dizzojay | Entries tagged with friday five

Yes, yes, I know I'm late!

These questions piqued my interest, so I thought I'd give them a whirl:

Do you like your birth name? Why?

I’m indifferent towards my name, I neither like nor dislike it. My name is Jane, and I guess I’m respectful of it because my parents chose it, and I know they chose it because they wanted me to have a classic name that wouldn’t date and would be unlikely to cause me any grief at school. In that respect, I like it. It’s the female variant of John, so it’s just about the most basic female name in the English language!

If you could change your name to anything else, what would it be?

I’m so used to being a Jane, I couldn’t imagine being anything else.I do have favourite names, but I don’t think they’d suit me. I’m just Jane!

What names would you consider giving your children?

Because since as long as I can consciously remember, I never had any plans or desire to have children, this is not something I’ve given a lot of thought to. I do have two favourite girls’ names, so I would hope if I’d had children, they were daughters because if I’d had a boy, he would have probably ended up being known as “oy, you”. I love the name Matilda. It’s such a strong name, harking back to Matilda, (should have been Queen) of England, strong-willed and fiery daughter of Henry 1st who, in the 12th century, sparked a Civil war fighting against her male cousin for the right to wear the crown. I also love the name Frith. It’s a Welsh name meaning ‘woodland’, and I don’t know why, it just makes me think of faeries and olde world enchantments. I think it’s beautiful. So that’s it, if I had a daughter, I’d like to name her Matilda Frith.

If you had a band, what would you name it, and why?

Well, my bunnies, Juniper and Nutmeg, have multiple nicknames. When I use their most common nicknames – Juju and the Nutman - that has ‘band’ written all over it!

Is there a name that you completely hate? Why?

I don’t have one particular name that I dislike, but I have a particular dislike for these people that bastardise the spelling of normal names, just to appear unique, and then end up with abominations like ‘Beighleigh’, ‘Jeighden’, ‘Khrystyna’… Those sort of names make my teeth itch! Those poor kids are going to spend their entire lives explaining to other people how to spell their names.

I haven't done one of these for a while, and the questions looked interesting so... here goes:

1. If you are old enough, are you registered to vote? Yes I am

2. Did you vote in the November 2020 election? I’m in the UK and our most recent election was July 2024 and, yes, I voted in it.

3. Do you vote in primaries? We don’t have anything equivalent to primaries in the UK because we don’t vote for a president

4. Do you plan to vote in the November 2024 election? No, I will have no say in this election as I am not a US citizen

5. Do you vote early, by mail, in person, or some other way? Yes, I have a postal vote, and this year I voted about a week before the election

I thought I'd give this a whirl this week as the questions were about a subject that really interests me!

1. Have you seen a solar eclipse? Total, Partial, Annular? When and where?

I saw the total eclipse that was visible over the UK in August 1999. Mr Dizzo and I travelled down to Cornwall and watched proceedings from a cowfield about half a mile outside of Penzance. It was actually cloudy on the day, so we didn’t see the disk of the sun, but seeing that vast horizon-wide shadow racing across the clouds toward us was, in some ways, even more spectacular. I always remember the silence that fell when the darkness settled over us, it was really was an otherworldly experience

2. Have you seen a lunar eclipse? Full? Partial? When and where?

I’m pretty sure I have seen a lunar eclipse, but I can’t remember when. I know there is a total lunar eclipse expected to be visible from the UK on 18th September this year, so I hope to be out and about for that.

3. Have you seen a comet? Which one? When and where?

I saw Hale Bopp in 1997, and was fortunate enough to see it from both hemispheres as I travelled to Australia and NZ that year.

4. Have you seen a nova or supernova? When and where?

No, I don’t think there’s been a visible one in my lifetime.

5. Have you seen a meteor shower? Which one, when and where?

I’ve occasionally seen the Perseid meteor shower which is usually visible during the Summers here.

Yes, I know I'm a day late.. but I decided to have a go at this as I haven't played for yonks!

1. What is your native language? English

2. Do you speak any other languages? Which ones? A little French and a little German. I’m nowhere near fluent, not even what I’d call conversational.

3. How difficult is it for you to learn or understand new languages? I’m currently learning German on Duolingo and it’s definitely challenging to try to learn a language in your fifties. It's certainly more enjoyable than learning French at school which had more of an 'ugh, I'm only doing this because I have to' feel about it.

4. If you were going to study a new foreign language, which would you want to learn? I’m currently learning German, mainly for a trip to Germany in May. I’ve always had a daft little urge to learn Icelandic, so you never know, that might be a fun project for the future.

5. How are you at reading subtitles in foreign films? Not very good. I tend to avoid subtitled movies and gravitate to dubbed ones.

This latest set of questions caught my eye. I haven't done this for a while, so here goes!

1. What is your full name? rather not say

2. If you could, would you change part of your name? To what? Not now in my fifties, I’m just used to my name now. I neither like nor dislike it, it just is. My name is a pretty safe, ordinary name, and is very sixties/seventies but at the end of the day, my parents chose it, so that’s got to stand for something!

