This is a meme I pinched from my friend Birana from her blog A la maille suivante, she’s in Quebec and her blog is in French so I hope I’ve translated this correctly !

4 Jobs I have had in my life

 - newspaper round

 - working in a Garden Centre (Saturdays when I was at school)

 - working in Do-it-All (Evenings when I was at University)

 - Chartered Accountant (for ever……)

4 films I can watch again and again

 - Robin Hood Prince of Thieves

 - Sleepless in Seattle

 - Lord of the Rings

 - Star Wars

ok, that’s a bit of a cheat, LOTR is 3 films and Star Wars is 6, if I had to pick one from each it would be LOTR 1 – The Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars 4 – A New Hope (or just plain “Star Wars” as we knew it 30 years ago)

4 places I have lived

 - Didcot

 - Borehamwood (1 year lodging with my grandparents Monday – Thursday whilst at College)

 - Bristol ( years at Polytechnic)

 - Marlow

and they are the ONLY 4 places I’ve ever lived

4 TV series I watch

  – House

 - Bones

 - CSI (Las Vegas for preference)

 - Holby City

4 places I have been on holiday

 - Egypt

 - Turkey

 - Tunisia

 - San Francisco

these are about the only 4 exotic places I’ve ever been, normally I go camping in the English Lake District or rent a cottage in Wales!!!

4 things I do every time I go on the Net

 - check my email

 - check the blogs I read on Google Reader

 - check my friends on Facebook

 - write my blog/upload photos

4 things I would NOT eat for anything in the world

 - well, meat as I’m a vegetarian

 - sweetcorn (corn on the cob), I hate the smell even!

 - tortilla chips

 - pickled beetroot

4 places I would love to be right now

 - on a hilltop miles from anywhere

 - by the sea

 - in the pub with friends

 - right where I am (on my sofa with DH, a glass of wine and Springwatch on tv) is pretty good actually!

4 people I tag

DH (Jonathan), Tracey, Roo, my Secret Pal (you know who you are!!!!!)

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this is a meme my hubby found on a blog he reads and which he knew would appeal to me! So, you take the top 50 records from the year you were 18 from this website http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/  , post the list and then –

bold the ones you liked,

strike the ones you disliked

and italicize the ones you knew but didn’t particularly like or dislike.

The ones you don’t know will still be in normal text.

I took the UK top 50 singles for 1987 (OMIGOD – that’s TWENTY years ago!!!!!!!) For me, the ’80s were THE music decade..I’m an ’80s girl through and through – however 1987 was a little too late on in the decade and things were going down hill. Wham! had split (I was at the Final Concert at Wembley and cried),  house music and sampling was beginning to take a hold and we were heading into the Rave culture of the early ’90s.

MTV launched in 1987 and so suddenly we were subjected to huge production videos (luckily my family never had satellite so I never saw any of them)

Still there were a few good bands still around – messrs Stock, Aitken & Waterman were still holding sway long before we’d heard of Simon Cowell and their creation,  Rick Astley, was amazing us all with how someone so boring could sell so many records….

  1. NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP   RICK ASTLEY  I could not stand Rick Astley, he was the most uncool artist around, a product of the PWL “factory” of Stock, Aitken & Waterman.

  2. NOTHING’S GONNA STOP US NOW   Starship  this is typical 1980’s pop and was, I think, the them to the film “Mannequin” starring Andrew McCarthy – a brat pack member – and Kim Cattrell (later of Sex and the City)

  3. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME)   Whitney Houston  this song has some mixed memories, I wasn’t particularly a Whitney fan but this was “My” karaoke song at our local pub

  4. YOU WIN AGAIN   The Bee Gees  it’s the Bee Gees! What more do you need

  5. CHINA IN YOUR HAND   T’Pau  a bit forgettable but at the time I liked T’pau and I have their album. Not one that has lasted as a classic..

  6. RESPECTABLE   Mel & Kim  this was just too annoying, “Tay, tay, tay, tay, t-t-t-tay, tay, tay, take or leave us, only please believe us, we ain’t ever gonna be re-spect-able” now I’m going to have that in my head for days…

  7. STAND BY ME   Ben E.King  another movie theme tune, a “coming of age” film based on a book by Stephen King – Will Wheaton (Ensign Crusher), River Phoenix, Corey Feldman & Jerry O’Connell

  8. IT’S A SIN   The Pet Shop Boys  possibly my favourite Pet Shop Boys song

  9. STAR TREKKIN’   The Firm  very irritating novelty record “There’s Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow….”

