Thursday, February 26, 2009

25 things you don’t know about me (and probably don’t care either)

The baton has been passed to me by Ellie Lovell to create this list of 25 things you don't know about me, not that you probably care! Here goes

1)    I interviewed Prime Minister Tony Blair in a hotel room in Newport, Shropshire, when I was 21. I asked him about the recent petrol crisis and what advice he’d give to young voters like me. He didn’t get my vote.

2)    I am a control freak. This means that I’m highly organised, possibly even anal. I like to be prepared for things and I don’t like surprises, so I plan ahead for every eventuality. My control freakishness is mellowing as I get older and I’m much more open to being spontaneous these days.

3)    There’s nothing I love more than making people laugh. This sometimes means I say inappropriate things at inappropriate times but if it makes people smile it’s worth it. You can’t beat laughing, it’s one of my favourite things.

4)    I have spent a night on board HMS Ocean off the coast of Portugal with a bunch of Royal Marines. It was a tough job but someone had to do it! I had about five hours sleep in two days and I stupidly wore high heels – not good for walking on a beach – but it was a great experience. I even got to fly in one of those Squirrel helicopter things.

5)    I love reading and I read a lot. However, the books I read are pretty much limited to crime novels. I’d love to read other stuff but just can’t get into books without blood, murder, mystery and intrigue to get me turning the pages. In another life I would be Perry Mason, Detective Columbo, Poirot or Miss Marple.

6)    I failed my double award GCSE in Science at school. It was sent off to be remarked and I missed out by two points and was the only one in my year to fail it. If I’d taken a lower paper I would have passed. I will forever blame my teacher Mrs Miller for this.

7)    I have an extra vertebrae in my lower back. Most people have four and I have five.

8)    I’m a real believer in old fashioned pleases and thank yous. There’s no excuse for bad manners and rude people just make me cross.

9)     When I was little I wanted to be the female equivalent of Linford Christie, then I wanted to be an author, then I wanted to be a journalist. At least one of those things came true.

10)    One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was doing the high jump on sports day when I was in the second year of high school. The teacher made me take my skirt off so it wouldn’t knock the bar, so I had to do it in a T shirt and gym knickers. The boy of my dreams, Seth his name was and he was in the 4th year, was watching and I wanted to curl up and die. I was jumping over a pole in my pants for Christ's sake! No boy needed to see that. I actually won the event though and he came up to me and said well done afterwards. I wanted to marry him.

11)    I have twice been a finalist for the Headline of the Year category in the Midlands Media Awards when I worked as a newspaper sub-editor.

12)    My biggest fear is loneliness, closely followed by heights, closely followed by going bald.

13)    I had a huge crush on Jean Claude Van Damme when I was younger and as a result now own a lot of his films. The crush ended when I found out he was short.

14)    I have never smoked a cigarette.

15)     I live on my own and I totally love it. I think I’ve become institutionalised and pitty the man who ever decides to spend the rest of his life with me.

16)    I cannot touch my toes, I’m not even close. I am the least flexible person I know.

17)    I probably wouldn’t survive the week without playing competitive sport. I play volleyball and netball and not only does it keep me fit, it gets rid of all those tensions and frustrations. It’s a very good stress reliever. And the social side of sport is an added bonus.

18)    I had my nose pierced when I was 16 and wore a silver hoop in it. My mum said I looked like a pig.

19)    I’m not a very deep person, what you see is what you get with me. I generally say what I mean and I don’t do hidden meanings. Sometimes I feel like I’m not as intelligent or as clued up about things as I should be and I sometimes find it hard to get as excited about things as other people do.

20)    I have no idea why this is the case but a lot of people tell me their problems or come to me for advice about things. It’s nice to think that folk see me as approachable.

21)    I have always wanted to write a book and am determined to do so by the time I’m 30. 10 months to go then!

22)    I have mixed emotions about my childhood and while it wasn’t unhappy it was a tad turbulent at times. When my parents divorced I said I would never get ever get married if divorce was a possibility. That’s not a choice I’ve had to make yet but I do hope to be married one day. Now I am very close to my family and love them all very much, they're great.

23)    The most stressful time of my life was when I moved house, moved county, moved job and got dumped all at once. I had a house to sell so was paying mortgage and rent at the same time, started a stressful job as a newspaper editor in a town I’d only ever visited once, and my boyfriend dumped me a week before the move. It was a miserable, miserable time.

24 )   I once witnessed a jewellery store robbery from the window of my flat. I ran the story as an exclusive in my newspaper the next day, quoting myself as an anonymous witness, and only then did I call Crimestoppers.

25)   My dream job would be an FBI agent. Freeze!

Apparently I'm supposed to ask 25 people to do the same and compile their lists,  so if you're reading this, that means you!