3. Favourite girl's name? I used to go to school with a girl called Frith, which is a name meaning peace and tranquility. I always thought it was so unique, without being tacky, and I thought it was such a beautiful name, I vowed that if I had ever had children and ended up with a daughter, she would have that name, either as first or middle name.

4. Favourite boy's name? I’m a great advocate of strong, simple names for boys. William and James are two of my favourites

5. Would you name your child after a character in a book or movie? Nothing too outlandinsh or specific. I’d never call a child Frodo or Severus or anything like that. That’s a surefire way of making their school life hell!

I haven't done one of these in yonks, and seeing as this was all about food and drink, I couldn't resist:

1. What is your favorite vegetable? Do mushrooms count as a vegetable? I do love a mushroom, especially in a meal with a really lovely flavoursome sauce or gravy, because they soak up all the flavours. If mushrooms don’t count, I’m going to say carrots or fine green beans – something that can be served nice and firm and crunchy.

2. What is your favorite fruit? juicy green grapes, pineapple, or cantaloupe melon

3. What is your favorite cheese? I love a really obnoxiously strong, crumbly British cheddar.

4. What is your favorite dessert? That really depends on my mood, but anything involving chocolate usually works for me!

5. What is your favorite beverage? My regular from whatever coffee shop I happen to be passing is a skinny hazelnut latte.

Here's a recent set of questions:

1. Have you ever been in a hurricane or typhoon? Which one, when and where?

I live in the south east of England and our weather can best be described as temperate. We rarely get it excessively hot, excessively cold or excessively violent. We get heavy snow maybe once every five years, and heavy – in our terms – lasts for about a week. However, only once in my life I’ve experienced a storm which was genuinely classed as a hurricane, and if you ask anyone in England about the big storm of 15th October 1987, and they will know exactly what I’m talking about.

We had a weather man at the time called Michael Fish who read a letter from a viewer who was worried because she’d heard talk of a hurricane, and he reassured her on national TV that there would be no hurricane. He’s about ninety now, and he’ll still never be allowed to forget it. That will be his epitaph.

The main thing we remember about the big storm was that 18 people sadly died, most of England south of London was paralysed for days by loss of power and downed trees/fences etc and the beautiful and historic Kent town of Sevenoaks lost six of the seven ancient oak trees that gave it its name.

2. Have you ever been near an erupting volcano? Which one, when and where?

Not an erupting one, although I would love to experience that. I have flown over a smoking volcano in a helicopter (Mount Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand), but apparently it snorts constantly.

3. Are there tornadoes where you live? Has a tornado come near you?

No, we never get tornadoes here. I believe we have seen the occasional little waterspout in coastal waters from time to time, but they're just occasional little flukes that never cause any problems thankfully!

4. Have you experienced severe flooding? When and where?

The only ‘severe’ flooding we have experienced is when we had a burst pipe in our front garden about twenty years ago and our lawn was completely underwater. The water got to within a few inches of our front doorstep, but thankfully we got it fixed before any major damage was done.

5. What is the most extreme weather you have ever experienced?

Excluding the 1987 storm above, the most extreme weather I have ever experienced was a blizzard in the Shetland Islands in January 2004. We were stuck on the Island for three days because the airport was closed due to heavy snow, and when we were trying to get back into town from the airport, our hire car got buried up to its headlights in a snowdrift. We were stuck inside because of the weight of snow we couldn’t open the doors. I thought I was going to have to climb out of the window Dukes of Hazzard style, but a particularly hardy local rescued us and towed us back to our hotel!

I haven't been keeping up to date with this, so I thought I'd have a go. Here's a set of questions from 15th July:

1. How tall would you like to be if you had the chance to choose? I’m currently somewhere between 5’ 6” and 5’ 7”. I used to be a straight 5’ 7”, but I think I’ve shrunk a little. When I was born I was a very long baby, apparently and my parents had that test done where they can predict how tall you’re going to be when you’re an adult and the doctors said I would be 5’ 8”. I think that might have been a nice height, but I’m pretty happy where I am!
2. How often do you change your sheets? More often in the summer than in the winter, on average every couple of weeks.
3. When is it time to repurpose an old towel? I tend to use towels until they are literally falling apart and threadbare. I have this theory that old, scratchy towels dry you better than new, fluffy towels, I may be imagining it, but I’m sticking with it. When a towel is really so threadbare it’s actually embarrassing, I give it to Mr D to use for rags in his workshop.
4. Do you need to make a trip to a secondhand store to drop something off? I’ve just done that. We’ve recently redecorated our bedroom and went from terracotta to duck egg blue. There was a mirror and a picture frame that didn’t match any more, so I gave them to my local charity store.
5. What was the last book you borrowed from the library? I don’t have a library membership, but the last book I bought was a book about HMS Victory for my Dad’s birthday

Yes, I know I'm a day late ...

