Ninja jinger minge in Hot town, summery in the city - 2017

(Sorry, sometimes I can’t allow myself to be mature…)

12. What has someone else taught you that you never would’ve learned otherwise? Aside from the basics, like walking and dressing/feeding/cleaning yourself?

Hmmm. The person with whom I renovated a house many, many, many years ago. A person who doesn’t really deserve a mention other than that, prior to this experience, electricity and water could have travelled through houses by magic, for all I knew. In that renovation I helped to damp proof, re-wire, turn a window into a door and a door into a window. I put up ceilings and re-discovered a huge, open, bricked up fireplace. I learned a lot of stuff that I definitely wouldn’t know now if I hadn’t had that hands-on experience.

Then, a few years later, I took on a temporary nanny job while the regular nanny was off skiing and the mum was… um…. well, let’s put it this way, she had a bad reputation amongst nanny agencies for what she expected from a nanny… I worked 6 days a week (only for four weeks though, thankfully) for quite a low income (as far as nannies go) while she ‘did lunch’ and went shopping… anyway, she was incredibly particular about the way some things were done and hovered over me to ensure I did them her way, and there are a few things I still do her way because they’re better while feeling a certain resentment inside because I learned them from her 🤣🤣

Examples? Well, ironing a shirt on the inside gets better smoothness around the seams and putting super cold water into a scrambled egg pan as soon as you’ve finished making it so it doesn’t stick as much, are two I can think of!

Okay, when I was an au pair (in between the two previous examples) I had a friend who could sunbathe for an Olympic gold. I used to get bored, wanting to do something when I went to a beach, but I was au pairing in Florida so we went to the beach every weekend and she taught me to be able to chill out and relax at the beach. I guess it’s a kind of mindfulness and I’m sure it was where I learned to love the beach so much. It’s the smells and sounds that draw me in so much, and those are what I often focused on as we lay, slathered in factor 50, under the Floridian sun.

I’m sure there are more since we learn more from so many people with whom we interact but we often don’t recognise that we have learned something new through that meeting.

And there’s a beautiful lady here who recommended the Nailner liquid that I use every night for full on chemical warfare against Phil (yes, I’ve given the toenail fungus a name…)

Well, thaaaaaat’s all folks!!