Here’s my second half of answers to the 30 question quiz started the other day.
Why and when did you start blogging? 50shadesofsun went live on August 1, 2015. The reason why is that my years of writing experience as a journalist were going to waste. I was too young to retire, and still am – just, but had been forced to stop working by mobility problems caused by multiple sclerosis.
Advice on your area of expertise Having a disability, the best advice I can give is to keep active and, by that, I don’t necessarily mean physically active (no need to rush to the gym). Activity can be mental, doing things that exercise your brain.
List 5 blogs you read on a regular basis, and why Hm, a difficult one this, as I read so many and by naming some, it is so easy to offend writers of others. I’ll just say that I like to read other MS blogs, lifestyle ones and any others that grab my interest.
What do you collect? Absolutely nothing, anything printed that I used to keep is now scanned and on computer, anything in the form of an object is generally discarded. We don’t even have bookcases these days, that’s what e-books are for! Of course, there are things I’d like to collect – like money – and things I’d rather not have – such as aches and pains.
What’s your greatest fear? Nothing, really. There are things that I don’t like but that’s not fear. I don’t even fear what MS may have in store for me. Life is there for living in hope, not in fear. I don’t worry either; if there is a problem that I can fix, I do so but if it is beyond my control, why worry? I must admit that I don’t like heights but heights don’t kill you, nor does falling from them; landing, though is a different matter!
Provide 5 easy steps to anything Just what is an ‘easy step’? I really have no idea! I either try to walk a few yards, actually a better description would be stagger, or use a wheelchair.
What do you do to save money? I did the most important thing five years ago – got divorced from my first wife who used to spend what we didn’t have. Lisa is the opposite, she hates using credit and prefers to only spend money when we have it. Second thing was to move to Spain where the cost of living is much lower than in the UK, where we used to live
Describe your most embarrassing moment Embarrassment doesn’t tend to affect me. If I make some sort of ‘faux pas’, I just laugh it off and blame MS for it. Otherwise, my attitude is ‘love me or loathe me, here I am’.
Describe your city Our village, not a city, is about 1.5 km from our home. It is typical of small villages in Spanish agricultural areas, slow and sleepy except at fiesta time when it explodes into life. Our nearest town is 10 km away and is also on the small side, as towns go, but it has the facilities you need. It’s where we go to the supermarket, bank and doctor. The oldest part of town is made up of narrow streets with properties dating back well before the invention of the internal combustion engine.
What’s your favourite restaurant? Back in the UK it was, without a doubt, Paanshee Bangladeshi in Prestatyn, North Wales. Here in Spain we have so many great restaurants that we have not yet got just one favourite.
What’s your guilty pleasure show? I suppose my regular ‘fix’ of Grand Prix motor racing is my biggest TV pleasure but I don’t feel guilty about it.
What’s your favorite season? We live in an area in which there is sun all year with very little rain. The fields where crops are grown rely on irrigation, not rain. So, as you might imagine, we both love the sun – whatever the season.
Talk about your idea of a perfect date One with my wife, the love of my life. Nothing else matters as long as Lisa is there.
How do you normally spend your weekend? If you have ever seen the TV series Downton Abbey you’ be familiar with aristocratic family. One day at dinner, a new in-law mentioned doing something at the weekend to which the matriarch asked “What is a weekend?” When you don`t go out to work there is little difference between weekdays and the weekend. Now that I write and do other things for MS News Today, weekends are a bit different again but not much.
Explain what you liked most about this challenge It was fun to do and gave my brain a little workout, which takes me back to the second question and answer.
50shadesofsun 