'Life is good' award

A dubious ‘award’ sent to me by fellow Dubai blogger Seabee.

I don’t normally do these memes, but as this one’s from such an august blogger, here goes...

1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy with this? If you aren’t anonymous, do you wish you started out anonymously so that you could be anonymous now?

I’m quite happy with my anonymous status. Most people who know me personally also know who the Grumpy Goat is, as does everyone who’s chatted with me at a GeekFest. I don’t use a blog (or anything else for that matter) for inflammatory personal attacks. If I did, I’d be a lot more secretive about my identity!

2. Describe an incident that describes your stubborn side.

I won’t let go when Officialdom has got it catastrophically wrong yet again. Of course, complaining is utterly futile other than misery loving company. Please come and comment about your similar experiences with the same workshop, telco or government ministry.

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

I think I must have anorexia nervosa. Every time I look in the mirror I see a fat person. And older than I like too. Nevertheless, old beats the pants out of the alternative.

4. What is your favourite summer cold drink?

Proper English Real Ale. But a refreshing ice tea – strong; no sugar; loads of lemon – will suit me very nicely thank you if I’m driving.

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

Desert driving in the Goatmobile, riding my motorbike or, if at all possible, scuba diving. I’ve been too busy for the last year or so for nearly enough of any of these.

6. Is there something that you still want to accomplish in your life?

Finalise the design of the Dream House^(TM) in Cyprus, and get it built. And learn to play the piano And fly a helicopter.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person or always ditching?

The shy overachiever, except on the sports field. I hated being bullied largely because of this, and was relieved when I turned sixteen and a lot of the bullies left school. Further relief when I left school a couple of years later, but that was partly because A-levels proved shockingly difficult. I never played truant from school.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see?

I don’t really want to visualize this, but if I think of something poignant it’s my father’s funeral. It was deeply emotional to walk into a large and utterly packed church.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog, or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people and events?

Sometimes the blog is ‘My Not Very Secret Diary’; other times it’s a place to vent my frustrations or expound my opinions. There may be a touch of parody and a soupçon of hyperbole, and I do try to write in an entertaining style. There’s very little if anything there that’s total fiction.

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

This depends on my mood. Sometimes I just want a private, quiet time and the book wins. Other times I prefer to chat. Face to face, possibly over a meal or a drink, is better than the phone.

And the three lucky winners are:-ex-Dubai now USA J Edward Tremlett; ex-Dubai now Turkey IstanBilly; and ex-Argentina now Germany Martín with the GTR.

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