  10. PUMP UP THE VOLUME   M/A/R/R/S   I positively, actively hated this record. It was the first big “house” record. Full of samples and scratching …. not my sort of thing at all

  11. I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING (FOR ME)   George Michael & Aretha Franklin  whereas, this is! George Michael – I love George Michael. One of my friends once said “But he’s gay” to which I replied “but I’m never going to meet him so that’s irrelevant. I have this single and cannot listen to it without singing at full volume.

  12. UNDER THE BOARDWALK  Bruce Willis  oh dear, when actors sing……

  13. LET IT BE   Ferry Aid  one of a flood of charity records following on the Band Aid band wagon, not the worst but then not the best either. This was to raise money to help after the Herald of Free Enterprise cross-channel ferry sank.

  14. ALWAYS ON MY MIND   The Pet Shop Boys  I like Pet Shop Boys but this was pretty mediocre

  15. GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU  George Harrison  I defy anyone to listen to this and not sing along and smile

  16. CAN’T BE WITHOUT YOU TONIGHT  Judy Boucher  – this I do not remember at all. Have just googled to try and trigger my memory and discovered that Ms Boucher was born in the Caribbean but relocated to High Wycombe (about 5 miles from where I live) in 1970. Still have no memory of her or the song…

  17. LA ISLA BONITA   Madonna  I never liked Madonna and still don’t. My boyfriend in 1987 was obsessed, but then so were most 18 year old boys in 1987

  18. LA BAMBA   Los Lobos  this was such a feel good record you had to like it

  19. HOLD ME NOW  Johnny Logan  vaguely remember the name of the artist but the song means nothing..

  20. WHO’S THAT GIRL?   Madonna  grrr Madonna, what is it people see in her?

  21. EVERYTHING I OWN   Boy George  I liked Culture Club but this solo was not good

  22. DOWN TO EARTH  Curiosity Killed The Cat  Ben Vol-au-Vent Pierre (as we called him) and the boys with another catchy 80’s pop tune…I actually knew someone who had their song “Name and Number” as an answer phone message (Hey, how ya doing? Sorry you can’t get through, ‘cos this is a message that’s been recorded, especially for you. And if you leave a name and a number we’ll get right back to you, you can leave a message if you want to, when the bleeps are through)

  23. WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN  Percy Sledge  this was re-released and made it into the charts after being in Levi’s commercial. One of several old soul records which suffered that fate – I remember Wonderful World by Sam Cooke and Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye.

  24. HEARTACHE  Pepsi & Shirley  I’m sorry but even my Wham! fan status couldn’t make me like this

  25. ALWAYS  Atlantic Starr  I don’t remember it well but I know I didn’t like it

  26. WHENEVER YOU NEED SOMEBODY  Rick Astley  oh no, not another Rick Astley record…they let him make another one?

  27. TOY BOY  Sinitta  I saw Sinitta the other day on pop quiz show “Never Mind the Buzzcocks” apparently she had a relationship with Simon Cowell…I’m not sure who I feel more sorry for in that.

  28. I GET THE SWEETEST FEELING  Jackie Wilson  another re-release? How many were there in this year.

  29. FAITH  George Michael  I loved this record then and now, it is still one of my favourite George records…I’m a George fan – did I mention??

  30. I JUST CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU   Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett  never a big Michael Jackson fan but I don’t mind listening to him, this song was a bit “something and nothing”

  31. LIVE IT UP  Mental As Anything  – nope, no memory

  32. LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE  Bananarama  “guilty, of love…guilty, of love in…guilty, of love in the third degree” why are so many songs so annoying…and the lyrics just stick..

  33. CROCKETT’S THEME  Jan Hammer  – ahhhh, Miami Vice – now that’s what I call the 1980’s. This is the “my girl friend’s just been shot, my boss has ripped a strip off me, I’m driving my porsche with the top down into the sunset with my shades on to think about life” tune

  34. ALONE  Heart  this was my other karaoke song. I love Heart, I love rock music and I love this song. Put it in the car stereo, wind the windows down, put your shades on and SCREAM it out.

  35. WIPE OUT  The Fat Boys & The Beach Boys  – Aaaagghh this was even more annoying than any of the other annoying songs so far. As soon as I hear that silly laugh “Ha-ha-ha-ha Wipe out” I cringe. And it’s the Beach Boys!!! Why-o-why-o-why did they do it??

