Six Random things

I've done this before but who doesn't like posting about themselves? Wake Up and Smell the Coffee tagged me. I have to tell 6 random things about myself then pass this on to 6 others. I have already passed this one on way back so I won't inflict it again, but if anyone feels like jumping in, please do:

1. I have been in the States since 1990 and still say 'aluminium' (extra syllable), tomato (pronounced the correct way - see last post), and process (pronounced with an "oh"). I have met quite a few Brits who've been over here for less time and who have gone completely native. I'm sure when I'm on US soil I could be accused of rolling an R or two at the end of a sentence, but I've never understood how people can abandon their entire verbal upbringing and say American things. Not meaning to be judgmental here but, actually, well, I probably am.

2. I'm a decent tap-dancer and I really enjoy it. I know that sounds brash but you don't meet many people younger than Fred Astaire who can tap dance. I even have a pair of adult tap shoes and up till about 6 years ago used to take classes. (That ended with pregnancy bed rest and now I don't have the time.) As a child I took ballet, tap and "stage" which I believe is now called "jazz". I did them all till I went to university and didn't take any up again till about 8 years ago. As soon as I started with the adult ballet I remembered why I had given it up - too damn hard, and quite frankly, some of those poses are the exact opposite of what any personal trainer will tell you to do. No wonder they all end up with hip replacements. But tap - give me a glass or two of Pinot Grigio and a hard kitchen floor and I'm off!

3. After all this time in the States, my American accent is pretty woeful, although I do a mean Texan accent. Thanks in part to my in-laws who are both Texan, and also thanks to my daughter's fave TV show - "Reba". I have always been a good mimic, but somehow a generic US accent fails me.

4. I am not, and never will be, a morning person. Despite have had small children in the house for over 15 years, and working outside the home, as they say, for a goodly while after I left uni, I have never come to terms with the fact that I couldn't work ooh, say about 10am till 7pm. I once nearly got a job with an indie record company after I left uni, (they were too chicken to take a risk with someone so young) and a big factor was the 10am start. However, I was living in Wimbledon at the time, and the job was somewhere like Finchley, or Nottingham, so it probably would still have meant getting up at 7am.

5. I know I have mentioned this before but - I can touch my nose with my tongue. I have only met one other person who can do this, but my 5 year old is almost there. It's more to do with the small space between your top lip and nose than the length of your tongue before anyone leaves a blue comment!!!

6. I fell down a manhole when I was 17! I did - really! And not just a little bit - I was in up to my chest in filthy, icy water. I will post the full story next time as it's a bit involved and it doesn't show my mother in the best light either!! (Cliff hanger.)