A Guy Called Bloke (That’s Rory) Has Nominated Me For The Mystery Blogger Award

While I was suffering from Lady Man-Flu last weekend, Rory, the creator of A Guy Called Bloke and K9 Doodlepip! very kindly took pity on me and gifted me by nominating me for an award – The Mystery Blogger Award, as you can see from his fabulous post below.

https://aguycalledbloke.blog/2019/01/13/mystery-blogger-award-6-7/

But before you check that post out – please promise me you will check out Rory’s voice in the podcast where Bottomlesscoffee allowed Rory to have the mic!

Rory’s Radio Rodeo

What is the Mystery Award?

“Mystery Blogger Award” is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion.
– Okoto Enigma

Rules

1. Put the award logo/image on your blog
2. List the rules
3. Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog – THANK YOU RORY!
4. Answer the questions from the blogger who nominated you
5. Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well
6. Tell your readers 3 things about yourself
7. You have to nominate 10 – 20 people
8. Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog
9. Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify)
10. Share a link to your best post(s)

Now Rory explained in his post that he is taking a fresh and fun approach to nominations and awards this year. His nominees have options as to how they receive the award. I am going to pass this to my nominees too, because I know some may find it very time consuming to fulfil all those rules listed above.

I am going to try to think of three things about me I may not have told you yet, answer Rory’s questions, try to think of some questions to ask other bloggers and nominate ten other bloggers for the award. It takes ages to do all of this, as I am sure you all know – but I am going to work on it a little at a time. Hey these awards are fun, and they save me from writing laments about lost love – so I am going to continue to make the most of them!

Three Things About Me

1. I love jam and preserves, but I always have a spot develop within a couple of days of eating jam (that’s jelly to Americans I believe). Lots of people have told me that is not possible, they say foods don’t cause spots. But my mumma and me have exactly the same problem. Neither of us get spots normally. I sailed through my teenage years with hardly any. But if I eat jam…a spot will follow. My biggest weakness is morello cherry jam. I bought some when I was up north and we went to a farm shop. Guess what happened. My first spot in two years!

2. I once had to single-handedly dig an oil tanker out of the snow…I was wearing a dress and wellington boots. It is a long story, it would need an entire post to explain. But there was only me and the driver of the oil tanker. He was stuck. So I had to dig out a route for him out while he was in the cabin trying to get that brute off the rather grand estate I was living on. The family who lived in the manor house were on holiday. Our nearest neighbours were almost a mile away, and the lane to them was treacherously icy. Just as he managed to get out onto the main road, a car came swinging round into the driveway. It was the family who owned the estate. They had travelled back earlier than expected because the friend’s they were with had received terrible news of a relative involved in an accident. They all sat there in the car in amazement as they realized I had been digging a path for the oil tanker on my own. It was one of those moments!

3. During my first ever shopping trip without my parents, I went to Manchester with my younger sister Mandy and the £100 of my pocket money I had saved up for months before. I spent all my money within an hour. As my sister and I were deciding what to do without any money to spend, police began to tape off the area we had been walking through. That morning a bomb (which we must have walked past at least twice) exploded destroying Manchester city center.

Rory’s Questions For His Nominees

What is something that is really popular now, but in 5 years everyone will look back on and be embarrassed by?

I do think selfies are a bizarre phenomenon. Very very bizarre in many cases.

I took a selfie of myself (yes this blurry photo is of me) whenever I was wearing a dress my sister had lent me, so she could see how it looked. She lived up north and she would post a dress to me in London when I needed something nice to wear for a party or event. Mandy is a great shopper, she finds amazing dresses at little cost.

But taking selfies and posting them online – yuck! And what is with all the pouting and provocative poses? It terrifies me how many revealing and explicit photos people are posting of themselves. They have taken a shocking photo of themselves and they are choosing to put it out into the public domain.

I am sure that it was often after imbibing some sort of alcohol that many of these crazy photos have been taken and shared with the world. I would hope that people will feel embarrassed by what they have put into the public domain.

I know some might thing I am being a bit prudish – but I don’t care! I can’t help feeling anyone posting these abysmal selfies is a nutter! There I said it – I don’t often express a strong opinion, but I do on this subject!

What used to be considered trashy but now is very classy?

Oh, I am a bit rubbish with this kind of question because I am no follower of fashion. I do tend to choose classic styles that I think I can make look good.

Personally, I would never buy animal print items myself, but I have seen so many animal print skirts and blouses and trousers around recently. There was a time when it was a huge fashion faux pas to wear animal prints, unless you were Dorian Green from “Birds Of A Feather”.

But just last week I was out with friends and one of my great friends had an animal print skirt and a denim jacket – she did look great, not at all trashy. I would not feel comfortable in animal print myself, and I honestly do not believe I would suit it. It is odd to me how fashions change.

