Nora one of my first pigs
We have been playing a game on nights in between turns and meds and lady of the lamp moments
It’s called things you didn’t know about me
- Some specific nursing skills I have include being able to teach spinally injured men to obtain an erection using injectable medication, caverjet.
- I leaned to swim at the age of 41
- I am colourblind
- I have a deformed right index finger
- I once ran Three successful 8 week night schools Teaching people how to look after chickens
- I almost drowned in a swimming pool in loret del mar
- I have been to New York 12 times
- I have owned four pigs in my life and have eaten two
- I have only visited 11 different countries in my life
- I have had 3 long term relationships with Men and one with a woman
- I am a natural baritone but sing in the bass section in choir
- I have kissed two policemen on the lips who were in uniform
- I have never been arrested
- I am dyspraxic
- I have been Totally paralysed with fear once in my life and had to be led off the Seattle Space Needle’s observation deck by an elderly Japanese lady tourist
- I have been present at the birth of 5 babies and one set of twins
- I have been off my head on drugs ( mild) just once in my life
- When I was a bank clerk I never balanced my till once in 2 years
- I have written a blog almost everyday Since 2006
- I once had to hold a totally severed leg in theatre
- I have owned three houses of my own.
- I didn’t own a dog until I was 40
- My mother once saved my life when I almost choked to death on a mint imperial
- I broke my collar bone when I did a parachute jump
- I have no middle name
My first and second chicken course students !
Wow - you could do a whole blog post on almost any one of them!
ReplyDeleteWhen you say that about not balancing your till, it makes me feel much less frustrated with my own chequebook and other balancing problems that I never can explain. Thank you! -Kate
ReplyDeleteConfirms what I have thought all along: you are amazing.
ReplyDeleteBonnie in Minneapolis
What I really enjoyed was the "I have kissed two policemen on the lips who were in uniform" and then followed it with "I have never been arrested." BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteThat was accidental
DeleteI like never balancing the till. And they gave you two years at it.
ReplyDeleteYou've had an interesting life.
ReplyDeleteI’m not dead yet
DeleteI apologise, but it was 3am and I was having trouble sleeping, so wasn't thinking about how I wrote it. I'll do better next time.
DeleteLol I was joking dear heart x
DeleteNice, fun, engaging and interesting life.
ReplyDeleteINTERESTING! you are an amazing human, squire gray!
ReplyDeleteMint Imperial indeed! For a moment I thought you'd taken up Wild Boar hunting, by the photo.
ReplyDeleteAs Sue, above, says, there's a whole wealth of material to write on in every one of your 25 items. Think I'd be hard pushed to come up with just a modest 10 relating to my own dull term, despite my being appreciably older.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! Yes, all items are blog post worthy, Sir John (an honorary title). :)
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Oh, and I, too, have held a severed leg after it was handing off of the sterile field in OR and into the large plastic trash bag I was holding. It was surprisingly heavy, but that makes sense. I just hadn't thought of it before.
DeleteGoodness, you have lived/are living an interesting and varied life. You must have done other parts of the job very, very well or you'd not have lasted two years in that bank.Was the leg coming off, or being reattached? I'm turning green just visualising it!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing what we don't know about each other. Your insight was facinating... don't know about keeping pigs and eating them..I think they are very intelligent beings. That being said I do eat pork but none that I have owned.
ReplyDeleteJo in Auckland.
You could offer a weekend chicken keeping course. Suggest a few B and B's though as we stayed in a dire one on Wales once. The picture on the internet bore no resemblance to the place at all
ReplyDeleteThe one thing on your list that made me laugh the most was your till balancing expertise.
ReplyDeleteLX
Wow what an interesting read. I have lived a life of tedium by comparison. By the way, you have beautiful eyes! x
ReplyDeleteActually I think you've mentioned most of them before!
ReplyDeleteYes I often repeat myself when tired sue
DeleteAs if we don't feel as if we know you anyway. Take any one of those interesting facts and discuss. In depth. Or put them altogether, anonymously, then ask your readers to guess who that is.......And we would/could all shout "John!" And grin! X
ReplyDeleteAmazing list...Did you manage to save the leg?
ReplyDeleteI forgot for a moment that the word theatre also functions as operation room.....
ReplyDeleteNow show us the finger please!
Those cops got lucky.
ReplyDeleteOne did..the other was a moment of madness on the micklegate run in york
DeleteDo I remember the Micklegate run or what?
DeleteLX
I was wondering if there was a connection between kissing policemen and never being arrested.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting character you are John. Reading your list makes me realise what a boring life I have lead.
ReplyDelete"I have kissed two policemen on the lips who were in uniform". You should have put this one in bold print.
ReplyDeleteThat's an impressive list! I too have no middle name but my sister does. Do your siblings have middle names John?
ReplyDeleteWhen will you get around to writing your memoires. Just the kind of thing people love to read. By the way, have you read 'The Language of Kindness - A Nurse's Story' by Christie Watson?
ReplyDeleteI knew three of them (long term reader) but wow you've had a time in your life <3
ReplyDeleteThose mint imperials are bloody dangerous. I wish someone would give our prime minister a bag of them. You don't need novichok - just mint imperials.
