A Few of my Favourite Things

Welcome to a crisp and sunny South Manchester. It’s lovely outside and a typical autumn day. In the park earlier, the wind was blowing gently through the trees, loosening the red and orange leaves, causing them to gently float to the ground. I love summer but autumn days like today are also lovely.

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

1. What’s the best birthday party you’ve ever had?

That would be my surprise 30th birthday party, which happened just over 32 years ago. I was very depressed about the thought of turning 30 and, as usual, I didn’t want a fuss. I’ve never been happy about being the centre of attention at all and traditionally a milestone birthday forces such things upon you. My ex-wife assured me that she wouldn’t make a fuss and that it would be treated as a normal birthday. 

What I didn’t realise was that she was lying and had planned a major event in our house with the help of the wives of some of my mates. Leading up to my birthday, my mates would drag me out of the house and this was so that the wives could get together and plan the party. 

On the night of the party itself, she took me for a meal and as soon as the meal had finished, she told me that she felt a little poorly and wanted to go home. I was happy with that, so we drove home. I unlocked the door and saw people in my house. My immediate reaction was “We’re being burgled!” but then I recognised the people. 

It was a traditional “SURPRISE!!” and I was overwhelmed. We had a houseful of guests, some of whom had come from other places and were staying over in our small house. 

At first I was annoyed but then, gradually, I started to enjoy myself and, as it went on until the early hours, we had a lot of fun. 

Having said that, I don’t want another one and when the other three significant birthdays approached, I implored Mrs PM not to do the same. Thankfully, she has listened to me - so far. 

2. Where is your favourite place you’ve ever visited?

Hong Kong. I did a calculation recently and I reckon I have spent about 18 months of my life there. As I mentioned in my previous post, I worked on airport systems and for Hong Kong, they were building the new airport called Chek Lap Kok. This meant that during the first few years of the project (and it did go on for a couple of years) I was travelling there frequently and working on what was effectively the world’s biggest building site. At first I didn’t really like it because we stayed in the New Territories and took a boat from there to Chek Lap Kok every day, as the new transport infrastructure was also being built. 

My last stint there ended in 1999, when I spent three months supporting the now live system for the new airport that had opened in 1997. I also helped to ensure that the dreaded Millennium Bug didn’t strike later that year. We worked hard but by now I was staying in the Central area of Hong Kong Island - well more accurately Mid-Levels where the world’s longest covered escalator takes you up to from Central. 

Mrs PM and I had such a great time there that it will always be my favourite place on Earth and we return there as often as we can. 

3. How do you like to spend your free time? 

This is a good question now that I have retired. I finished work about a month ago and since then I have been on two holidays and had things to sort out, meaning that I haven’t really had a chance to make a plan of action, especially in terms of habits. 

I usually start of the day with some Spanish and French, and then I go for the first of my morning walks. I return, shower and have breakfast before practicing the piano. Later I go for a second shorter walk with Mrs PM and then we have lunch. And then I try to do some writing of some kind. To be honest, I need to plan this better because I have to work on a novel, a memoir and some blog posts as well as freewriting. Sadly, at the moment I haven’t really managed to plan this better which means I only get to write a blog post on Fridays (i.e. today). What I need to do is to plan my writing timetable better – and I intend to do that next week (but I can't promise). 

Also, something I haven’t mentioned before, my company offered me a retirement gift which I was quite surprised about. So I bit the bullet and bought myself a synthesiser. I always planned to do this later but the opportunity was too good to miss. I have played with this a couple of times and it is amazing. I can already do some stuff with it as a very poor piano player but hopefully as my keyboard skills improve, so will my synthesiser skills.

And of course I have to fit this new toy into my schedule too. 

Mrs PM is still working (she is about 7 years younger than I am) so I also have a part time job as her Personal Assistant, which means shopping, chores, several cups of tea etc and planning anything we need to do as a couple (subject to her final say of course). 

When people say that you won’t know how you found time to work, I know what they mean. I have yet to have a truly lazy day. 

But it is far more fun than my old day job and I am loving it.   

4. What’s one of your favourite bands?

My current favourite band are Riverside, a progressive rock band from Poland. 

5. What is the cutest animal you’ve ever seen in person?

It would be treacherous to say that the cutest animals I have ever seen are any creatures other than all of dogs and cats that I have ever had as a pet. 

