Blog Every Day in May - Blog 30 - Who Inspires Me

I'm so close to the end of the 'Blog Every Day in May' challenge, but this is probably the subject that's challenged me more than any of the others, so apologies if it's quite brief. There is no single person who inspires me. The best I can do is think of some people who've inspired me in certain areas of my life.

School and career seem to recur in other blogs as points in life at which people have been inspired. However, I honestly can't think of anyone who inspired me to follow the career path I did, nor anyone who's particularly inspired me along the day. I made the decision of what I was going to do and doggedly pursued it. I'm quite self motivating and have relied on that, more than anything else, throughout my career.

I guess I've been inspired by people in my hobbies. I love photography and have met people who have inspired me either with the work they've produced, their enthusiasm for it, or both. Prime examples are Becky Male and Derek Prescott. If I had the talent and wherewithal, I'd love to be a photographer, so I like to take a glimpse into their worlds, even if it is with a tinge of jealousy.

On a more personal level, my husband inspires me with his ability to get on with life, whatever is thrown at him. I'm fully aware that I'm a terrible patient when I'm ill, I don't like company, just want to sit on my own and stew. Andrew though just tries to get on with life, whether he's not feeling well or has other stresses. I honestly think if I had his medical files, I'd spend an awful lot of time feeling sorry for myself, but I much prefer his outlook of not letting anything stop him, well, not since he spent almost a week in hospital after a biking accident. We've both had a stressful year, and again, I don't cope too well with stress, I get run down and ill, which brings on the moping and feeling sorry for myself. He's much more in the mindset of working through things, knowing he'll come through the other end eventually. You'd have hoped this might have rubbed off on me by now!

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 29 - Morning Ritual

 As luck would have it, the day I blog about my morning rituals is also the day I oversleep, waking up at 7am instead of 6.30am. From there I sprung out of bed and into the bathroom for a little of this...

and a lot of this...

I then grabbed my Fitbit and jewellery, some clothes and then made myself presentable. It took all of this...

then I dried my hair with this...

brushed my hair through, collected my bag and headed downstairs. No time to eat breakfast or to make lunch as I overslept, so I knocked back a cup of tea, grabbed a yogurt and banana and headed out of the door.

Not quite the way I'd have planned it, but it's not an unusual workday morning! It was only on my drive in that I realised I'd left my shoes at home (I change out of my trainers when I get to the office), plus my building pass, plus my spare building pass which I had to borrow when I forgot mine last week. Bad times!

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 28 - Bad advice

Image courtesy of zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I've struggled to think of a specific piece of bad advice I've had, partly because the people around me are quite sensible and rarely give advice, but if they do it's worth listening to, and partly because if it was that bad I'd probably just ignore it and forget about it. 

The worst advice I can remember being given was by a recruitment agent. Clearly now I wouldn't take advice from someone with such a vested interest in my decision, but I was young and naive back then. 

I'd started job hunting and one of the recruitment agencies told me about a great opportunity at a local firm who were well known for the quality of training they provided, and that it would be a great move for me. Taking them at their word, I went for an interview, was offered the job and accepted. 

It soon became abundantly clear that I'd made a horrible mistake. It was like I'd gone back in time. For the first time in my career there were some clients I wasn't allowed to work on as they wouldn't have a woman on site. I was also treated like a first year trainee, despite having five years of experience, as I wasn't following their chosen training route. I spent a lot of time bored and stuck in the office, which was made worse by the fact that no-one talked in the office!

I made myself a pledge that I'd stick it out for a year, but in the end I only managed nine months. I decided that although it might raise questions about lack of commitment, one short spell of employment on my CV would do less harm than spending more time in a job where I was de-skilling on a daily basis. Luckily I found another job fairly quickly. I still remember how one of the partners wouldn't even look at me after I resigned, let alone speak to me. I was so pleased to be leaving that I really didn't care. I had a renewed spring in my step, which must have annoyed them as they only held me to half of my notice period. I still remember literally skipping down the road to my car after I'd cleared my desk. At least it made for a good tale to tell in interviews!

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 27 - Secret Talent

Image courtesy of  luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

I've been wondering for most of the month what I'd write about when this subject came along as I couldn't think of any secret talents I have. Normally if I'm good at things, they'll be things I do regularly and as a result they're no longer a secret. I'm great at finding anything anyone has ever needed to know on Google, not bad with software, pretty good at managing people and if I drop something, can normally catch it before it hits the ground. None of these could be described as a secret talent though.

The one thing that did come to mind is a skill I had when I was younger and rarely think about. I had perfect pitch. Perfect pitch is basically the ability to recognise (or being able to reproduce) a musical note with no reference. I'm not sure whether I developed it after hours of piano, flute and clarinet lessons, or when it appeared, but it was useful, and made it easy to know when a piano needed tuning.

It's years since I played any musical instrument, so I'm unsure if I still have it. I still love music, but restrict myself nowadays to singing along to music in the car or at home. I'd love to play the piano, but don't want to be one of those people who sits down at a piano only to play chopsticks as it's the only thing they can remember. Maybe one day...

