying. Paper follows me home and piles itself up all over the place. Yarn and fine wire do likewise.

5) I am a serial sampler. This means that I have many small examples of different techniques. Some of this eventually gets made into jewellery.

6) Blackcurrants are my favourite fruit and my favourite vegetable is spinach.

7) My favourite comfort food is an apple with a handful of almonds.

8) I get really excited by colour. Yesterday I saw a woman dressed in black, applying red lipstick from a stylish red holder while carrying a crimson bag and wearing a large red ring. I just had to tell her how exciting it looked. I just wish that I’d had a camera with me.

9) I don’t draw enough. I could have drawn it all if I’d had a sketchbook with me. I didn't start really drawing until I was on my art foundation course ten years ago. Now I take a sketchbook and pen with me when I travel.

10) I have 5 younger sisters and 3 younger brothers. This might explain my sometimes bossy "big sister" act.

11) I love silk. Apparently as a small baby I got very excited by it. I still gravitate towards silk and other natural fibres for clothing.

12) I never lived with a TV until 1994. When I was young we lived near my father's parents, who had one. But we only saw it on Friday afternoon after school. This was a bit of a conversation stopper at times.

13) I have naturally curly hair. I think that I just chose the right parents. People pay lots to have their hair done like mine, and it rarely looks as good.

14) I sometimes think that I talk too much. Others would say that this is true. Don’t forget that the hearing loss makes it easier for me to talk than to listen, and I have had a varied and at times exciting life.

15) I make all the bread we eat by hand. Kneading dough is good fun and I sometimes use it to get rid of frustrations.

16) I speak German fairly fluently, but don't like to write it. I learnt the hard way, by working in Switzerland as a waitress where only my boss spoke any English. I only saw her for about 15 minutes each day.

17) In the summer of 1977, my trench on an archaeological dig in Cyprus provided a big surprise - neolithic plaster faced mudbrick walls. A few pictures of the site at Kalvassos (Tenta) can be found here. I was just lucky, as the trench had been partially excavated by another person, and I just took it over half way through. She hadn't got as far as the exciting part. This was one of the major finds in Cyprus that year.

18) Despite being fairly short, I have a long back (and short legs). Thus I buy most of my t-shirts etc. from Long Tall Sally, as most stores don't make them long enough.

19) As far as I know I could knit before I first went to school aged five. I'm still knitting, thinking about knitting and learning about knitting half a century on.

20) I got my first bicycle at five. I still consider cycling the best way to travel anything up to about five miles from home. I am also very happy to walk when not cycling. Although I can drive, and have a licence, I'd rather not.

21) Despite cycling and walking to most places I am not all that fit. Now I no longer work in a library too much of my day is spent sitting and doing things. Now, is there some way to install a treadmill to power up equipment? Then I could work and power it at the same time.

22) Since I was in my 40's I NEED glasses to see details on anything closer than my knees. I spend quite a bit of time wondering where I put my glasses down the last time I wore them. I don't want to wear a cord or chain on them. I also hunt for my watch nearly as many times.

23) I always take a small cotton drawstring bag with me when I leave the house. Among other things this contains a x10 lens for looking at details of textiles etc. and spare hearing aid batteries.

24) When I was in Canada in the 70's I danced with an Estonian folk dance team. I had to learn enough Estonian to understand the dancemaster's commands. I even mastered their triple polka. Those were the days!

25) People never believe thatI am English. I am frequently asked if I am Israeli, Italian, Greek, Arab..... I am English, and despite my dark skin, hair and eyes the only known foreign blood is a little Swedish on my mother's side.

26) I prefer to travel backwards, particularly in trains. I think that this originally came from being a bit travel sick as a child.

27) I don't like too much heat, as it makes it hard to move energetically. I'd rather dress up to keep warm. I do like to see a bit of sun though.

28) At school, and afterwards, I was always in a choir, and until in my late 20's was in the first sopranos. I have great memories of performing in the St. Catherines Symphony Chorus conducted by Leonard Atherton, in the mid 70's. Now I have difficulty singing at all , and on the rare occasions that I do, put my fingers on my throat to check how good a note I am producing.

29) I prefer to produce 3 D art work rather than 2 D. Come along to the Long Eaton Art Room and see some of my knitted wire pieces on display.

30) I walked down the garden this morning and picked strawberries (pretty much the last), raspberries, gooseberries, red- and blackcurrants to add to my muesli. Life can't get much better than that, can it?