Meme Myself and I
Never done one of these meme things before but who am I to deny the luverly, busy & lively LJB. So here’s the deal: You list 8 facts/habits/things people may not know about you. At the end of the post, you tag 8 people and let them know via their blog comments (LJB cheated and only did half her tagging duties but then that’s where I peter out too so we’ll let that go). Seems like a cheap trick to drive traffic to your blog or turn you into a sheep (note to self: tag Herd) or am I just being silly&grumpy and it’s all just a big harmless game, talking of which it reminds me of a cafe game I used to play with my good friend and best-man Stuart called Secret & Obvious – (1) go to a cafe (2) find a table with a good view of the pavement, preferably outdoors (3) for each passer-by say something Obvious about them (4) then something Secret (5) alternate turns with your fellow player – that’s it, hours of good clean giggly fantastical fun.
So here we go…
(1) My first published photos were in An Phoblacht, the journal of Sinn Fein (they were of Gerry Adams and Ken Livingstone – who coincidently I saw in Strutton Ground at lunchtime today being accosted by a voter, occupational hazard I guess but it must be a pain if you’re trying to get somewhere on time) – so that’s the Ken & Gerry show in Conway Hall, how do I get myself into those weird situations?
(2) My cat is called Tommy Boy after the New York record label – the CD was behind his head when we were trying to come up with a suitable name
(3) I collect pictures of Lost Gloves – God knows why but it’s a bit addictive – if you think I’m weird, other people try to pair up my One Lost Gloves with matching partners!
(4) My grandfather worked for Picture Post (I have a lovely photo of him at work just across the room now taken by Thurston Hopkins) – he was a VSP (Very Special Person – just made that up but you can’t have too many Three Letter Acronyms)
(5) I’m a pantheist
(6) I have a lot of books and in my bookcase I have two Shelves of Honour – these include Tom Jones, The Complete Plays of Joe Orton, Clockers, The Riddle of the Sands, Black Box, Northanger Abbey, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and a special section devoted to old copies of Ulysses
(7) I have put a sign above the front door, one of the old style Irish road signs, saying Donegal / Dun na nGall 1 which means one mile but I read as one day – whenever things get tough, it’s only 1 day to get to Donegal – I love North-West Ireland and my wedding reached Ramelton (The Bridge Bar) on Day 3
(8) I have 8 watches – one for every day of the week plus one for good measure – the best one is a 1920s mechanical digital one, but it stopped working properly on my wedding day, which is odd as it’s not electronic
So who do I tag? maybe that’s what the blogroll is for. I reckon it’s going to have to be Mark Earls of Herd fame (for reasons mentioned above); Alfie (likes playing and what else is he going to do in his sick bed); Jule (usually game for a laugh): Russell (has plenty of idle time in caffs on his hands); Oli B (somebody might as well work out how to make money out of it). That will do, enough already.
[Picture courtesy of Thurston Hopkins/Getty Images]
Simple Pleasures part 4 
Thanks for doing the honours, and yes, I think largely it’s a cheap trick for getting traffic.
I think the other purpose is to make connections outside of blog topics e.g. I too have flirted with pantheism so that raised a smile. Don’t suppose you ever fancied any old gay actors?
Can I play too? I am so bored of writing the current book (is there anything left to say about ‘teams’?)that I need something, anything to keep me stimulated.
Louise, I did love dear, dear Johnny Gielgud as Arthur’s butler, Hobson, if that counts
PP, would love to have you join in – was going to tag you knowing your love of online parlour games but was wary of distracting you from your latest tome – however, looks like it may be some timely displacement activity…
Coming soon. I hope your blog can deal with a modest degree of vulgarity (does C4 still have the red triangle available?).
I shall be starting my new blog. It begins with the hundred greatest albums ever made – critique, insight etc. One every three days.
As C4 celebrates its 25th anniversary, I think a bit of red triangle nostalgia would be more than appropriate.
20% of the women I have had sex with in my life happened on one night. (And yes, I have had sex with more than five women before you ask!)
I really want to be a long distance lorry driver. The kind that wins Mastermind.
Housework should not and does not extend beyond putting my CD collection in order. I believe in the mantra: ‘It is the role of the wealthy man to give employment to the artisan’. Sadly I am not yet wealthy.
I can fart and burp at the same time. Apparently this is not medically possible.
My first love was Ali McGraw in a dreadful film called ‘Goodbye Columbus’. I could think of nothing else for weeks. I pretended I was Steve McQueen
I bought a brand new car two weeks ago. I drove to Barcelona in it last weekend. I left the oil cap off the engine. I did not know. I no longer have a new car.
My dad was once on the front page of The Daily Telegraph. He was in the navy and during ‘The Cod War’ his ship got rammed by an Icelandic fishing boat. He broke his nose.
My porn star name would be ‘Tao Harding’ – your first pet’s name and your mother’s maiden name.
Right, to start off, we need a bit more exposition about #1…
I knew you would ask that! Perhaps one day I will tell you face-to-face. It happened in Coleraine a long, long time ago…
You gotta love Ireland!
Well most of Ireland loved me. If only for one night…
OK, let’s move on to the lorry driver thing – is that for real?
Oh yes (to quote John Major). It is my fallback position in case everything goes wrong. Why do you think I started that transport business after Video Arts sued me…
It’s always been the life for me ever since I saw my first Yorkie bar ad and the video for ‘I like Trucking’ from the ‘Not the Nine O’clock News’ crew. That song ‘Convoy’ was the clincher.
Rubber duck.