Three things – 23rd February

1. Brownies!!! Haven’t baked in forever and they turned out deliciously. It’s the Mars Bar topping, can’t beat it.
2. Cuddles on the sofa. All be they sarcastic ones! ‘Be gone from me…’ ‘Is that reverse psychology?’ ‘Maybe’. What does that mean?!?
3. A walk along the cliffs with the boys. Am going to miss these two.

Three things – 22nd February

1. Started the day in my favourite place
2. Belated Pancake Day went off without a hitch. I made peanut butter and maple syrup ones and a chilli chocolate batch too. It was agreed by all that the pb&m ones were the best, but the experimental chocolate ones were yummy too!! Which is good for a non recipe experiment! Would make them again, just trying to think of a suitable sauce, maybe marshmallow?
3. ‘I like you a little bit’
   ‘And I’m impartial to you’
   Who knew not saying things could be so romantic.

Day 23 – Who? What? When? Why? Where did the Alphathon go?

I’m not sure what’s going on alphathonwise at the moment. I know we were not blogging last week as Katy was off work and planning to be very busy…then it all went a bit quiet! So I thought I’d kick start it today and see what the other two do!

So, day 23 and the letter W! Our options were:

Katy S – Where you at? How are your to-do-lists for life coming on?
Katy P – Who inspires you?
Fiona – Words – what are your favourite words? Both in English and in any other languages.

Katy to be truthful I have never had a ‘to do list’ like others do, or at least no discernable timeline (you know, degree, job, mortgage, house, husband…in whatever order that should be in). The only think I have ever really had on my list was travel, and we all know where I am with that! As for inspiration, I have NO inkling! Actually that’s not true, I have a vast list of people who inspire me, but not in the way you’d anticipate. Most of list comprises of ‘for the love of God don’t do what they did! which wouldn’t make the most stimulating blog.

So, words it is!

We were chattering about this at lunch the other day. Some folks understood instantaneously how you can take more of a fondness to some words than others. Others were of the attitude that a word is a word, how can you ‘like it’ more than another? I am in the former group. Some words sit better on the tongue, others have negative undertones which make them disagreeable (like moist…ugh!). I’ve already shared some of my favourite Welsh words, so today I’ll stick to English, which I quite like as a language really; we are spoiled for choice with several words for everything. For example are you sat on a chair right now? Or maybe a seat? Is it a couch or a sofa? Then we have words which seem too ostentatiouly flamboyant for their own good, like these

Have you ever read ‘The Chaos’ by Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité? I blogged about it once. It’s a brilliant poem illustrating the English language and just how complex it is. If you have time I suggest you have a read.

Yet, for all its complexity and numerous linguistic synonyms, English is not all encompassing. Here are some words I believe have been omitted from our language;

Esprit de l’escalier (French) – Literally translated as “The spirit of the staircase”, which refers to all the things you realise you should have said after a heated conversation has ended
Wabi-Sabi (Japanese) – Basically means “a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.”
Hyggelig (Danish) - Literally translated would rely on your ability to word that feeling that comes from sitting in your cosiest place with your best friends and favourite food or beverage. It’s like cosy, but so much more!
Pena Ajena (Spanish) – With the Bristish love of cringe worthy situations we should definitely adopt this word! It describes how embarrassing it feels to watch someone else be humiliated.
Tartle (Scottish) – To hesitate while introducing someone due to having forgotten his/her name
Iktsuarpok (Inuit) – To go outside to check if anyone is coming

There are more, but I can’t find it on Pinterest (too many pins!).

This isn’t really relevant to my ‘favourite words’ but this was one of my favourite poems growing up:

The Word Party

(Richard Edwards)

Loving words clutch crimson roses,
Rude words sniff and pick their noses,
Sly words come dressed up as foxes,
Short words stand on cardboard boxes,
Common words tell jokes and gabble,
Complicated words play Scrabble,
Swear words stamp around and shout,
Hard words stare each other out,
Foreign words look lost and shrug,
Careless words trip on the rug,
Long words slouch with stooping shoulders,
Code words carry secret folders,
Silly words flick rubber bands,
Hyphenated words hold hands,
Strong words show off, bending metal,
Sweet words call each other ‘petal’,
Small words yawn and suck their thumbs,
Till at last the morning comes.
Kind words give out farewell posies.
Snap! The dictionary closes.

