Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Very Bored in Catalunya is going around interrogating people, and she tagged me. So I'll answer her questions (under pressure - no! Don't bring out the comfy chair!) and then tag a few hapless bloggers with questions of my own.

1.  If you could possess one super power for a day, what would it be?

Ooh, that's a good start! VB is handing out super powers. Hum, let me think. Eyes at the back of my head? Got that. Ability to be in two places at once? Ditto. Oh I know: I'd like total immunity against sun burn and mosquito bites. Please get it to me by the end of the
month.

2.  In the next life you want to come back as...?
A pebble on the beach.

3.  First item on your shopping list is?
Milk. I don't drink it, but the rest of the family does. It's top left on the table we use to make our weekly shopping lists. Nearly every grocery item we ever buy is on it and we just go through with a highlighter pen. After we've filled in our weekly menu table. I know.

4.  Can you speak a foreign language, if not what language would you like to be able to speak?
Yes, English! And also some Turkish, but nowhere near as well as I should. I've learnt Spanish and Russian in the past but they're all gone. I don't really feel the urge to learn a new one right now. I think I'd rather teach myself hacking.

5.  What was your favourite subject at school?
Don't know. Philosophy, I guess, but that was in my last year. French.

6.  What's your party trick?
Not falling over. I'm quite pleased with myself when I achieve that.

7.  What age were you when you lost your virginity?  What??? Come on, just spicing things up.
21. Well, not really, but a lot of people who know me read this!

8.  What do you do to relax?
I read a lot, but that's not so much for relaxing as, well, for reading. So how do I relax? I put on some really white pyjama type things, brew some green tea, light incense in my special relaxing room and meditate for a couple of hours (or: I yell at the children and husband a bit, collapse on the sofa with my laptop and earphones and watch the latest Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Vampire Diaries, etc.) The bit about the green tea is true. Well, nearly. It's white tea.

9.  What's the job/chore you keeping putting off that really needs doing?
Argg. Applying for promotion. That is, getting my diplomas translated, stamped by some obscure authority for a huge fee, and approved so that I can apply for promotion. I'm supposed to that last year.

10. What's in the cupboard under your stairs?
What stairs? I live in a flat. Ok, let's make it the cupboard under the stairs of the whole building. Well, there's one which is full of washing machines that seem to flood all the time and fill up with ungodly grey fluff. I never go there. Then there's a fascinating one with lots and lots of wires - I think the one where they hook us up for ethernet. It's normally locked, but I'd love a proper look in there. And then there's the concierge's rooms - not a cupboard, I grant you - where our son loves to go to drink a glass of tea and watch the fish in the aquarium.


So now for the part where I get to bring out the soft cushion. The Spanish Inquisition is descending on:

Julie B at The Sardine Tin
Julia at What Will Julia Do Next
Michelloui at A Mid-Atlantic English
Metajugglamum at In Search of the Perfect Triangle
The Noble Savage

And your questions are:

1) If you had enough money so that you never had to work again, what would you do with yourself? (Julia - you can make this one retroactive)
2) Do you knit or sew or do any other 'womanly' craft?
3) Do you have a special talent that's unlikely to be noticed or that you're unlikely to brag about (like being able to brush your teeth with your feet!)
4) Are you a meticulous planner?
5) Do you wear make up? If so how much, how often?
6) Is there something you learnt as a child that you wish you could pick up again? A language, a sport, a musical instrument?
7) Do you swear in front of children?
8) Do you have any habits that you regard as childish?
9) Jimmy Steward or Cary Grant?
10) Vampire Bill or Eric Northman?