I am sitting at work thoroughly bored…there is hardly anyone in our office as everyone has been sneaking off this week for the Christmas Holidays…I have nothing to do as all the other offices who report in to us are also on holiday….I am thinking of asking my boss if I can take tomorrow off and then just come in Friday for the half day our office is open in case any emergencies blow up.
As a contract worker I won’t get paid if I don’t come in but I hate sitting “pretending” to be busy – particularly when there are so many things I could be doing at home….but for this afternoon I am sitting pretending to be busy and actually browsing around the internet.
So, to ease my boredom I am picking things out of other people’s blogs and posting them here to amuse myself – here goes –
First, what kind of flower are you? This was on Tisha’s blog Crazy About Sox

Next a MEME

Here are THE RULES:Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”

so here goes….
1) I’m Pteromerhanophobic (or Aviophobic) – that is I have a fear of flying, I don’t mean I’m just a nervous flyer, this is a real panic attack, nausea, get me off this plane before I kill someone phobia. Always had it and avoided flying until I was 22 years old (even to the point of bailing out on a holiday with friends 2 weeks before we were going). Eventually went to Venice for a weekend with my mum – just about survived the flight but spent the entire weekend feeling ill and worrying about getting on the plane to come home so didn’t fully enjoy the holiday. Since then have had hypno-therapy and now practice yogic breathing to help myself through the experience. I cope by denial – I put loud music on my personal stereo, read a book and don’t look around or, heaven forbid, out of the window….I also can’t put my feet on the floor of the plane whilst it’s in the air, I have to put my hand luggage on the floor and put my feet on that.
2) I own at least 10 pairs of slippers…many bought for me as Christmas presents from my best friend, Dawn…and all are very silly. I have a pair shaped like cats, Father Christmas, a fluffy pink pair with christmas trees decorated with led’s that flash when you press a button, two pairs of Shaun the Sheep (from Wallace & Gromit) one are mules and one full huge winter slippers, a greek felted pair with pom-pom’s my mum bought in Keffalonia, a purple pair with butterflies, another pair shaped like rabbits, blue velvet ones with glittery snowflakes, a pair shaped like bumble-bees and I’m sure there are some others I’ve forgotten. They all live under my bed.
3) I have an appalling memory but everyone thinks I remember everything because I’ve trained myself to remember. When I was at school I used to forget everything – to hand in homework, to take the right books to class and was always in trouble for it. My history teacher (Miss Card, she was amazing I hope she is well!) took me and my mum aside after this had been going on sometime and, after telling me off severely, suggested I buy the largest diary I could find, carry it with me and write down in it everything I needed to remember. I started doing this with a huge A4 desk diary which was so big I couldn’t lose or forget it…and it worked. These days I’ve graduated to a leather bound filofax but I still write everything down in it that I need to remember. The weird thing is that these days I don’t even need to check the filofax to remember what I need to do, it seems that simply the act of writing it down files it in my memory somewhere.
4) I have a curve in my spine – not really weird but I’m trying desparately to think of 6 things here. It’s a scoliosis curve and is pretty minor..I had physiotherapy when I was younger and these days I visit my chiropractor a couple of times a year and I’m fine
5) I’ve only ever been drunk once in my life and it was only about 3 years ago when I was well into my 30’s. That’s not to say I’m tee-total, I love to have drink with my friends but I hate the idea of being out of control so I know my limit and stop when I reach it. When I had hypno-therapy for the fear of flying my therapist and I came to the conclusion that this fear of being out of control was behind that. So there you are – I’m a control freak!!!
6) My mother and I used to be visited by the ghost of a cat in the house I lived in till I was 16. We both saw this cat independently of each other. It would cross the top of the stairs when we were in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. The first couple of times we each saw it we were so convinced there was a cat upstairs that we went up to look for it. Our family did not have a cat (although I wanted one and it was top of my present list every Christmas and Birthday – Dad hates cats so never got one) but we assumed that the neighbour’s cat had come in through my bedroom window which opened onto the flat roof of our kitchen extension. Each time we looked all the windows were shut and there was no cat. Eventually we got used to it and I used to say “hello” to it. Could have been me projecting my absolute longing for a cat of my own I guess…..eventually got a cat when I got a house of my own and he has lived up to 30 years of expectation and longing, which is lucky.

I’m not tagging anyone specifically but feel free to consider yourself tagged.