Adie of From Adie With Love tagged me in a question and answer post. I’m supposed to answer those questions, then come up with three questions of my own to ask three other bloggers, who I will tag.
It was very nice timing to go with me changing to my real name and my husband taking a photograph of me that I didn’t make him delete immediately- the above was taken on Saturday in Varkala just before we left for Hampi.
Adie has been a kind supporter of me and my blog and it’s been nice connecting with someone across the pond, Adie has answered questions that had mystified me (e.g. why do Americans all have such nice teeth.) Adie blogs about all different subjects, and their writing is absolutely flawless.
Like Adie, I had a slight hitch this week which getting tagged to do this saved me from. We left Kerala on Saturday, due to arrive in Hampi on Sunday, but because our flight from Trivandrum to Bangalore was delayed by three and a half hours we missed our night bus to Hampi. I had planned to do some pics of the journey and our arrival in Hampi and do a travel update for my Sunday (today) post. Instead we had to book into a hotel in Bangalore- for two nights as we need it for today as well- and get a new bus ticket for tonight. On the plus side, there was a bus agent right by the hotel and last night we got the last two tickets on tonight’s bus, two minutes before he closed. And the time at the airport meant I got most of this post drafted then, intending to post it next week, so it all worked out!
Anyway, here are my questions and answers:
What has been the happiest moment of your life so far?
I had a child at nineteen and was the sole carer. This had the effect that I was very cautious about my health and safety. Even though the 90s spanned my twenties, I never took Ecstasy because of this. Also, I was an alternative/punky type who when I did go out frequented, in my late teens and very early twenties, The Jacquard an alternative nightclub and gig venue frequented by Goths,* Punks and Crusties.
*The DJ actually listed himself as King of the Goths in the phone book, and had an immaculate looking Goth girlfriend who was only allowed to wear black and purple.
This was downstairs only though. At some point there started to be a night put on upstairs. The DJ was someone from a local record shop who a friend had a crush on. She and her best friend looked like more punky/gothy/alternative versions of the women from Strawberry Switchblade
but because she liked the DJ she started dressing in orange and yellow tie dye and going upstairs with all the ravers. We, the downstairs people, were appalled at all the colourful clothes, and I didn’t find out what I was missing until many years later.
Fast forward to 2009. I met my husband at the age of thirty-nine and fell in love, and he fell in love with me, in a way that was real and reciprocal, and that I realised I hadn’t ever experienced before. (I’d thought I’d been in love; I’d liked people who hadn’t liked me back; and I’d experienced people being convinced that I was the one but not feeling it myself). This, though, was so powerful it triggered a full on ‘spiritual awakening.’ I documented all this in a little book called How to find Heaven on Earth: Love, spirituality and everyday life, 99p on Amazon UK.
At the time I didn’t know what was happening, I even searched love and spirituality on the internet and got a very interesting article that I printed out, highlighted, and still have I believe! There were many moments of bliss from that time, but the stand out one that springs to mind is the first time I took Ecstasy.
Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England, can be described as a faded sea-side town, an area of serious deprivation, tacky, even. But my husband’s choice of destination for that night was inspired. With its colourful faded grandeur sea front buildings and beautiful, outrageously bright neon lights, Great Yarmouth beach and its sea front at night will stay in my heart forever.
Driving down the Acle Straight towards Great Yarmouth, I began to feel the effects come on. I felt as if the G force was pushing me back into the seat. My husband put on How soon is now by The Smiths.
‘I’m not crying,’ I said. ‘I just have tears coming out of my eyes.’
‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t be the first person to cry coming up on their first E.’
When we arrived at the beach, I wound the window down and experienced the breeze on my arm, which felt incredible. Likewise, smoking a cigarette, having a sip of cool water. After a while my husband said, ‘Come on, get out.’
‘I can’t, I can’t walk.’ I said.
‘Of course you can walk, people dance all night on this!’
Walking on the sand, having a drink with ice cubes in it, let alone when we got home(!), that whole night was amazing.
But the How soon is now moment is the moment.
If you hadn’t decided on the career choice you’ve found yourself in, what would you have done instead?
I wanted to be a writer as a child, if I wanted to be anything. I certainly wrote. Then I got a career to support me and my son, this involved a few years of studying, volunteering and working, then three years of training, and twenty years of working at it. I left my occupational therapy career in February. Right now I have this year of travel. It was a few months in before I realised that having this year off meant I could write a book, and a little while before I actually started doing it in earnest.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated?
On the surface I don’t seem to have much of a problem with this.
But when writing and reading the above, self confidence and committing to personal goals has clearly been a problem. Underlying a lack- or excess- of motivation are other factors. Committing to writing and feeling I can do it only really happened this year, the year when I turned forty eight.
I keep myself quite busy but I also like being quiet and reflective.
At home I do sometimes find it difficult to summon the motivation to do housework etc, and my car is always an absolute disgrace.
Thank you very much for reading!
I am tagging the following three people:
Ms Lockwood at The Lockwood Echo: not a real newspaper
If you wish to participate, here are your three questions:
What’s been the most significant ‘moment’ of the past seven days (that you’re happy to share)?
What do you least like about the Christmas-New Year period?
And what do you like most about it? (I know it’s a hard one Mr B, but there’s got to be something!)
The Rules
♦ Answer the questions you receive (straight, funny, absurd…up to you)
♦ Create three questions of your own (for those you tag)
♦ Tag three people
Rachel 