  36. CALL ME  Spagna  what I remember most about this is Spagna’s hair, from the Limahl school of hairdressing – white and fluffed out all over the place. What we would have termed a “fright wig” back in the day. I think she was Italian and the song was very “Euro-pop”

  37. LET’S WAIT AWHILE  Janet Jackson  no, I don’t even want to think about Janet Jackson, thank you

  38. JACK YOUR BODY   Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley  although someone will probably tell me I’m wrong, I always put this in the “House” music category. Sampling and scratching. Hmmmm

  39. THE GREAT PRETENDER  Freddie Mercury  Freddie at his outrageous, larger than life self. I have this on single and album…always seems very poignant as you get the impression he really was “the Great Pretender, pretending that I’m doing fine” We miss you Freddie.

  40. MALE STRIPPER  Man 2 Man meet Man Parrish  – what? this was a song? in the charts?

  41. LEAN ON ME  Club Nouveau  – I thought I was aware of music so this must have been pretty forgettable

  42. WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?  The Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield  you can rely on the Pets to deliver a perfect pop song..

  43. SOME PEOPLE  Cliff Richard  sorry Cliff, not my thing

  44. A BOY FROM NOWHERE  Tom Jones  

  45. WITH OR WITHOUT YOU  U2  can I double strike this, I hate, hate, hate U2

  46. WISHING WELL  Terence Trent D’Arby  when I started Uni in Sept 1987 and travelled to London on a weekly basis I had this album on my Walkman – cassette walkman obviously, no CDs back then. I would listen to TTD as I crammed onto a train and made my way through the underground system

  47. HEART AND SOUL  T’Pau  see my comments re the other T’pau song

  48. FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK  The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl  I have to say I am getting to like this song less but probably because it gets played everywhere for the 2 months leading up to Christmas, along with Slade, Wizard and Last Christmas by Wham!

  49. I WANNA BE YOUR DRILL INSTRUCTOR  Abigail Mead & Nigel Goulding  – vague memory but not really

  50. MY ARMS KEEP MISSING YOU  Rick Astley and they let him keep recording, this song title always makes me smile as it reads like his arms aren’t very co-ordinated and so keep missing the girl when he goes to hug her….given Mr Astley’s dancing it wouldn’t surprise me…

I can’t believe that the songs in 1987 were so bad….I love the ’80s and I love ’80s music- how could it have got so bad?

Anyway – perhaps they trigger some memories for you.

oh – and here’s a picture of me on my 18th Birthday, I’m the one in the gorgeous electric blue mohair dress. My best friend Alison, her boyfriend (now her husband) Colin (playing the guitar) and my boyfriend at the time, Ed, were all getting ready to go out with my parents and brothers. We went for a meal at The Catherine Wheel in Henley. We are in my bedroom at my parents house.

Gotta love those permed bobs girls! I expect that I was wearing either electric blue stockings or black ones with either seams and bows on the ankle or little butterflies on the ankles – blame Lady Di for that little fashion trend.

this one was taken later in the year on a school trip to Switzerland, that’s me on the left and Alison on the right.

cut-off jean shorts, I lived in them for years. As soon as my jeans started wearing out, cut the legs off at the knee, when they started fraying too much, cut them off really short. Looks like my bob had grown down into a real permed mullet do by the summer…dig the matching stripey t-shirts. Believe me, we didn’t try to look alike!

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I have a very special love for the book Peter Pan – probably comes from being called Wendy. I don’t know when I first read the book, or how many times I have re-read it since, but it always amazes me each time.

The book was also, apparently, my dad’s favourite book when he was a boy and his younger brother was named Peter at his insistence! (not sure if I’m Wendy for the same reasons!). My dad is John so we only need a Michael for the set.

I always identified much more with Peter Pan than with Wendy – fighting pirates and indians sounded much more fun than having a Wendy house and looking after Lost Boys.

About 11 years ago I moved to Marlow in Buckinghamshire and in exploring my new town came across this drinking fountain at the end of the High Street

The fountain has an inscription indicating it is a memorial to Charles Frohman and, intrigued, I did some research to find out who Charles Frohman was.

I discoverd that Charles Frohman was a Broadway stage producer who, in 1905, bought the rights to a play by James Matthew Barrie which no-one else would consider. The play was, of course, Peter Pan, and it made fortunes for Barrie and Frohman. If you’ve seen Finding Neverland then Dustin Hoffman plays Frohman.

Frohman loved Marlow more than any place in the world and spent all his holidays there. He had even picked out a place to be buried in All Saints Church yard however he was drowned when The Lusitania was torpedoed in 1915 his body washed up on the shore of Ireland and flown back to America.

