11 Facts About Me and the UK

A number of bloggers have been posting 11 fun facts about themselves.  Beantown Prepster recently did it and encouraged her silent readers to do the same.  I, one of her silent readers, wanted to participate, but I wanted to keep it tangentially relevant to the things you come here to read about.  So…

Here are eleven fun facts about me that somehow relate to the UK.  I hope you enjoy!

1. My first visit to London was at Christmas, 2001.  We stayed in the Russell Hotel on Russell Square.

2. I have had 4 UK visas – three to work and one to study. As of January 2013, I will need a fifth!

3. I have 21 UK stamps in my current passport.

4. My favorite English actor or actress is Emma Thompson, and I had the pleasure of meeting her in Cambridge.

5. I secretly enjoy going to the mega ASDA near us.  Being able to buy lunch plus a new pair of socks plus a vacuum cleaner all in one place reminds me of home (TAAAAAARGETTTT!!!)

6. I was living in London on July 7, 2005.

7. I love London Walks, and I have been on 11 of them!  My hands-down favorite was a special P.G. Wodehouse walk that J took me on for my birthday in 2010.

8. When I was seven, I memorized every line from My Fair Lady, which I watched at least once a week. When we first came to London, we couldn’t leave until we’d been to Wimpole Street. Sadly, 27A doesn’t exist, but it’s still “the street where you live.”

9. In 2005, we spent every Sunday morning at Speakers’ Corner, where I had a favorite speaker. Her name was Diana, she was in her 50s probably, and she dressed like she was going to church 30 years ago – hat, kid gloves, pastel dresses.  She wanted all of us non-English people to go back to wherever we came from.  And she didn’t just mean immigrants.  She meant native blacks, brown people, and Asians too… if you weren’t white, you weren’t English.  The thing was, she was a brilliant debater.  I’ve never seen better debate skills!  Even though her position was ridiculous, she could calmly and resolutely demolish anyone who challenged her.  An older Irish man also came to see her every week to ask her to go out with him.

10. When I was very, very little, one of my favorite shows was Super Ted, which turns out to be from Wales!  It was the first British cartoon series ever aired on The Disney Channel.  I also loved Count Duckula, another ’80s British cartoon import.

(source)

11. When I was unemployed and out of school, I used to play along with the contestants on Countdown, keeping score and everything!  Sometimes I did better than the competitors on the show!  Surprisingly, I tended to do much better on the numbers puzzles.

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BP also posed 11 questions for respondents to answer:

1) If you could have a theme song to play when you walk down the street what would it be?

Short Skirt, Long Jacket by Cake

2) If you could only watch one TV Show for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

Oh dear lord.  I might pick Golden Girls.  It’s still wickedly funny, but it also has the nostalgia factor, reminding me of weekends with my grandmother.

3) French fries: Skinny and crispy or big and mushy?

As long as they’re skinny, I don’t mind if they’re crispy or soggy, a la McDonald’s fries.

4) What is your guilty pleasure outfit?

Short, pretty, cotton sundresses.  I have a couple cheap ones from Target that I could wear every single day in the summer.

5) Soda: Fountain, bottle or can?

Fountain always tastes best to me!

6) Favorite thing to do at the gym?

Is this a trick question, since everything at the gym sucks?  I guess it’d be the stationary bike.  I can read while I do that.

7) If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

Probably Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles.  They have beautiful homes overlooking the ocean, but you’re not a long drive from everything like in Malibu.

8) What was your first animal and do you remember its name?

My dad came home with a kitten once when I was about two or three.  We named him Tommy, but unfortunately we couldn’t keep him because both of my parents are allergic to cats.  We made sure to find a nice home for him, though.

9) What is one thing that you carry in your purse that you absolutely cannot live without?

Nothing, really.  I’m not a big purse kind of girl.  My iPod is probably my favorite thing I carry around.

10) What is your most embarrassing habit?

Argh, I crack my knuckles constantly, and I know it bugs people.

11) If you could meet and be BFFs in real life with a blogger that you follow, who would it be and why?

I don’t have an answer off the top of my head, but I guess I’d pick one of the runner girls I enjoy reading.  They could motivate me on days when I’m being fat and lazy, like this entire week!

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I’m not going to tag anyone, but feel free to jump in and play too if you want to!