Five Things You Didn't Know About Me

My brother says this is geeky. He might be right. I didn't even know what a meme was until recently; I thought being tagged meant you were on parole and having your movements monitored. The blogging world seems to have its own phrases and habits, and I will probably always be somewhat alien to it.

Anyway Ros at Living to Eat tagged me for this meme, where I'm meant to tell you five things you might not have known about me. Since most of the blogging world know quite little about me, apart from what I eat everyday (which I suppose could count as quite a lot, in fact) this could be very easy; the fact that my husband and brother read me might make it tricky. I've decided to try, anyway.

1. When I was little, I kept asking to change my name to Violet, in honour of the Malory Towers character. This is odd not just because the name Violet was such an inappropriate, ghastly name at the time, but also because the character in Malory Towers was an almost imperceptible ghost in the corner of the classroom, ethereal, slightly feeble, and easily forgotten; it is particularly peculiar that I should have hit on Violet as my chosen name.

2. I have a photographic memory. Well, almost. I have a very good memory, anyway; I can still recall huge chunks of rote-learnt rhetoric for school and university exams. Luckily for me, the academic world has a tendency to confuse a good memory with intelligence.

3. I have no artistic ability whatsoever. I'm the world's worst Pictionary player. Never ask me to play because I ruin it for whoever is stuck with me, I get bored and I end up reading a book instead.

4. I have a tendency to fall into water. In my childhood I fell into rivers implausibly often. Now I avoid rivers, lakes and other natural phenomena other than the sea. I've never fallen into the sea, except off a lilo.

5. I read very, very fast. This skill was developed when I was a kid and perfected at university when we had to cover masses of novels every week. It is now less a skill than a terrible character flaw, because it means I finish novels far too fast and then sulk until I can get hold of my next fix.

Reading those random facts back, I realize I don't sound very exciting. Good thing I'm not using my blog as a form of self-promotion...