I also remember some years ago it was only older ladies that would wear sandals that were gold or silver. But in recent times there have been some gorgeous metallic sandals gracing the feet of women. Even my tootsies ended up in a pair last summer. Would you like to see my feet? Oooops too late!

My other thought was puffa coats. When they first appeared – I thought they looked like people look like the Michelin Man. I met a guy recently whose puffa coat with all sorts of fancy trims and features cost him over £2000. Crackers! For a glorified sleeping bag! Anyway I have a puffa coat and it keeps me very warm on cold days, but it was a bargain find in a charity shop. So I do understand their appeal, but it is hard to make a puffa coat look classy isn’t it?

Don’t ask me! I am totally out of touch with fashion!

Are you a rule breaker or bender?

First of all I will say, I am not a cold letter of the law type. I appreciate the principles on which rules are based and I apply them with the right spirit, which is to bring a benefit or prevent harm.

Oh I love rules! They make me feel secure. I have developed a very obedient nature and I love feeling I have done what I was supposed to and I am a good girl – well done me!

I wasn’t always that way. But, very early in life, I realized my parents rules were there to protect me. While playing at a kid’s party, a man asked me if I would like to play a secret game with him. I knew instantly this was one of the situations my parents had rehearsed with us many times. I knew what to say and how to deal with it. That incident filled me with respect for my parents. It pretty much solidified my realization that I was dependant on them to guide me in this world. I only bucked against their authority when I hit the age of fourteen and started to isolate my thinking and avoid communicating with them. I broke all their rules but in secret and hid most of my actions from them. But I changed as I discussed in a recent post:

• I Put My Parents Through Agony

I came to love the way my parents explained things and helped us to reason. I think my love of rules started in childhood. Yes, I actually love rules, and I am not shy to admit it. I am number five of seven children. An only child needs to know the rules that will keep them safe and healthy:

• Do not touch the stove
• Do not pull the cat’s tail
• Do not eat things you found on the floor

But when you are one of seven, rules go beyond health and safety. You learn all about property law and how to respect the rights of others. But my parents involved us in the making of rules.

If two of us children had a squabble, my parents would sit down and discuss the issue with us and after helping us to make peace, they would suggest the need for a future rule.

That’s the thing about rules, they are usually there because someone did something that caused trouble.

We have rules about how we dress at work. Why? Because without the rules, you have people who lack common sense turning up wearing a boob tube, hot-pants and a pair of flip-flops.

I don’t mind rules. At best they save lives and keep peace. I can often see the ways they are designed to protect you. Even at their most annoying they limit your options, but is that really a great price to pay considering the countless benefits they bring?

To me rules are usually evidence that someone loves me, or cares about my welfare. In a large family, you learn that rules help each member of the family to have their rights to property, privacy and personal expression protected. But behind the rules are timeless principles and the motive of love and fairness. How much more that should be so within a community or society.

I could think of so many examples where rules were provided to make sure we enjoyed ourselves without being hurt ourselves and without hurting each other.

Which body part do you wish you could detach and why?

Am I allowed to say my “love-handles”? (These are not mine!)

The extra layer of puppy-fat that my parents said would drop off me after I was past my teen-age years – only it never really did. Even when I was running at least three times a week for a combined total of fifteen miles, swimming twice a week, playing basketball once a week and going to a boot camp once a week – those love-handles were always there.

Toilet paper, over or under the holder?

It has to be over. I have many years experience as a house-keeper and I know this is toilet paper law! It has to be over, otherwise you can’t do things like this:

Google “toilet roll origami” and prepare to be amazed! I love house-keeping!!!

One Of My Best Posts

Well here is a post in which I touched on the passion I have for the rules or laws of physics in creation:

• Patterns (Miracles of Maths In Meadows)

I am planning to write a post about another phenomenon of creation – iridescence. Do you have any idea of the physics behind iridescence? It is truly incredible!

Questions For My Nominees

1. WHAT DO YOU FIND INSPIRING ABOUT NATURE?
2. WHICH SONG WOULD GET YOU UP ON THE DANCE FLOOR AT A WEDDING RECEPTION OR PARTY?
3. HAS ANYONE BEEN ABLE TO PULL OFF A BIG SURPRISE FOR YOU? or HAVE YOU PULLED OFF A BIG SURPRISE FOR SOMEONE ELSE?
4. DO YOU REMEMBER WHO YOUR FIRST CRUSH WAS ON?
5. IF WE WERE GOING OUT FOR DRINKS AND I WAS GOING TO BUY THE FIRST ROUND – WHAT WOULD I BUY FOR YOU?

My Nominees

 Miriam – Out an’ About

 Vonita – Poems and Petals

 Sam – Living!

 Miriam Hurdle – The Showers of Blessings

 Yukti – Travel With Me 24 X 7

 Rowena – Beyond the Flow

 Keeping it Karen

 Clare – Clare’s Cosmos

 lisa – an aimless hitchhiker…

 Fiona Whiley – Just Me and a Boarding Pass