Pen Pals

Welcome to a cloudy South Manchester where the weather is going to get colder for the next few days. At the moment the sky is grey and cloudy but at least it is dry for once. I think my winter coat will have a couple more outings as winter has its last bite before returning at the end of the year.

Let’s dive in with some silly questions from Sunday Stealing. 

1. What are your plans for March?

I don’t have anything specific. Mrs PM is working a lot this month, which will jeopardise our weekends somewhat so we won’t be going away anywhere. I’ve got a couple of gigs – the Black Spiders next weekend and Devin Townsend at the end of March. I am really looking forward to both.

2. Did you ever have or go to sleepovers as a kid?

I went to the odd one. I was never really that keen on them to be perfectly honest because I love my own bed and have always done so. 

3. Which books would you pick for a book binge?

I usually have a book binge when I am on holiday, usually buying a few before I set off. If I am going to do some intense reading, I usually go for a multi-book series space opera, like the ones that Peter F Hamilton writes. I recall the first books I read by him – the Night’s Dawn trilogy which consisted of three 1000 page plus novels with vast scope that I needed to keep reading one straight after the other to keep track of all the characters and the convoluted storyline. If I had read the first and waited for the second, I would have probably had to reread the first to get up to speed. 

It is best for me to just go for it all in one go. 

I love a good space opera.

4. What features do you love most about your home?

I love quite a few things. 

In the house itself, we have three bedrooms, which are reasonably sized, each of which can accommodate a double bed (even the smallest). It has a smallish lounge with a slightly bigger back room that leads into a good sized kitchen. We have a weather-proofed outhouse that we use for storage. It is perfectly fine for the two of us. 

In fact we are currently going through a spring clean as we are about to redecorate the back room, which is looking quite tired now. This will involve replanning how we use the middle bedroom and the back bedroom as well as replacing the furniture. It is currently my man cave (if such a thing exists) doubling as an office and a second lounge with my Playstation and a fairly large TV. However, we are going to turn the back bedroom into my new mancave by moving the Playstation and TV upstairs, replacing the double bed with a double sofa bed and moving the piano from the middle room into the back bedroom. The middle bedroom will double as a second office (since both if us work from home a lot – and it is definitely big enough to accommodate a desk with plenty of room to spare). 

House-wise, it could be a turbulent year but by Autumn hopefully it will all be finished.

I also love the location of our house. We are in South Manchester, close to an area with a lot of shops, bars and restaurants and close to a tram station to get us into the centre of Manchester in about 20 minutes. We are also fairly close to the countryside too – perhaps a 30 minute drive in most directions. 

Sorry – I waffled on a bit there but I do love my house.

5. Favourite songs from tv, movies, and video games

I watched Inception not so long ago and I love the music that accompanies it – like this one. 

It is truly beautiful:

I love Hans Zimmer and I need to explore more of his music.

There are so many TV shows that have great music but one recent show sticks in my mind – Peacemaker. I started watching this thinking it would be another DC superhero show but I have to admit it is one of the best – and funniest – shows I have seen recently. I absolutely loved it. The theme is really good and the dance routine that the stars go through is as funny as it is unexpected and sums up what the show is all about.

Games? Well I rediscovered this from playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I remember going to see them in Liverpool when I was at university. I loved it then and I love it now. A real throwback to the brilliant decade that was the 1980’s.

6. What group games do you like to play with others

I don’t really play group games. I guess the last one I played, quite a few years ago now, was Trivial Pursuit but I haven’t played it for a while. I usually did quite well because my ageing brain is full of absolute trivia.

7. How often do you try something new?

Not as often as I should. In recent years, I have started taking on new things and as I approach retirement I aim to do that more. Having said that, if you count travelling to a new country as “trying something new” I do that as often as I can. Last year I went to Denmark for the first time, this year it will be Morocco and next year it will be Malaysia – with a possibility of sneaking in a weekend break in one of the following new countries this year; Austria, Sweden, Poland or Estonia.

8. What type of sushi is your favourite?

I think that would have to be sashimi, in particular salmon sashimi. 

9. Do you prefer to relax or go on adventures during vacation?

I don’t really go on adventures unless you count exploring cities an adventure. If we go on a city break we usually spend most of the time exploring but if we go to the coast or a resort, we tend to split the exploration and relaxation. For example, when we go to Marrakech in April we will spend all of the time exploring but our trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia in June/July will be a little bit of both.

10. How do you prevent burn out?

I think I have a really good work/life balance. In my thirties, I had a minor health scare that turned out be totally stress related and I took the decision then to be more assertive when it came to this balance. These days, I do not let work get on top of me at all and I haven’t for years now. And I feel much better for it. 

Stress does still happen but I have learned to deal with it in a better wary, and I am happy to say that almost none of it comes from work – and nor would I allow it to.

11. Which colours look best on you?

I look like a ghost if I wear white or yellow so they are out. 

I just look like a weird alien if I wear orange.

I prefer blue, turquoise or teal but Mrs PM likes me to wear brighter colours like red or green. She says I look better – and she’s probably right. As she says “You don’t have to look at yourself!”, so I just let her decide.

12. Do you like brunch?

Yes but only at weekends. If I have a lie in, I usually go for my walk before breakfast and by the time I get back it is closer to lunchtime. So we have brunch, which basically means a full English breakfast with all the trimmings. We do this on holiday quite a lot too.

13. Trends you showed up late for.

All of them!

I don’t follow trends at all. When it comes to fashion, I sometimes accidentally follow trends because I buy clothes that happen to be trendy at the time. 

As far as technology is concerned, I tend to wait for new items to “bed in” for six months to see how good they really are before buying them.

Mrs PM follows trends, especially with fashion, houseware, etc. so again, I accidentally end up being relatively close to them. 

If I were young, free and single I would be absolutely hopeless.

14. What’s your favourite drink order?

It depends. In the winter I will order bitter or an ale of some kind (an IPA perhaps). In the summer, I tend to just drink lager because it is cool and refreshing. I avoid stout but occasionally have a Guinness.

15. Which clothes or accessories make you feel most confident?

I just like to be comfortable and that makes me feel more confident rather than being a sharp-dressed man. Things like weddings and other similar social events where I am expected to wear a suit or a penguin suit don’t really matter because every other bloke is wearing a suit too.

I didn’t like wearing a suit for work and thankfully now I don’t have to. There was an interim period where we had “dress-down Friday” and I felt much more relaxed on Friday in my jeans and T-shirt.