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 26 - Fantasy Dinner Party

Image courtesy of  -Marcus- / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

I've read plenty of these posts in the past, but have never really given any thought until now, as to who my fantasy dinner party guests would be. I've set myself some rules, that no fictional characters are allowed (no Harry Potter or Doctor Who), and everyone must be alive (no Pharaohs or Shakespeare, I'm afraid). On that basis, I think my five guests would be:

David Mitchell

David Mitchell never fails to make me laugh when I catch him on the television. Although I'd not expect him to be in full stand up mode, hopefully my other guests should give him enough ammunition for a few well-placed comments.

Robbie Williams

This could either go really well, and he'd be incredibly entertaining and on top form, or make the whole thing car crash entertainment. Either way, I'm willing to give it a go, just to see what he's really like when the spotlight's not on him.

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry seems to make a lot of these lists, so it's no wonder he's looking so well fed! Stephen's intelligent and knowledgeable and would, I'm sure, ensure there wouldn't be any awkward silences at the table. We'd no doubt all come away from the table having learned something.

Sarah Millican

Sarah Millican really makes me laugh, I love her observational humour and northern references. I also didn't want an entirely male table of guests, although I am a little concerned I seem to be hosting an episode of QI!

Terry Wogan

I liked the idea of having a member of the older generation present, I'm sure Terry could keep the youngsters under control with his deep Irish voice. Having listened to a Janet and John episode in the dentist one day that was so thick with double entendre that it almost made me blush, I tend to think he's got a wicked sense of humour and would fit right in.

If anyone could call round their agents and set this up for me, it would be much appreciated. Just give me enough warning so I can organise the catering!

 

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 25 - Music Love

Although I'm aware I'm supposed to blog about my five favourite albums, I don't really listen to albums nowadays. I tend just to listen to playlists on my phone. Back in the good old days of vinyl, I used to love putting on an album and listening to it, being disturbed only to turn it over. Back then I'd have easily been able to come up with five, but I'll save you from a delve through my vinyl collection in the spare bedroom.

Instead, I've tried to come up with my five favourite tracks. I can't promise these are my definitive top five, they might change if you were to ask me tomorrow, but they'll at least give an insight into my music tastes.

The Day I Died by Just Jack is simply beautiful, full of emotion. The video with James Nesbitt makes it even more poignant for anyone who doesn't listen to lyrics.

 I love Stevie Wonder, I love his voice, the base in his tracks and the feel good nature of his music. Although the lyrics don't quite fit, I had Signed, Sealed, Delivered as part of my wedding playlist. I had to find a way of sneaking in some of his music!

Not the best video in the world, but I love this track, You Do Something to Me, by Paul Weller. Again, I love his voice, it's got real soul in it. I could listen to this over and over.

I used to listen to a lot of early Springsteen when I was younger. I remember borrowing the 'Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ' tape from the library and almost wearing it through from continuous play. Ain't Good Enough for You, is one of Bruce Springsteen's more recent releases. It makes me smile and I love the rhythm. A good feel good piece of music.

Robbie Williams is unashamedly my guilty pleasure. He's a fantastic entertainer and can really capture an audience. Although something like Angels would be a more obvious choice, I love Me and My Monkey, it's such a random track, but at the same time showcases Robbie's vocal talents. It never fails to make me smile. I'm just gutted Robbie's not coming to Cardiff in this year's arena tour.

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 24 - What's in my fridge

It might be a bit of a blessing that I'm doing this post a little late, as we get our groceries delivered over the weekend and so on a Friday our fridge is generally fairly bare. That said, this looks fairly sparse, but if you think this looks empty, you should see it on a Friday!

I never thought I'd be showing off the contents of my fridge, but here goes!

At the top we've got some bread, a container of fresh coffee, some nutty rice salad, Philadelphia Light (can you tell it was on offer?!) and a few jars of jam and marmalade. The next shelf down has a few yogurts, a bottle of Wooden Hand Brewery beer (I think it made my husband's day when we found this in Morrisons yesterday!), some beetroot, coleslaw and marinade. The shelf below contains some J20s, tomato ketchup, brown sauce barbecue sauce and jalepeno relish, plus some of that Flora Cuisine cooking oil that Vernon Kay advertises. The bottom shelf has a couple of pots of rhubarb yogurt (amazing with some muesli for breakfast), some salmon, a stir fry sauce which I'm hoping to try next week, a couple of bottles of soft drink. This is where the healthy eating collapses. We're both at the orthodontist this week and so need soft food for a couple of days. We've got a Charlie Bigham's moussaka and cottage pie, plus a couple of cauliflower cheese servings. Oh well, it's only once every six weeks.

 In the vegetable crisper there is half a lettuce, some tomatoes, mushrooms and green beans.

 

 Oh, and a bag of new potatoes. Delicious.

The fridge door is a bit of a dumping ground, with various sauces and purees. There's a lump of halloumi which must be getting near it's use by date and some sour cream and chive dips left over from one of our Dominos binges. There are also a few chocolate bars, we share one at night when we need a treat. My favourite thing is the milk, bizarrely. Sainsbury's gave away these milk jugs years ago, but we've only recently started using them now they're stocking skimmed and 1% milk in milk bags. It cuts down significantly on the amount of plastic recycling we create, and it's somehow easier to pour from a jug than a bottle. Is it odd that this is the main thing I'd recommend in our fridge?