Swap Bot Part Two

Welcome to a very sunny and reasonably warm Sunday afternoon in South Manchester. Spring is definitely in the air and we will soon be able to hopefully spend a little more time outdoors. On Friday we went to a wedding in deepest brightest Lancashire, at a hall in the middle of the countryside on a beautiful day that enabled to sit outside briefly in the sunshine with a glass of champagne as the bride and groom were photographed in an ideal location. 

It was lovely.

Anyway, it’s Sunday now so I am going to answer some silly questions courtesy of Sunday Stealing. 

Let’s dive in, shall we?

1. Do you like sushi?

I love sushi and I also love sashimi. I had tried it before we travelled to Japan, but once there I had lots of it. In Kyoto, we went to a restaurant that specialised in sushi and sashimi and the idea was that we would have a mixture, rather like tapas. Our selection was good and we ended up in a weird conversation with two drunk businessmen who happened to be sitting next to us. It was weird because they were drunk but more importantly because they could only speak about ten words of English, that’s eight words more than we knew in Japanese. In the end, he bought us his favourite sushi as a gift, and we returned the favour by buying him and his friend a beer in return. He tried to persuade us to go with him on a bar crawl around the old town in Kyoto. I knew this because he showed us the area on his phone, pointed to his beer and said two of the words he knew: “You come”! We had to politely refuse – but the sushi he bought was divine.

2. What colour is your car?

My car is a strange kind of silver colour. It isn’t silver exactly because I have parked next to a car that I consider to be silver and it definitely doesn’t match. It’s probably got a bizarre name like “goblin silver” or “paean silver” or something else that is pretentious and wholly inaccurate.

3. What is your favourite thing about the place where you live?

I live about five miles south of Manchester city centre with great transport links into the city itself and enough close by to keep me entertained. If I fancy a little greenery and nature, there is a great area within walking distance or I can drive south into Cheshire in about half an hour. There are great links to other cities from Manchester itself and we live reasonably close to Manchester Airport for when we eventually go travelling again. 

4. Are there brands of certain items that you will ONLY buy that brand? i.e. paper towels, ketchup etc.

I guess so. It depends on what it is I suppose. With more expensive items like laptops, tablets and phones I am very selective in what I buy. When it comes to household stuff, I don’t really care. Same goes for food but there are certain things I always buy because I like the taste.

5. Are you allergic to any food? Animals? Plants? Medicines?

I don’t think I am allergic to anything other than the pollen that gives me hay fever in June. Ah – I've just realised that I am actually allergic to pine trees. I used to have a couple in an older house and one hot summer’s day I decided to trim the. I had a T shirt on and went right in there with the sheers. When I came out my arms were both red and itchy with a weird looking rash. It dissipated after a few hours but the next time I did it the same thing happened.

6. Have you ever been stung or bitten by an animal?

I’ve been bitten and scratched by just about every cat I’ve ever owned. That is mostly my fault for provoking them. I have been bitten twice by dogs when I was a child – unprovoked, I might add. 

7. Do you have a favourite bird? Do you feed the bird at your house or the park?

I don’t really have a favourite bird. That doesn’t mean that I dislike them – I just haven’t bothered investigating them. We do have a bird feeding contration on a tree in the garden but I am aware that squirrels are probably more likely to eat the food and that cats are likely to get involved if we aren’t careful.

8. What would you recommend binging on Netflix or similar?

Mrs PM got hold of Disney+ for six months free with her phone company so I have been catching up on the Marvel series – all of which I love. I’ve also watched The Mandalorian which was quite good (I usually prefer Star Trek to Star Wars). 

I am currently watching the last season of The Expanse on Amazon, which is amazing. 

Also, we are currently watching Vikings and I have to say that if you haven’t seen it then just dive in. It is brilliant. 

9. What is your proudest achievement?

For proudest, read “stupid” – climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

10. Do you have or are you from a big family?

Not really. 

11. What do you do for exercise?

I used to play football and swim as a younger man but these days walking is my main form of exercise. I try to walk at least 7000 steps per day and the good news is that so far this year that average is currently at around 8000. 

12. What would be your favourite breakfast? (You didn’t have to cook it yourself.)

I love a full English breakfast but I don’t eat them that often. The last one I had was on Saturday morning in the hotel we were staying in after the wedding.

13. Is there an item that you really want but cannot afford?

A round the world ticket. To be honest I can afford it but the additional costs such as spending money, hotels etc. would make it really expensive. One day …

14.  What was the farthest distance you made for your holidays?

The farthest I have been is Australia. The furthest from Manchester is probably the city of Sydney where I did that stupid thing I mentioned in question 9.

15. Are you afraid of speaking in public?

Yes. And the sad thing is that I have had to do it several times as part of my job in the form of training courses. I have done them in America, China, South Africa, Switzerland and even Russia. You might think that means that I have overcome this irrational fear but I haven’t. The best thing to do is to practice and make sure you know what you are saying and then, try to focus on one or two people in the audience rather than all of them. And the first fifteen minutes is the worst. Once you get past that hurdle it gets better.