Have you heard of words we don’t have in English that you particularly like? Or are there any English words you’re particularly partial too, or dislike intently? You are only limited by your own vocabulary…come on readers, teach me something!

Three things – 21st February

Finally a day where it’s hard to narrow the awesomeness down to three!

1. Had a really nice last morning with Nan, just kind of pootling about Grimsby. Sometimes you don’t need to do much to enjoy someone’s company.
2. Popped into the SU on my way back from up north! Got to see some of the old gang, catch up on the goss and say goodbye before my travels.
3. Saying hello turned into going out for dinner! Was really good to catch up with the old gang over burgers and Oreo milkshake!

Three things – 20th February

1. For some reason I’ve decided to add learning ‘La Mer’ in French to my bucket list. Made a start on this today, bought a good version on iTunes and found the lyrics!
2. Had a good day with my Nan, just doing normal things. We went shopping for a friend who’s just had a baby, did some baking and fiddled around on the internet, it was fun.
3. Went out for dinner tonight with June and Barry, my cousins. Had a great time chatting about their life abroad. Apparently June also taught English so it was great fun to hear her stories! The food was DELISH too! Can’t beat it.

Three things – 19th February

1. Yummy breakfast with the fam, can’t beat a full English and banter with the nephew!
2. I popped into Rugby to see Laura and Alex today, haven’t seen them in forever so a catch up was long overdue! Also they’re moving at the end of the week, glad I got to climb those ridiculously steep stairs one last time. They do make me giggle! Also I got my Twisto Circle Journal back, huzzah!
3. Got to Grimsby in one piece, and in that way which only grandparents houses can do I found some treasure within half an hour of walking in the door! See my previous post for more info

A treasured discovery!

I love finding old things, photographs, diaries, postcards from years ago. Today I found an old scout book of my grandad’s, Colin Forrester. It was written in 1946 and tells tales of his adventures; nights out at sea, camp fires on deck and trecks around London, what a time he had!

A few pages in I discovered a poem, of all things!! Having giggled away at it I thought I might share it with you…

Boots
by Colin Forrester

There once was an old fellow named Antony Clair
And he was famous everywhere,
A conjuror of great renown
for he used to play with his boots

As he was walking down the street
he met a maiden, fair and petite
who thought it would be a very great treat
to see a man play with his boots

As he was slinging them around and around
down they came with a heck of a bound
right upon the head of her hound
who was watching him play with his boots

The maiden was with grief distraught
she swore she’d take the case to court
and have the man properly taught
how not to play with his boots

So seeing a policeman passing by
she shouted loudly ‘hi hi hi!
My poor little doggy has been hit in the eye
by a man who plays with his boots!’

They took him to the magistrate
and lodged him in the cell of state
and left him there to contemplate
how not to play with his boots

The case was tried without delay
In fact it was the very next day
The magistrate said he didn’t see why
a man should play with his boots!

Now Ant has gone to rest
of all conjures he was the best
for he slung them round with a special zest
these wonderful, marvellous boots!

I hope it made you laugh as much as it did me!!!

Three things – 18th February

1. Success!! That quest I mentioned the other day? It is complete!! Conclusion positive, all is well!
2. Really fun filled day with N1 and N2 at Heatherton. There was clay pigeon shooting, archery (apparently I’m quite good!), crazy golf and bumper boats. Both the boys seemed to enjoy the day too, plus we avoided the rain, what more can you ask?
3. I popped in to see my Great Aunt on the way home, it was a really brief visit as I had N1 with me (even after being forced to leave his phone in the car he still insisted on slouching on the sofa like he was asking for an asbo) but it is always lovely to spend time with Mima. She’s such a star!

Three things – 17th February

1. I completed two sections of my TEFL course. That’s 3 down, 1 to go! Need to get my skates on.
2. Had a really fun day with N1 We went shopping, visited my sister and N3 for a bit then came home to play Risk (awful game) and Monopoly City (I lost!). He makes me laugh so much, really fun guy to spend time with!
3. Bought myself a new toy, a Nikon Coolpix to take travelling. I love my Canon DLSR but it’s a bit hefty to take everywhere with me, this little thing is perfect for random trips and nights out. Plus it’s red, pretty!

Three things – 16th February

1. Planning fun things! I’m off work till Wednesday and planning lots of fun things, looking forward to it.
2. Family night – played pictionary with mum, col and n1. It came down to an all play, I was drawing, it was tense…but we won! Woooooo!
3. Had yummy cookies in the office, delish!