TEN THINGS PROMPT
Ten Things About Me
Some things you could have guessed
… some, not so much …
I never thought I’d do a story like this — I’m not good at writing about myself. I can write about my dog or my neighbourhood or my art or my writing, but am shy of writing about myself.
However, I thought I’d try it with this ‘Ten Things You Don’t Know About Me’ idea because I can pick and choose and don’t have to explain everything and because I was tagged a few times.
Even the photo above is the only one I’ve ever let out into the wild. Although, to be fair, that’s partly because my house has currently got about four and half houses worth of stuff in it and Dog knows where all my photos are …
Anyway — ten things:
1. My ears were pierced in Copenhagen
I’d wanted my ears pierced for ages but I have a thing about holes in things — like woodworm, for example. I know — weird. But that had put me off for too long given my yearning for long, dangly earrings, and I still hadn’t got my ears pierced.
When I was sixteen, I worked the summer fruit-picking in Norway and caught a (horrendously small) plane to Copenhagen on my way home. While there I met an old friend — of all the coincidences! We drank too much, went to a hairdresser and got our ears pierced! Yay!
2. Tattoos
I have none.
3. I used to smoke roll-ups
A long time ago, on a planet far, far away from the reality of this one I used to smoke when smoking was everywhere and you were the odd one out if you didn’t.
I know! Bonkers.
When I tell people somewhat younger than me some of the places everyone used to smoke — they don’t believe me:
- theatres, cinemas, restaurants
- the underground
- aeroplanes, trains, buses
- at the fun fair, up trees, on the beach
- Everywhere!
- And I forgot to mention hospitals! Raine Lore reminded me — thank you, Raine! Imagine that — everyone smoked while in hospital!!!
I stopped smoking decades ago — it was one of the hardest things because it was a way of life as well as a physical addiction.
4. I’m claustrophobic and cleithrophobic
Claustrophobia is the irrational fear of small spaces.
Cleithrophobia is the irrational fear of being trapped.
I had never heard of the second one until I was in a very large lecture theatre, someone came in, everyone went quiet and in that quiet I heard the door lock.
And I came over all funny. Just like I do if shut in a small space. After which I discovered there was the trapped thing, too. Great. Not great.
However, all experience ‘comes in’ as a writer friend of mine says about everything, no matter how awful the experience might be.
So, I used my experience of claustrophobia in my novel, ‘Out from Under the Polar Bear’ — the heroine gets a pal to lock her in the boot of a car — she’s taken a couple of happy pills and she’s trying them out to see how efficacious they might be before she has to have an MRI scan.
Obviously, it’s a good plan!
5. I get horribly seasick …
… on big boats like ferries.
But am just fine on small boats no matter how rough the sea.
I have since discovered that those motion sickness wristbands are helpful for seasickness if I have to go on a big boat. They work on your body’s pressure points.
6. I like dogs a lot
No one would ever have guessed that one!
However, as a child I was badly bitten by a neighbour’s dog and it has made me a bit wary around dogs I don’t know.
They do worry me sometimes if they look at me funny. I remember being trapped in a caravan once by a very small dog because it was looking at me funny. I didn’t dare move until the owner came back two hours later and wondered what on earth I was doing.
I expect the dog wondered that as well.
7. Ding-dong! It’s the Avon lady!
Yes — one time when I was really, really broke I sold cosmetics door-to-door — except it wasn’t really door-to-door — you did make appointments. I was quite good at it even though I never used cosmetics myself. I am quite good at selling. I just hate doing it. But, you know — I was broke.
I didn’t do it for very long because I got trapped in a flat with a bloke who thought he knew how that was going to end.
It didn’t end the way he thought it was going to end because my Pa taught me how to look after myself, but it did stop me doing that job!
8. Originally, I was going to be a trapeze artist
My Pa helped me in my youthful ambitions by putting up a trapeze in the barn to practice on.
I practised on the bars at school, too.
Until the day I was swinging upside down and got distracted. Fell off. Onto my face on the concrete beneath. Got rushed to hospital. Concussion. Cracked teeth.
And decided I was going to be an accountant instead.
9. I was an accountant
Years and years after the trapeze artist travesty, I did become an accountant. Well — a trainee accountant.
It was a very odd world I entered and I wasn’t used to its ethos. I wasn’t used to being forced to wear a skirt all the time. I’m a jeans person.
I wasn’t used to anyone expecting me to ‘just do as I was told’, possibly expecting me to salute, too. Eek!
I didn’t last very long …
10. My first novel on Amazon was a best-seller
This was very exciting because I hadn’t realised it was working its way up the Kindle charts until someone sent me a newspaper cutting showing it in the top ten novels.
It caught me by surprise or I’d have grabbed more evidence but I do have a screen shot of one of Amazon’s ads for the Kindle which shows my novel nearing the top spot.
Unfortunately, life got in the way at the same time, which is why I missed a lot of it, and is also why I didn’t manage to get another novel out in time to ride the momentum.
Oh, well. There’s still time to do it again. Oh, yes!
Some fascinating ten things:
I have no idea why, but only the top one below would turn into a nice box thing — all the others would only do the link version …
Ten things you don’t know about me… | by Adrienne Beaumont | Mar, 2022 | Medium
Ten Things Only a Select Few Know About Me | by Raine Lore | Apr, 2022 | Medium
10 Things You Probably Don’t (or want to) Know About Me | by Will Hull | Apr, 2022 | Medium
Ten Things You Don’t Know About Me | by Barb Dalton 🇺🇦 | Mar, 2022 | Medium
Tagging
I’m not really sure about tagging — I don’t want anyone to feel obliged — or to feel slighted if I’ve missed a name. But I’ll leave these in and if anyone would like to do this ten things prompt, make sure to tag me so I can read it.
I’ve only just realised my let-me-know-when-I’ve-been-tagged switch has been switched off for a while now. It’s back on but I’m afraid I’ve missed a lot of people in the meantime.
Dennett, Karen Schwartz, Katie Michaelson, BichoDoMato, Jennifer Dunne, PseuPending (Seu), I. Trudie Palmer, Lucia Sugafield, Penny Grubb, Coyote Susan, Mukundarajan V N, Australian Foodie, Elizabeth Emerald, estow76 (Esther), Kaz Rochford, James Beaufait, Anne Bonfert, Kris Bedenian, Amanda Laughtland, Thief, Raine Lore, Penelope Mayfield, Ellie Jacobson, Will Hull, Pene Hodge, Krystal Mossbarger, Ching Ching, Diana Lotti, Linda Acaster, pockett dessert, Kim Zuch, Erika Burkhalter, Tracy Aston, Lisa Bolin, Mia Verita, LensAfield, Barbara Radisavljevic, Barb Dalton, K. Barrett, Shruthi Sundaram, Jillian Amatt — Artistic Voyages, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, JM Heatherly, Carlos Garbiras, Louise Peacock, David Perlmutter, Scott Younkin
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