A Game of Tag

The first game of tag that I remember playing was called Witches and Fairies.  It was a school yard game with the big oak tree our safe haven from the witch. Then we graduated to Stiff Candle: when you were tagged you had to stand with your hands above your head and your feet apart till someone else freed you by crawling through your legs. When I was older we played Bullrush. I think Bullrush has been banned from school playgrounds these days!

It's been a long time since I've been tagged, and now I discover it's a game that Bloggers play. There is the hint of chain mail about this; something I never do!  But I like the element of introducing fellow bloggers to one another - I know some of you know each other already and some of you whom I would tag, are one of my nine companions tagged by D-Scribes.  Gee thanks Libby. 

It seems that I have to air eleven facts about myself.  I'm sure 11 is just a typographical error somewhere along the way, but here you are:

ELEVEN FACTS ABOUT ME
I am nothing but a Dreamer.

I arrived in NZ on a sugar cane ship, the Matua.

My earliest memory includes the Full Moon.

The one time I raced a stock car was in a demolition derby: I only covered two laps before being demolished.

Before I took up gardening I wanted to work in Antarctica.

My favourite machine is the great beam engine in the Kew Bridge pumping station.

In four years of living on a narrowboat I only fell in the Canal once.

My life is full of paradoxes: for example I don't like the feel of soil on my hands but I don't like gloves fumbling my fingers either.

I am bossy, lazy and self-centred.

I could quite easily adapt to a life of luxury: I am a Leo after all (That's two facts in one).


Then I have to answer ten questions posed by my Tagger:
D-SCRIBE'S TEN QUESTIONS

Shoplifting - have you ever?

Not knowingly. I can see how easy it would be when people are stressed and distracted and their normal parameters disrupted by death and destruction.

Slapping children - yes or no?
Slapping children 
is illegal in NZ.

Shower every day?
Such a luxury.

All is fair in love and war - yes or no?
No

Queue jumping - do you? Not intentionally. NZers don't queue like you do (except after an earthquake).

Social class barriers in Britain - vanishing or not? Still in place the last time I looked.
 
Cap on benefits - yes or no?
Just as long as it's not while I'm on one.

Marmite?
Vegemite.

Why blog?
It began with a business plan and the idea of recording the making of a garden and the restoration of a house. Somewhere along the way death and turmoil have turned this blog into a more reflective exercise.

Tribute bands? yes or no? Bantam of the Opera is the only band I follow - after all I got to sleep with the original bass player.

Next, I must pose ten questions of my own...
MY TEN QUESTIONS

What is your earliest memory?
What is your favourite museum artifact?
Morris Dancing - Love it? Hate it? What's That?
Lager or porter?
What sort of camera do you use?
What is the latest thing that you have crafted by hand?
How many animals or pets do you have?
Where in the World is your most memorable landscape?
Did you give/get a Valentine today?
What would you choose for a final meal?

And finally, put these questions to ten other bloggers.  Some of my best friends are Bloggers, but not all Blogs lend themselves to this game. It doesn't seem fair (after all this is neither love nor war) to ask someone whose blog has very specific content - like Poems from Cuby or The Prodigal to deviate from form.

I have made an exception for Owen, because although his Magic Lantern Show is a photography blog, I think he is up to the challenge of manipulating the medium.

MY TEN TAGGED BLOGS
The Magic Lantern Show
More Canterbury Tales
Sunny Side Up
Going Gently
Bees Make Honey
Little Mondegreen's Theatre House
Musings of Murphyfish
Pear Delirium
The Renegade Farmer
Koro Neil