Sunday 13 January 2013

Very Inspiring Blogger Award



 

Many thank to Gwen Kirkwood (http://www.gwenkirkwood.blogspot.co.uk) for nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

It seems that all I need to do, before passing it on, is provide 7 random facts about myself.  An excellent excuse for a little bit of self-indulgence.  So here we go...

  1. My first pet was a West Highland White terrier called Pola, supposedly after a polar bear (spelling chosen by my sister).
  2. I always have at least 2 (usually 3 or 4) books that I am reading at the same time.  Current ones are A Storm Of Swords by George R. R. Martin (Book 3 of the Song of Ice and Fire series), Visitors to the Chalet School by Helen McLelland (an addition to the extremely long Chalet School series by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer), Vets In Love by Cathy Woodman and The Aeneid by Virgil (in both English and Latin – the English is going better). 
  3. My middle name is Marie.  For years I preferred this to Gillian and really wished my parents had chosen it as my first name.  Now I quite like Gillian.
  4. I know a smattering of 8 languages (English, French, German, Scots, Russian, Italian, Latin and Shona) but am only fluent in one – English – and sometimes I’m not even sure about that. 
  5. My great grandfather and great grandmother lived together for 27 years and had 9 children before they eventually married in 1922.
  6. My office now has under-floor heating.  This is a brilliant innovation.
  7. I am passionate about Scottish football.  Local team, Queen of the South, are currently 17 points clear at the top of the Scottish Second Division.  Go the Doonhamers!
  
I would like to nominate:

Pia Christina Courtenay http://christinacourtenay.com
Michael Malone http://paper.li/mickmal#

29 comments:

  1. I thought I knew you Gill but I had no idea you have such hidden depths. I believe you must be fluent in French too since you used to teach it, but didn't know about the rest. Glad to hear about the underfloor heating, but you deserve it.

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  2. Thanks Gwen. I didn't know you used to drive a pony and trap, either. Dave enjoys doing that but I can't say I'm that keen!

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  3. And Gill, I've known you for years and never knew about Marie, Pola or your great-grandparents. Very illuminating!

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    1. I'm sure there's LOTS I don't know about you either Zana. And by the way where are those wedding photos??

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  4. Marie is such a pretty name ... but I couldn't think of you as anything but Gill! Underfloor heating? I wish! Languages? In addition to English, French and German (and Latin, I suppose), I have Greek (Echis orea matya) and Spanish (Solo tu corazon caliente e nada mas). Er ... that's it! The Greek means 'You have beautiful eyes' and the Spanish, 'Only your warm heart, and no more.' You should have seen the Spanish consul's face when I tried it out! (It's a quote from Lorca, but the way).

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    1. I love the idea of quoting Lorca to the Spanish consul. Did he (oer she) recognise it?

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    2. We have underfloor heating in our bathroom - it's a particulaly big hit with the cats!

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  5. Rather envious here in this house - that hasn't even got regular central heating - of your underfloor heating. What luxury! Enjoy!

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    1. I am enjoying it - we've lived here 18 years now and have had periods of no heating, undependable heating, no heating, inadequate heating... I think I deserve this!

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  6. I didn't know about your middle name being Marie. I'm sure you will have the chance to use it for one of the different genres in which you write.
    Glad you are enjoying the underfloor heating and good luck with the Latin. I 'did' Virgil's Aeneid for my Latin Higher - a very long time ago.

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    1. Which bit of Aeneid did you do? Did you enjoy it? We've 'only' got to do Book 2, the sacking of Troy. Short in english but VERY long in Latin.

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    2. Book 9. I had to learn it off by heart to pass my O level! Don't ask me to recite it now. All I can manage is 'Dic, duc, fac, fer, fi, i memento: Dicite, ducite,facite, ferte, fite, ite, mementote'. (Declension of irregular imperatives...) And, of course, 'Caesar ad sum jam for te, Brutus et arat. Caesar sic in omnibus, Brutus sic in at.'

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    3. Sorry! Replied to your comment to Mary!

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    4. It's great that you replied to my comment to Mary. And that you can still remember the irregular imperatives! I can't.

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  7. That's okay, Jenny. It was Book 9 I had to do as well but, like you, I don't remember it now although I did know it of by heart. I remember there were an awful lot of 'in order that' in it.

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  8. Well I knew you were a Latin lover Gill but I didn't know you are passionate about football. Hidden depths indeed!

    And thank you so much *blushes* for the award which I will blog about and display proudly.

    Love, Janice xx

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  9. Latin's much underrated if you ask me. (As, indeed, are Queen of the South.)

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    1. Thanks so much for mentioning Queen of the South. Most people don't even know who they are, how unfair is that?

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    2. Very interesting,Gill,especially the comments about your underfloor heating. How we writers like our comforts!

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    3. Yes, and we deserve them. It's so hard to sit still in one place for any length of time...

      Shall await your random facts with interest.

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  10. You're a dark horse, Gill (Marie), and no mistake! Impressed by your linguistic abilities, although I'd never heard of the language of Shona before. Elaborate, please.
    Hx

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    1. Shona is the language of the biggest group of people living in Zimbabwe (called, not surprisingly, the Shona). I lived in Zimbabwe for 2 and a half years, before Mugabe went completely mad, and tried to get the basics of the language. It was hard, totally different to Indo-European languages. I think all I can remember now is 'Mangwanani, marera se?' which means 'Good morning, how did you sleep?'

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    2. Ahh, the penny drops. For some reason I thought it was a Scottish dialect of sorts, because of the name Shona! And I call myself a linguist... ahem.

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  11. Some very interesting facts there, Gill! I will have to work hard to deserve my nomination after that :)

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    1. You won't have to work hard, just be your natural self x

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  12. Many thanks for the nomination, Gill. Enjoyed reading about those hidden depths - the football was a surprise!

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    1. I have to confess that I, too, am a football fan. It's a curse, not a blessing, let me tell you!

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