Tagging

I have been tagged, hurray! by Driftwood..

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Well I had just turned 20 and was working as a nanny for a family with three children, a girl and two boys, aged 7,4 and a few weeks old. I also looked after two more children as well on Thursdays and Fridays. My working day was from 8am until 6pm, how the heck did I manage that? In the school holidays I had 5 of the terrors! The 7 year old hated me on sight, so I remember trying to bribe her with her favourite meal (tuna lasagne, yuck). I was not the greatest of cooks and used to ring my lovely Mum at work and ask her how to cook certain things, and how long to cook them for, like jacket potatoes. It went like this,

Ring Ring

"Hello Anna!" (It got to the stage where she knew it would be so didn't bother waiting to check)

'Errm, how long do you cook a jacket potato for?"

"Well how big is it?"

'Errm, not that big...' (very helpful)

I was living at home still, just about, I think, but about to move into my first rented flat with my friend and a smelly boy who took the third room to help us pay the rent. We always knew if he was home by whether the smell of his socks was in the air or not..

We spent all of our spare time and money in the pub around the corner, and staggering out of the nightclub two doors down. Our flat resembled a greenhouse, great big windows from floor to ceiling, and was above a parade of shops. I remember lying in the bath with cold water dripping on me from the skylight above. It was roasting hot in there in the summer and freezing in the winter. My female friend and I used to huddle up in bed together on Sunday mornings with a pot of tea and watch telly, snuggled under the covers (usually with a hangover) to keep warm.

5 Things on my to do list today

Well today is nearly over! But...

* Find the recipe in the huge pile of torn out recipes in the kitchen for marinading the seabass I have just bought for dinner.

* Pack a weekend bag for our trip to London tomorrow to see the Flugtag in Hyde Park. (blog to follow)

* Wander around the garden with a chilled glass of sauvignon blanc and see how my seedlings are doing

* Change out of office clothes into something a tad scruffier and more comfortable

* Get the wet washing out of the machine from this morning

Snacks I enjoy

* Marmite on toast..mmmm

* Chocolate raisins

* Chunky kitkats ( but only from the fridge)

* Sunflower seeds (shelled)

* Raw broad beans from the allotment (so sweet and lovely, but only when they're tiny)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire

* Shout some expletives

* Open my cafe/ bookshop/ florists

* Buy a little cottage on the beach in St Ives, Cornwall

* And a helicopter to take me and my family there (to save that long drive, although I guess I could get my chauffeur to do it)

* Help my family and friends out with whatever they needed

* Give to charity

Places I have lived

* Ickenham, Middlesex

* Wokingham

* Tewkesbury

* Perth, Scotland

* Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

* Evesham, Worcestershire

People I want to know more about

* Nancy at Philosophyoflists

* Domonique at Shabby Chic

* Alison at Vintage Amethyst

* Catherine at Mollycupcakes

* Gill at Moss Stitch

and I shall leave you with fowl pictures from the weekend gone...

We went to visit the Domestic Wildfowl Trust which is about ten minutes away. I have never been there before and it was AMAZING. There were less than half a dozen of us wandering around the most enormous place filled with as many different breeds of chickens, ducks, geese peacocks...you name it. They also had baby bunnies..

They were the cutest things I have ever seen. Ever. I had to go back and have another peek at them before we went home.