ReplyDeleteAn eclectic life it sounds to me-extremely worthwhile and interesting.John-could you expand a little on the policeman I wonder? x
ReplyDeleteI think you have mentioned some of those in passing, but only those of us with brilliant memories will remember ... as you said you've been writing virtual non-stop blog posts since 2006 :-)
ReplyDeleteI just love the thought of an elderly Japanese lady helping you off the viewing deck of the Seattle Space Needle. I had to do something similar with Alan off the London Eye, he hadn't told me he was afraid of heights until we were on it. He was virtually frozen with fear by the time we got off.
Therefore one should never judge a book by its cover; you should always scratch the surface a bit. Good for you being an original. Never ever change x
ReplyDeleteParachute jumping!!! Doing things you fear the most . . . great list
ReplyDeleteIt took 14 years for you to tell us all this :). Some people really hide behind their blogs :).
ReplyDeleteI’ve mentioned a few of these before x
DeleteOMG, I'm with "Weaver," once I read these, I realized what a total bore my life has been, and I WAS on drugs and alcohol for a LONG time before I cleaned up!!! :) OH John. I do adore you and your lovely blog.
ReplyDeleteOhhh I love this!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to sit down with you and chat about any of these things!
I also had to look up Dyspraxic. I had no idea!
XOXO
I just keep imagining the two policeman. And I can't imagine you without a dog!
ReplyDeleteI too have held a severed (gangrenous) leg - as a student nurse doing my theatre stint in '88 or '89. Haven't made a parachute jump but used to be a regular member of a caving club in the 80s- lots of abseiling in the dark...
ReplyDeleteMine was in 1992 and it was a paraplegics leg who had a massive pelvic pressure sore
DeleteI don't I could even enter the lobby of the Space Needle. In the 1980's, I was persuaded by friends to go up to the observation deck of the World Trade Centre. It was another foggy day in New York, so the only way to see anything was to looked down. I lasted a minute up there before crawling, actually on my hands & knees, back to the lift down to the ground floor.
ReplyDeleteI should have known it would happen. As a child, I'd had to be carried down from the dome of St Paul's Cathedral when I froze with fear/vertigo. And the one & only time I went on a big wheel was at a mini funfair in Covent Garden, just as the massive bomb at Harrods went off - we heard it from the top of the wheel. All rides were immediately stopped & search bit by bit, which meant I was stopped at the very top of the ride for about 30 minutes.
And don't get me started on tunnels.
Oh do tell us about tunnels... :) Sounds like you are not cut out for the mission to Mars then?
DeleteI suspect there are many more even more interesting ones too. As for me... nothing at all that anyone would be remotely interested in long enough to listen to the end, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear about the policemen. jean/winnipeg
ReplyDeleteYou almost drowned and almost choked to death? I guess we've all narrowly escaped death a few times. As a child I also nearly drowned - at Southend - and was almost killed by a falling chimney.
ReplyDeleteNow that’s much more exciting
DeleteWhen did you work as a bank clerk? I use to do this I hated it lol
ReplyDeletei had to be led down the stairs in the eiffel tower by a guard. it was not my brightest moment.
ReplyDeleteFascinating! I admit I had to look up dyspraxic (knowing the Greek was of little avail on this one). Legally I have no middle name either; none of the older people in my family do. The middle names we use are our Confirmation names. I have no idea why we do that; the younger generations don't.
ReplyDeleteLoved learning some new things about you!
ReplyDeleteFascinating! That severed leg entry just begs for a longer explanation -- yikes!
ReplyDeleteDyspraxia? You? That's the only thing I find unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteConstant food down my front ?
DeleteAnd your ability to fall over hedges?
DeleteWow! What a life!!! We are almost the same age and I am very sure my life reads nothing like yours. I am compiling my list in my head as we speak and it is not as varied but I do see a pattern forming; which is a worry actually. Thank goodness we are all different. Life would be a bore if our lives all read the same. The severed leg got me btw I don't do nursey things with limbs but I am better with bodily fluids.
ReplyDeleteJo in Auckland
Had to look up dyspraxia.
ReplyDeleteHow old were you when you nearly drowned?
ReplyDelete10
DeleteVery colorful. Our experiences make us and you enjoy life to the fullest. The ups, downs and everything in between... Way to go!
ReplyDeleteSeven things on your list could be on mine. What an interesting way to get to know people.
ReplyDeleteFascinating!
ReplyDeleteWe knew some of these...the erections, the leg, the Space Needle, the chicken classes, the pigs--but I had no idea you were colorblind, however do you decorate so beautifully and chose such perfectly matched collections? How do you see the art you collect?
ReplyDeleteI loved this post! I've learned a whole lot more about you. I haven't balanced my checking account in years. It drives my mother nuts. And I am guessing you have a fear of heights? I do.
ReplyDeleteI had to look up dyspraxia also but its meaning is a bit obscure Is it un coordination? Anyhow maybe I should put something about me on my two blogs. Starting with I am an identical twin. That my Dad was a German soldier who met my mother when he was a prisoner of war and she was in the land army.
ReplyDeleteI think you should
DeleteI know you have nothing but time... but would you consider another pig to raise and butcher?
ReplyDeleteRuth in Oxnard CA
It was an experience but no not again
DeleteI too had to look up dyspraxic . . .
ReplyDeleteInteresting . . .
My late husband and his brother shared the same middle name. (Kay)
I have never ever heard of anyone having the same middle name, or spelled like mine . . . Annelly . . . supposedly my mom found the name on a laundry soap box testimonial. (1939).
I guess that wipes out my previous statement . . . there must be two of us!
You left out that you zipped lined and overcame your fear to raise money for charity.
ReplyDeleteI liked the pig
ReplyDelete