20 Days of Blogging: 10 things you didn’t know about me (Day 8)

Joining in on Saga’s 20 days of Blogging Challenge was always something I intended doing but just never got around to. So better late than never, I thought I’d start by picking a random number.

Day 8 – 10 things you didn’t know about me!

I. I hate lifts. I’d rather walk up twenty flights of stairs than set foot inside a lift because they are demonic creatures likely to turn on you the second you show weakness. When I was eleven or so, I lived on the 4th floor of an apartment building. Normally I’d always use the stairs, better exercise and I was unlikely to get stuck. However this one particularly day, a friend and I had been roller-skating and rather than take our skates off, we decided to be lazy. We had however forgotten one highly important factor, the lift always jerks slightly when moving off. Now whilst this is fine when you’re stood up, it’s not so good when you’re on wheels. So one minute we were standing there chatting, next, we were on the floor in considerable pain. To add insult to injury, at school we had to wear gym knickers (for those of you who never had the “pleasure”, think very short hotpants) for games, which did not come close to covering my rather extensive bruising. To this day, I know my teachers didn’t believe my “the lift beat me” story. They looked oddly at my father for many parent’s evenings to come. Now I’m sure most logical minds would apportion blame to the roller-skates and continue using lifts, but I swear that evil mechanical construct saw it’s chance and took it. I’ll stick to the stairs thanks.

2. I have a birthmark in the shape of a Space Invader on my stomach.

3. I once drove across Mexico, coast to coast and back in a car with no number plates. This is an “awesome” way of meeting local law enforcement. I still hear people yelling “sin placa” in my sleep. Much to our surprise, even when we were speeding, they were mostly all polite and friendly. We got told off a few times but that was it, they were more interested in where we came from and what we thought of their country than anything else.

4. I’ve been fascinated with crocodiles, dinosaurs and sharks ever since I can remember.

Look at their “hands”!

5. My nick name at University was Scarlet. You may use your imaginations to decide why. I might even award a cookie to anyone who guesses correctly in the comments.

6. My perfect meal would be Sopa de Lima, Jägerschnitzel and my Great Grandmamma’s Apple Doughnuts. If you’ve never tried the first two, shame on you! If you have tried the third, then we’re probably related… hmm this is awkward.

7. My first crush was on a guy who had the Grim Reaper tattoo’d on one arm and a naked lady on the other. He was a soldier and my Dad was his boss, he also got to babysit for me and boy, did I learn a lot from him. Including the fact that should I ever have kids, I won’t be letting a 20 year old soldier with a large porn collection and no sense of responsibility look after them. He also taught me to swear in multiple languages (handy for swearing in front of your parents when they don’t speak said languages), how to shoot and how to put my hair in a French plait, all of which are useful life skills.

8. Scooby Doo and the Headless Horseman terrified me for years. I’d just got over that when I watched Sleepy Hollow and promptly got scared again.

9. Scottish Country Dancing almost killed me and I have the scar to prove it! (I treat it with the same caution I show to lifts these days).

10. I can get lost anywhere, supermarkets, barrow dens in WoW, cities laid out on grids. Doesn’t matter how simple it may seem to most people, I can still manage to get misplaced. It annoys my husband considerably since I don’t think he’s ever been lost in his life (at least not that he’d admit to). In fact I think he’d like to keep me on one of these.