Easter Bot Swap

Happy Easter and welcome to South Manchester on a cloudy and changeable Good Friday. I’ve seen the sun this morning and we are due a brief thunderstorm in the afternoon but after that the weather will calm down. 

Let’s dive into some questions from Sunday Stealing. 

1. Do you believe in the unknown and mystics?

I believe there is a whole universe of things we don’t know about that perhaps can be explained by science that we have yet to discover. However, there is a weird “unknown” that is more to do with the spiritual aspect of things we don’t know - and this is where I have a problem. 

Mystics claim to have an insight into such things but I simply don’t believe any of them. As a person who loves anything scientific, I find it really hard to understand how a so-called mystic can have such insights yet they can’t actually prove what they say; they rely on people to take their word for their weird claims. 

I apologise to people who believe this nonsense, but I am cursed with the need to see proof. I think that some mystics do actually believe in their own ability to transcend our supposedly one-dimensional lives into a more spiritual realm – but to me it is just the thing that I do when I am trying to sleep, i.e. set off on a journey through my own vivid and weird imagination. To me it is just a state of mind; I can achieve inner calm using mindfulness and I can also lie there in bed forgetting my woes by inventing stories in my head and allowing my subconscious mind to take over and send me to sleep.

I am not a mystic and I don’t believe anybody who says that they have achieved spiritual enlightenment by allowing themselves to transcend into the realms of the unknown. To me it is mumbo jumbo. 

However, if any mystic has proof then I am all ears. 

2. How do you tell time? Do you use a watch or your phone and why?

I only wear a watch when I go out. I am at home and the moment and watchless. That said, I do check the time on my phone  as well. 

3. How do you stay cool in the summer?

I wear shorts and a T-shirt. 

Summers in the UK are actually really pleasant when it isn’t raining. The highest normal temperature we get in Manchester is about 30 degrees Celsius, though we smashed the record a year or so ago when the temperature reached 37 degrees here in Manchester and over 40 degrees in London. 

I also turn down the temperature on the shower so that the it is much colder. 

We’re lucky in our house because it is quite cool so coming in from a hot day we get instant relief. 

Cold drinks with lots of ice also works. 

4. Egg yolk or white?

I like both.

5. What is your current on-repeat song?

Since seeing the Stranglers a week or so ago, I have been playing this song a lot (from their latest album). It is a great song called Breathe. 

6. What is your favourite sound in the world?

I like a lot of sounds, including:

• A baby laughing

• Thunder

• Waves crashing on the shore

• Wind

• Music

7. What's the must-have-items in your bag?

I don’t carry a bag, I’m a bloke. 

Nevertheless I do have a rucksack for work that contains my laptop and all the trimmings required for it but that’s about it. 

8. When you're dressing up, which one you put on first: pants or tops?

That’s an odd question. I usually put pants on but sometimes I don’t.

9. What is the one thing you wish you could take back?

Nothing immediately leaps to mind, but I know that I have said a few things in my youth that I have regretted, usually in a red-mist moment. Many things are said in the heat of the moment and these days I am more careful about what I say. 

10. What is your pet peeve?

What is my pet peeve? I have several. Here are a few:

• Politicians that do not answer questions.

• Traffic jams.

• People who don’t wash their hands after using the toilet. 

• People who talk with their mouths full.

• People who don’t flush the toilet – and yes there are some horrific monsters out there.

• People who live for arguing.

• Dirty kitchens.

• Business bullshit.

• People who talk and make noise in the cinema.

• The tall person who always stands in front of me at a gig.

• Long queues and people who try to queue jump.

I could do an entire post about this. 

11. Have you ever been ashamed after buying something frivolous? What?

Not ashamed – but annoyed. I am usually careful not to buy trinkets and useless objects and I rarely do so. However, a couple of years ago, I decided that I wanted a smartwatch. I didn’t need one and I don’t have any use for one. To me they are an expensive waste of time. I succumbed to the hype in a moment of madness.

Before my rational mind took charge, I had in my possession a cheap smartwatch. I regretted buying it within a week. It was cheap, cheap-looking and had a battery that lasted barely a day. It had functions which, on paper, looked useful, like a pedometer, a heart monitor and various other things. But they were hopeless and inaccurate. The accompanying app was hopeless too and drained the battery on my old smartphone. 

Pretty soon it stopped charging properly as well and now it is gathering dust in a drawer upstairs. 

What a waste of money.

12. What dessert would you eat even if you were beyond full?

At Christmas time I can always find room for a mince pie. 

13. Sweet or spicy?

These days, spicy. I used to love sweet food but I seem to have lost my sweet-tooth. 

14. Which website do you visit most often?

That would probably be the BBC web page – or possibly You Tube. 

15. Which countries/states have you visited and which one did you like the most?

I’ve visited 38 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Oman, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Vatican City and Vietnam. I would also count Hong Kong and Macau but they are now special administrative regions of China so I guess they don’t count. 

In the US I have visited the following states:

Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia and Washington. I have also been to Washington DC. 

The countries I have enjoyed most are Japan, Iceland and Spain, though every one in the list above is amazing – even China and Russia.

As for states, I really enjoyed Alaska and New York but they are all great in their own way.