After the war his friends decided to erect a memorial in the town he had wished to take his last rest in. The model for the sculpture on the memorial is supposedly Pauline Chase, an american actress who lived in Marlow and was one of the first people to play Peter Pan in Frohman’s original production. Pauline often stayed in Burnham Beeches but spent a lot of time in Marlow where she would be joined by Frohman, collecting him from the station in her car and taking him to The Compleat Angler.

So – another link with Peter Pan in my life!

A little over 6 years ago I met J (my husband) we talked about films and music and books and I discovered that he too was fascinated with the story of Peter Pan. In fact when we were first seeing each other one of his friends laughed when told my name was Wendy saying “well it would be, wouldn’t it!”

J too has read the book more times than he can remember and I bought him a 1st edition for 1st wedding anniversary.

In addition to his love for the book there is another Peter Pan connection in his family. His parents have two Newfoundland dogs, Bosun and Otto. For anyone who doesn’t know Nana in the Peter Pan story (the children’s nanny) is a Newfoundland dog and not a St Bernard as depicted in the Disney cartoon.

J M Barrie’s and his wife, Mary Ansell, seem to have had an unhappy, childless marriage and Mary appears to have redirected her affections towards her dogs - Porthos a St Bernard and his successor Luath, a Newfoundland. Nana was probably an amalgam of both these dogs. (In the film Finding Neverland they morph these two dogs into Porthos, a Newfoundland!)

As a piece of trivia for you – my name “Wendy”- was invented by Barrie in affection for a friend’s little girl, Margaret Henley, who called Barrie her “friendy” but with a child’s pronunciation of the “r” this became “fwendy” and so Wendy was born.

And now, J and I are preparing to adopt a family – our own Lost Boys (or Girls) as J puts it – somehow it seems fitting.

Hooray – it’s been a very long week….and Thursday we had a meeting with the social workers re the adoption progress. This meant I took a day off Thursday and then it was SOOOOO hard to get up this morning to go to work!

But, it’s Friday with two days of weekend ahead of me. So progress?

The Pink Beaded Roller Boot socks for my God-Daughter were completed but unfortunately not *quite* in time for her birthday on Monday. I did have one completed so she got to try it for size and it was perfect. I’m taking the completed pair round tomorrow so I’ll take a piccy then.

My second Shell Pattern sock for the Vintage Socks KAL is very nearly finished and so I should be posting completed pics tomorrow for those too.

Now, Sonja at Knitwit Central has tagged me for this so here goes –

A- Available or single? No

B- Best Friend? Dawn.
C- Cake or Pie? Banoffee Pie pleeese
D- Drink of Choice? Tea or Semillon Chardonnay depending on my mood
E- Essential Item? my filofax – it contains my life and without it I wouldn’t know  where I was going or when!.
F- Favorite Color? Purple.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? hmmm – don’t really have either in England (I’m not entirely sure what Worms are – apart from the ones in my garden) can I say Jelly Babies – they’re sort of English Gummi Bears.
H- Hometown? Marlow, Bucks.
I- Indulgence? very long baths with loads of oils & candles.
J- January or February? February ‘cos it’s nearly Spring.
K- Kids and names? no (hopefully that will change this year).
L- Life is incomplete without? my wonderful hubby.
M- Marriage Date? 15th September 2001.
N- Number of Siblings? two younger brothers.
O- Oranges or apples? apples.
P- Phobias/Fears? flying.
Q- Favorite Quote? “I am a bear of very little brain and long words bother me”.
R- Reason to Smile? my friends.
S- Season? Autumn.
T- Tag three people! Tracey at Gwelva Kernewek, Jonathan at Life and TImes, and Nina in Norway
U- Unknown Fact About Me? there are very few unknown facts as I share everything with anyone who’ll listen but maybe blog-readers might not know that I’m vegetarian.
V- Vegetable you hate? sweetcorn.
W- Worst habit? I bite my nails down till they are painful.
X- X-Rays you’ve had? wow – loads of my back when I was younger (I have a scoliosis curve), my hand (to get my “bone age” whilst being treated for the scoliosis), my mouth at the dentist.
Y- Your favorite food? Cheese – any and all types
Z- Zodiac? Aries the Ram -and I am a typical Aries, adventurous & pioneering but also impulsive and quick-tempered.