My answer is therefore – all of the pets I have ever owned.

6. How would you describe your style?

I guess this is a fashion question. 

The answer is that my style is dictated by the stores from where I get my clothes, subject to Mrs PM’s approval. I am a 62 year old man but I don’t dress like one, really. My clothes are more "middle aged" and possibly younger. I’ve been told that once men reach the age of 60 then whatever fashion sense they had evaporates. The truth is that I have never had any fashion sense whatsoever – even as a youth. Mrs PM would never let me look like an old man and to be honest, I still look at least ten years younger than I am. 

What I wear depends on the environment I am in. 

At the moment I am bumming around the house wearing a T-shirt, a hoodie and jeans. 

When I go out and about I typically wear a polo-shirt or T-shirt or casual shirt with jeans, chinos or cargo pants with trainers or boots.

When I go to a gig, I wear jeans, a T-shirt and a leather jacket, in an attempt to make myself look like a cool rock fan. I look about as cool as bag of hedgehogs.

When I go to weddings or other more formal events I wear a suit. I also have a penguin suit (tuxedo) for extra special occasions. 

See? No fashion sense and no style to speak of. 

But at least I don’t wear shirts and ties and proper trousers to go to the pub like some people my age and older often do. 

I am wearing slippers though.

7. If your wardrobe could only be one colour, what would it be? 

Black – or possibly blue. I am a pale Englishman who looks like a ghost if he wears white or yellow and like an alien if he wears orange. 

I love wearing black because it makes me look okay – in my humble opinion. Mrs PM says I need other colours but I don’t agree. That’s why I end up wearing other colours - Mrs PM moans if I wear black too much.

8. What was the first concert you ever went to?

My first gig was Cheap Trick in Birmingham. I had never heard of them but I managed to acquire a free ticket. I was seventeen years old and they had been making records for a year or two. They weren’t bad to be fair and they are still around today. 

Here’s a song I recall from the gig.

9. What is the best book you’ve ever read?

That’s a really tough question. Here are a few:

Stephen King - ‘Salem’s Lot 

Stephen King – The Stand

Brian Lumley – The Necroscope series of books

Hugh Howey – The Silo Series (Wool, Shift, Dust)

Robert Ludlum – The Bourne Ultimatum

Robert Ludlum – The Matarese Circle

James Herbert – The Dark

James Herbert – Domain

There are many, many, many more I could add. 

10. What’s your favourite movie of all time? 

Another really tough question. Here are a few:

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Endgame

Aliens

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

The Warriors

Inglorious Basterds

Pulp Fiction

For a Few Dollars More

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There are many, many, many more I could add. 

11. What’s the stupidest movie or TV show you’ve ever seen?

I’ve seen some real turkeys and I try not to watch such crap. Chief amongst them are reality TV shows like Made in Chelsea and Big Brother or controversial confrontational shows like Jerry Springer or Jeremy Kyle. 

As for movies, I think Battlefield Earth is the biggest load of crap I’ve seen. It is a sci-fi movie based on a book written by L. Ron Hubbard, the man who gave us all Scientology. It is absolutely dreadful. 

12. If you could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

It would be bad for me I know but I love cheese and cheese on toast is one of my favourite snacks. It would have to be that. 

13. What are your biggest pet peeves?

I could write many blog posts about my many pet peeves. 

At the moment it is Boris Johnson who has written a memoir called Unleashed, which is really a work of fiction because the great big bumbling oaf who did his best to ruin the UK is a pathological liar. 

Somebody in my local supermarket took a copy of his book from the book section and placed it in the toilet roll section. How I laughed. I wish I had thought of that. 

Here's an idea about what a colossal fibber the man is. 

14. Are you more into brains or looks?

Both. I love intelligent women and I love good-looking women. I could never be with a brainless bimbo (and I have met a few over the years). 

15. Do you celebrate any holidays? What’s your favourite?

I don’t really celebrate any of them apart from Christmas and New Year. To be honest, Christmas can be annoying and it has continued to be so since I became an adult. There is too much pressure on people during the festive period and the day itself is typically an anti-climax. But I do like seeing friends and family over that period and New Year’s Eve is usually fun.