Sunday, April 22, 2007

Interview meme

Saw this at the beach, formerly known as Percy, and thought it was a good idea. So here goes....
What do you miss most about where you were born?
Given that it's almost 40 years since I was there, the memories are pretty hazy. I miss childhood I think. I can still remember the places we used to play - the park across the road, which seemed huge then but probably wasn't, and "the debris" - an empty house block near one of my aunts' home. It was just a pile of rubble. I found out, years later, that the house had been bombed during the war and had just been left like that. 20 years after the war ended, the debris was still there. I miss my nanna too. She used to babysit us every Saturday night while mum'n'dad went out. We'd stay overnight and all sleep together in her big old bed (which, again, probably wasn't that big). She had a TV, colour to boot, which made it really special - we didn't have one (I was 13 before there was a television in the house). I remember we were allowed to watch The Monkees if we were good. :) I remember when we got news that she'd had a massive stroke and was in a coma - that's the only time I've ever seen my Dad cry. He and Mum flew back to England straight away. She died the day after they got there. Damn, now I've made myself get all teary!
When did you really feel you'd grown up?
Still waiting for that moment!
I think, seriously, when I bought my first car. I'd not long started teaching, was earning a decent wage and took out a loan for the car. That was probably the first, real grown-up thing I did. I don't think I felt very grown-up when I started work as I was only a few years older than the students. That gap has widened significantly since! I know, last night, I didn't so much feel grown-up as just plain old.
Tell us one of your best memories!
Too many of the good times ultimately ended up badly. I think I'll go with the three stand-out concerts I've been to - The Cure, Pink Floyd, Page and Plant. Music to die for in all three cases. Those are good memories that can't be soured by what came next.
One memory that always stays with me is from when I was 10 - coming home from school to see nanna waving from the upstairs window. That meant mum was home from hospital with the new baby, who turned out to be sister #2, Clare.
What scent or smell do you like best?
My sense of smell is shot to pieces by so many years of smoking. I only wear 'Opium' as a perfume as anything else smells funny on me, I think anyway. I like the smell of good essential oils in an oil burner. Mum's cooking is always a good smell. Roses - I wish I could have captured the smells of all the roses that I photographed at the arboretum the other day. Just gorgeous.
When I say music, what pops to mind?
Ha! Coming from Percy, as this question does, means Led Zeppelin. Good guitar playing. Also, I think immediately of my CD collection, the concerts I've been to, Byron Bay last week, the alternative country stuff that's on the radio at the moment (even tho' it's not really my cup of tea). I need to get the guitar out and actually start playing the thing instead of just gazing adoringly at it. :)

DIRECTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW MEME
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

3 comments:

Janet said...

awww, hon, I didn't mean to make you cry! I loved reading about your Nana, I have great memories of mine, also :-)

Shirl said...

what wonderful sweet memories, Julie. Very well done.

Okay, you can interview me, but I may lie on my answers. *grin*

Julie said...

Haha, Percy, I didn't mean to make me cry either. Fortunately there wa no-one in the shop at the time!

Ok Shirl, you're on. Now I have to think up some questions.....