Promise to post some piccies tomorrow

I’m accepting this challenge from SJ after reading her list on her blog Knit/Wit. The idea is to list 10 things that are important to you given one letter of the alphabet – SJ has given me the letter A, so here goes. I have put these in alphabetical order as I couldn’t think of a better way to organise them.

Ooo – and I challenge you with the letter S!!!

1) Accountancy – ok, before you all drop to sleep it may be boring but it’s how I make my living so I guess it’s pretty important to me. And whilst I’m on the subject, we are not all boring – look at me!

2)Active – J says that I can never just sit still and do nothing, and he’s right. I’ve always been like it, I have to be doing something. If I’m sat watching tv I have to be knitting or embroidering as well. If I’m a passenger on a train or in a car I have to have a book or my Nintendo. I love to be outside walking or digging the garden, or baking, or sewing…or something.

When I was at school I was in at least one lunchtime club every day and most evenings I did something – school choir, orchestra, church choir, bellringing, girl guides, choral society, paper round. I don’t think I had an evening free!! And then there were girl guide camps and weekend activities – climbing, hiking, fire-lighting..

3) Adoption – my hubby and I are currently going through the process of being assessed for approval to adopt. We made the decision early last year that this was going to be the way that we got the family that we want. Hopefully this year will be the year that we become a family and adoption is going to part of our lives forever.

4) The Alchemist –

this book by Paolo Coelho had a huge impact on me at a time in my life when I needed some direction. It was given to me by a good friend who saw that I needed some guidance. I read it first in one night and since then have read it many times. It gave me the courage to do the things I had always wanted to do….I went on my own journey (and made it to Egypt on the way) and found my soul mate. I have since given this book to several people myself and recommended it to many more.

5) Anglo – I am very definitely an English woman. I love England and everything about it and could not even imagine living anywhere else. I love the climate (yes, really), the way the seasons change, the huge range of scenery from the Lake District, to the mountains of North Wales to the rolling chalk hills of the downland where I hail from. I love English people in all their massive variety – an Australian friend once commented how amazing it was that people from 2 villages not 10 miles apart could speak, not just with a different accent, but with a completely different dialect!

I love our traditions – christmas puddings, Simnel cake, Morris Dancing, Aunt Sally, village fetes, Punch & Judy, deckchairs at the seaside, Beefeaters on guard at the Tower of London and Pantimimes at Christmas.

6) Aquamarine – my birthstone and also the stone in my engagement ring which symbolises my wonderful relationship with J. According to legend, the aquamarine originated in the chest of fabulous mermaids and is the sailor’s lucky gem said to ward off sea-sikness. Traditions say that the stone promises a happy marriage and will bring joy and wealth to the woman who wears it….not doing bad so far I have to say…other legends say it endows the wearer with foresight and courage and will increase intelligence and make one youthful!

My aquamarine has certainly brought me happiness in the form of my wonderfull hubby as to the youthfulness….hmm, guess you’d have to ask him!

7) Aran- my favourite type of knitting. I love the intricate cable patterns, I love the texture of the fabric produced and I love wearing big, thick, warm aran sweaters. I think I need to knit another very soon.   

Aries – the Ram, that’s me. Arians are adventurous, energetic, pioneering, enthusiastic, confident, quick-witted but also selfish, quick-tempered, impulsive, impatient and foolhardy.

Enough said.

9) Arts and Crafts – both with small letters and capitals. That is, with small letters – I love both viewing and doing any form of art or craft and with capitals, I am a big fan of the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris &c. 

I have always loved doing arts & crafts, as a child I was never happier that when doing something crafty, and some of the best presents I ever had were crafty things – a bead loom, a Shaker Maker, a soap making kit, a cameo making kit. I tried my hand at anything I saw – scraperboard pictures, corn dolly making, macrame, knitting, needlepoint. I also loved drawing, although I’m not so happy painting, and actually made to to A level Art at school.

As for William Morris- I loved his ideals and the things he produced, I love the Pre-Raphaelite painters who were his contemporaries and have prints of several in my house

 10) Autumn – my favourite season. I always refer to myself as an autumn person. Autumn colours suit me best – oranges, browns, purples – I love the change from the heat of summer into the long, warm days of autumn. I love everything coming into fruit – apples, blackberries, elderberries. I love the leaves changing into their wonderful autumn colours. I love the feeling of expectation – the birds getting ready to migrate, the hedgehogs getting ready to hibernate, the sense that Christmas is coming, the making ready for the cold days of winter.

I got married in the autumn, September, and it was a perfect autumn day.