A few things about me to help you to know me better!

I am an avid reader and have been for as long as I can remember – I loved the Little House on the Prairie, Malory Towers and Nancy Drew books when I was younger, now I read a wide range, fiction and non-fiction, geared more towards grown-ups!

It's what also attracts me to book shops and I could, quite happily, spend hours in them.

I remember being younger when not being able to sleep, or desperate to keep reading a book, and my father would often find me in the bathroom, with a torch, reading said book.

Fortunately I never got told off, just gently encouraged to make my way back to bed, but ... I did get told I could be affecting my eyesight by doing this - not so sure how true that was but I have had to wear glasses since I was 13!

I love writing things down, I’ve kept a diary on and off since I was 8 years old, I always have a variety of note books on the go and I’ve written what I call ‘caricature’ poetry for friends and family! I just wish I could write as quick as my thoughts come into my head or that there was some device that could read my mind and transcribe my thoughts onto paper for me. Whilst yes I do use technology there's nothing, for me personally, quite like just having a pen/pencil and paper and just writing. When I study, when I read, when I listen to talks, podcasts, webinars I always have pen and paper at the ready to write notes - it adds to how I learn, how I take things in, how I remember things. 

I always have a bottle of water with me, I am lost without one. As well as being a part of being healthy I've just always done it and I have a mini panic when going through airport security where I can't have one with me but ... I have recently learnt that I can take an empty bottle with me and just fill it up from a water fountain when I get through the security checks.

It makes me feel that little bit more secure, maybe my water bottle is like a comfort blanket to me!

I am addicted to popping bubble wrap, especially when on long car journeys. People always get into my car thinking the bubble wrap is rubbish that they offer to throw away but ... nooooooo .... it's not rubbish until all the pops have been popped out of it!

My family and close friends know it's not to be touched and I'm quite precious about it! I find it quite  therapeutic at times and it can actually help with focus, go figure!

I have a touch of OCD which at its worse means I am constantly checking things, especially plugs, locks and switches, unnecessarily, at its best means I like to colour code things, even pegs on the washing line! Mike calls it being quirky! It can be quite frustrating at times, especially when I'm tired and it can become kinda time consuming, but I am working on it being more of a quirky thing than a worrying thing.

I learnt to drive in my brothers’ Beetles (they each had one, one red, one blue) and I’ve always wanted my own one, not sure now whether I'd prefer the older or more modern variety - the older one has more character I think but the newer version is probably more reliable! Oh and a purple jeep and a royal blue mercedes are on the 'to-get' list too! I would have said the wish list but ... if I wish for something it ain't gonna happen unless I take action to make it happen so I now have a 'to-get' list for what I'm working towards.

I don’t watch a lot of television but I do like the Australian Soap, Neighbours, maybe because it started when I was in school, maybe because it’s in a warm, sunny country, maybe because it’s just a switch off for me, whatever the reason I like to watch it!

I do get teased for it but hey I like a wide variety of things in life that range from the serious and in-depth to the more switch-off and just get lost in the plot type of things.

Whenever I’m sitting working at my laptop I often end up painting my nails at the same time! I've always needed time to do my nails as, for some reason, my nails never dry quickly and I often do my nails then smudge them and end up having to do them again!

I was always amazed how, when we were younger, my sister could do hers in the car on the way to a night out and they'd be perfect, that never was the case for me so ... I have to find, or make, time to allow them to dry. Hence why I do them whilst I'm at the laptop working, an ideal time for me

I’ve always ‘liked’ quotes before the days when they became popular on social media – whenever I came across something that seemed significant or meaningful from a book, a film, a magazine and so on, I would write it down. I have a book dating back over 20 years which has many of the quotes I came across, and that meant something, in it, that I keep meaning to transfer to the digital world.

I now have a file on the computer where I record quotes, passages and such like with meaning plus I'm forever underlining, and asterixing, quotes and passages in books that make me take notice and that, perhaps, I want to share with others. 

I absolutely love stationary, even if I have enough already of everything there is something so compelling about stationary and stationary shops that draws me to them and … I always, invariably, end up purchasing something. I have tried to curb this in more recent years as it just ends up cluttering up my office and house! I am working on streamlining what I have and now I always ask myself the questions – do I need it, what am I going to use if for, will it actually get used or just sit around being redundant?

Photos – I love taking photos, of everything and anything. I was that annoying person when younger who would always have a camera in her hand and be taking pictures of those moments that you thought at the time you’d rather, perhaps, not remember. It was in the days when you had a roll of film and it had to be sent off to be developed so you would wait eagerly for it to come back to see how the pictures had turned out. Fortunately there’s plenty of people who are now grateful I was that annoying person as I managed to capture many pictures of the youthful years of many people before we had all the technology and social media that we have now. I’ve recently just invested in a decent camera, for the first time in a long time as I’ve been too reliant on my phone for picture taking, and I’m looking forward to learning more about the art of decent photography.

I also write poetry, well what I call charicature poetry, for friends and family - it's something I've done on and off to mark brithdays, weddings, anniversaries as a little, personal gift to those involved.