A Survey Doing The Rounds (with pics) in Scottish Meanderings

There's been a death in the family - the first of my generation - and it's rattled me - and Nikki pissed me off bigtime yesterday so I'm doing this survey instead. Might write about the other two next time once I've processed it all.

What is the reason you last got a new cell phone?
Because I had an ancient iPhone 5C which had about 2mm of space left in it and I was fed up of constantly having to delete stuff from it to get more room! I also knew I was overpaying EE every month to the tune of £25 because I had been too ill to do any researching and switching when my contract ran out in 2017. I managed to keep it going with a new battery for another couple of years until I was recovered enough to be able to do the necessary research and shopping around at which point I bought myself a beautiful red XR and am now paying a much healthier £6 (sim only) a month. And don't regret it for a second.

Do you enjoy Math(s)?
I did at school although wasn’t so hot at geometry. Loved arithmetic though and still do.

Are you more masculine or feminine?
I probably lean more to the feminine side but I'm not a girly girl in the sense of makeup or dresses/skirts - more a quick flash of eyeliner and jeans and boots all year round :)

Has anyone ever told you that you’re their favourite?
Yes :)

How many albums do you have by the band/artist you’re listening to?
Four - not currently listening to anything but the last thing I was playing was Fleetwood Mac.





What are you doing tomorrow?
Hopefully cutting the grass and weeding the back garden if I can persuade the rain to stay off for five minutes!

Which name have you kissed the most people with?
This is such a badly worded question! I’ve kissed two or three Johns from memory but the question reminded me of something which happened years ago. I was a student nurse at the time and all the nurses were talking about this medium who lived close to the hospital who gave really accurate readings. She didn’t charge - just asked for donations if you could afford it so as you can imagine she was pretty popular.

So I booked to go and see her.

The sitting itself was fairly short but she was shockingly accurate with a couple of things. However they were both in the future so I didn’t know that at the time - I just rated it as a bit of a laugh.

At one point she said she saw the names Tom, Harry and Bob as being significant and also said she could see me in a ring situation in a year to a year and a half’s time. I joked with my friend afterwards that I’d already had Tom and Harry so just had Bob to go!! And I had absolutely no intentions of getting married that quickly.

Fast forward to the following year and we’re joking now about where the hell was Bob?? He was taking his time making an appearance and as we were almost at a year after the sitting he’d better get a move on!

Shortly after this I met Boyd.

There was a lot of ribbing along the lines of oh nearly but not quite which I took in good spirits - until one day on literally our second weekend together he was taking me to his local pub in the town for a drink. Which was actually the same pub which caused Aberdeen to go into lockdown last week now that I think of it!

We’re standing at the traffic lights waiting to cross the road when he turns to me casually and says “Oh by the way don’t be surprised if folk call me Bob in this place!” He literally had to almost drag me across the street because I was standing there with my mouth hanging open in shock while the green mannie was flashing!!

Apparently someone had misheard his name at some point (it’s quite an unusual one for Scotland), knew his Dad was called Bob and assumed he was called the same after him and he just hadn’t bothered to correct them and sure enough it was “Hi Bob how’s it going?” all over the place as soon as we walked in.

And six months later we were engaged :) (so I met him a year after the sitting almost to the day and was engaged a year and a half after it).

Closest fast food place to your house?
Mcdonald’s.

Does your city/town have a Taco Bell in it?
Apparently there’s one opening in August - 5th in Scotland and 47th in the UK. So thanks for that because I would not have known these useless facts otherwise :)

Do you enjoy All You Can Eat buffets?
Yes because I like to be in control of what I eat and how much I eat so they’re perfect for me.

Post a picture of yourself from about 2-3 months ago.
That's kind of difficult in lockdown! I couldn't find one in May but here's Ruari & I going for a very wet walk one day in June not long after he finally found his feet and started walking!


Have you ever seen the band/artist you’re listening to live?
No. Would have liked to though.

Who was your best friend 3 years ago?
Janice. Has been for the last 45 years :)


Do you have any 'e-buddies'?
I'm taking this to be online friends in which case I have loads of lovely people in here, some of whom I've been 'talking' to for 20 years :) I have a handful of others as well, friendships which have evolved from websites I used to go on and have lasted.

Have you done anything productive today?
Not very - I was out at Nikki's for several hours yesterday so have only caught up with Prosebox, checked my e-mail and started this entry so far today.

Reason you last pulled an all-nighter?
The only all-nighters I pull these days are those which have resulted from since the chronic fatigue came into my life (ironically). I get a completely sleepless night every month/two months or so. No idea why. I've just learned to live with it.

What design is on the last cup you used?
It was a mug and was one of two my sister bought me when I moved in here. It always makes me smile when I look at it :)


Did you watch Garfield as a child?
No but he appeared as a comic strip somewhere I think so I remember reading that.

Did you watch What-a-Mess?
Think this was probably after my time :)

Do you have a charm on your phone?
Not a charm as such - there used to be this cute l'il ladybird but it fell off at some point :(


Last thing you bought over $50?
Was a pair of these snazzy (but practical) boots from Deichmann which were badly needed as my old ones had a hole in the front of them. I don't normally let my footwear get so run down but that's what lockdown+needtotryontoknowsize results in!




What colour is the last lighter you used?
Well given that the last time I smoked was in 1977 and I've had no use for a lighter ever since, I think I could be forgiven for not remembering!

Last thing you printed off a computer?
My new car insurance certificate.

Last thing you threw in the garbage?
A Fruit Corner (red cherry) lid.

Do you know anyone not related to you with your last name?
I do yes. I had thought my last name was fairly unusual but there are quite a few of us around apparently! There's a younger version of my exact full name living about 5 minutes away from me in Aberdeen and my art teacher at school had my exact (full) name as well which was pretty freaky. What's more, she went to Art School with my brother who obviously had the same last name. Small world.

How many band shirts do you have, and which ones?
Precisely none.

What are you happiest about this year so far?
That no-one close to me has succumbed to COVID.

Last person you hugged?
Nikki.

Last cut/injury you received?
Absolutely no idea.

Do you shave your leg all at once, or do you do it in halves?
I'm not exactly sure what this means but because I live in jeans all the time I'm notoriously bad for not doing them for months but when I do I shave the bottom half only and do one leg at a time.

Is life hard?
It can be and the sooner you realise that the better. The trick is to find ways of dealing with the hard bits and enjoying the good bits when they come.

Who does the song you’re listening to remind you of?
I'm not listening to anything at the moment - the last song I heard was Fleetwood Mac but the last thing I listened to was in the car yesterday and was Michael Nyman's Big My Secret from the film The Piano. Absolutely beautiful and made me think of the film and that I would quite like to watch it again.


Last message you received?
Was from my friend Ronnie at 1.30 this morning 'Yeah Jesus in a dress. Oh it's Sunday - going to get struck by lightening now😄'
(Don't ask.)

Do you eat your vegetables?
I do - love me veggies.

Is Nutella amazing?
Never been a fan myself.

Have you ever had anything pierced that isn’t anymore?
Only piercings are in my ears and all holes are present and correct!

Would you consider yourself 'tough'?
Physically no. Mentally certainly a lot tougher than I used to be since being ill - I know I bang on about it a lot but it was a horrific experience to go through and I was shocked at the reaction to it from some quarters. Quarters I thought I could rely on. So that toughened me up.

Well that's a really bright place to finish isn't it?? Here's a cheery pic to end with instead - came across this family on my walk the other night :)