Not Quite 99

I started trying to make a post of 99 facts for my 99th post, but I was struggling to think of that many short entries - then posts 99 and 100 snuck up on me when I was looking the other way.

I was just clearing out 'dead' drafts from my blog and didn't actually want to waste the things I have written so far, so here's a few snippets to (hopefully) keep you entertained while I wander off to try to persuade my university that I really am married now.


1. In our house, we have fairy lights up all year round.

2. My husband's 41st birthday cake was also an exam piece for the sugarcraft course I was taking at the time.

3. The only pets I remember having, as a child, were two pet mice. Something in the back of my mind suggests we might also have had a goldfish but I don't remember that (and may be making it up).

4. It's been eight years since I had a TV at home.

5. I buy hard-cover notebooks from Paperchase because they're beautiful, even though I seldom write anything by hand. The ones with multicoloured paper are my favourites.

6. When I started helping at Brownies, I asked if I could be Barn Owl because that's what my mum was when I was a Brownie.

7. I've been inside the Millenium Dome once, not to look at the exhibition but to help set it up as a Crisis shelter one Christmas.

8. My husband and I held our wedding reception at the restaurant where we had our first meal together.

9. I work better to deadlines, even when they're completely insane deadlines. I need that sense of urgency. I worked all night on my undergraduate dissertation and was printing it out at 11am (the deadline was 12).

10. I thought this blog would have more PhD thoughts in it. I still wonder if that will become more true as I get deeper into research - for now, this is a nice place to escape all that heavy thinking!

11. I was born on Epiphany, and have consequently always claimed that Twelfth Night is 'my' play.

12. I analysed over 40 languages while studying for my degree, and conducted a whole project on Thai - a language I don't speak.

13. Some time ago, Kasia tagged me to write six random things - I hope this gets me off the hook! In common with her, I have twins in my genes.

14. We're a two kettle household, having bought a new one to replace our dying-but-not-quite-dead old one but being reluctant to throw away something which actually does still work. Plus it's handy if you want to make a cuppa at the same time as a hot water bottle.

15. I'm disappointed that the orange Smarties in the 'Mini Smarties' boxes do not taste of orange. That's just wrong.