What kind of bugs do you see outside this time of year?

Normally we would be seeing bees, bumblebees, wasps, ladybirds, and general kinds of flies, ants etc. However, even though it’s early June, it’s been unseasonally cool so far, so insects have been few and far between on the whole.

What's your favorite food to eat outside?

Finger food like breads, cheeses, crackers, cold cuts, olives, etc. Obviously, accompanied with a cheeky glass of wine (or two)

How much rain is too much rain?

Seriously? I live in Britain, the phrase ‘too much rain’ isn’t in our vocabulary!

What are you celebrating this month?

There’s lots going on this month. Obviously, it’s Pride month. Here in the UK, we’re celebrating the Queen’s platinum jubilee, and in the second half of June I will be celebrating Fathers’ day and my Dad’s birthday. And given that, four months ago, I was resigned to the fact that I probably would no longer have a father at this point in the year, I will be celebrating those days, as well as the fantastic doctors who saved his life.

What is your favourite color combination?

My favourite colour is turquoise, or other colours from that blue/green colour family like teal, mint green, aquamarine etc. So I guess my favourite colour combination is anything that complements those colours.

Okay, I know it's Sunday, but what can I say? I'm a rebel!

These questions made me smile, they were so random, so I just had to have a go!

1. Do you buy and use canned food?
Yes we do, mostly soup, baked beans, spaghetti and canned fruit

2. What is your favourite canned food?
I’m not really keen on canned food, but canned new potatoes and canned mushrooms can be handy. I probably eat canned baked beans, canned spaghetti and canned fruit the most.

3. Do you like some canned food better than the fresh or dried version of it?
No. I hate a lot of canned vegetables because they’re always soft and feel overcooked, exactly the opposite of how I like them.

4. Do you have a can that just sits at the back of the cupboard? has anything weird happened to it? or do you still plan on using it in the future?
This has just prompted me to have a look in my larder which I am extremely bad at maintaining, and I am very proud to report that there are no out of date cans in there!

5. What is the weirdest thing you have seen canned?
A full English breakfast with beans, mushrooms, sausage, bacon and scrambled egg! Just ... no! :P

Still catching up on these - this is a set of questions from 29th April!

1. Do you like other people buying you clothes? No, I know what I like and what suits me, and unless it’s an item from a manufacturer I know and trust, I like to try things before I buy.
2. Have you ever brought a present for someone that they hated/disliked? I bought my dad the DVD of a show that I’d seen because I thought he’d enjoy it. Newsflash – he didn’t! He switched if off halfway through and gave it back to me!
3. What nicknames do you have/have had? Apart from my name, Jane, I currently answer to Janie, Janie D and Dizzo
4. Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends? Not that I remember
5. Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others? I joke that I want to be a bad influence, but in reality, I don’t want to influence anyone – I want people to feel they can be themselves around me!

I haven't done one of these for a while, so heres a set of questions from 8th April...

1. Do you like children? I have nothing against children, and want to see them protected and loved as much as any normal person would, but I don’t particularly enjoy their company. There have, of course, been exceptions, but on the whole I find children (particularly the really young ones) a bit overpowering and, if I’m honest, irritating. The thought of having some noisy, snotty, sticky-fingered anklebiter trailing around after me 24/7 is pretty much my personal idea of Hell!

2. How many children would you like to have in the future? As I’m now 54 and post-menopausal, having children in the future would be a physical impossibility and I’m very happy with that state of affairs! I never wanted children, and equally I never wanted to inflict myself as a mother on a child – they deserve much better, and in line with that, I have zero children.

3. What if you were expecting sextuplets? O.o Ummm, I would probably keel over from the shock!!

4. If TLC offered to share your life on TV, would you accept the offer? No. For one thing, it would be incredibly boring and secondly, I despise reality TV and the vacuous cretins that appear on it, and to do so myself would be the height of hypocrisy!

5. What would you name the sextuplets? Well, assuming I survived the keeling over bit in no. 3, I’m not sure I’d have the energy or the brain capacity to name them. They’d have to be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 until they were old enough to think up their own names!

Yes, I know it's Thursday, but I'm going to be out of circulation tomorrow. Here's a set of questions from 1st April that caught my eye:

1. how did april fool's day start? non-serious answers only. Well, I suppose the fools in the world got sick of being ignored, so they decided to celebrate themselves if nobody else would! Also, from a personal point of view, it started for me on the day that I was born :)

2. ever pranked anyone? Probably, at various times in the past, but to be honest I’ve never realy had much time for April fools jokes as I was too busy having a birthday!

3. what's something foolish you've done lately? A few weeks ago I went to visit my parents while my Dad was going into hospital, and like a complete numpty, I forgot my handbag and ended up spending five days without a wallet or phone… I had to make an emergency withdrawal from the bank of Mum and dad!

4. what's made you laugh this week? A birthday weekend away with my husband, lots of food, wine and laughter

5. what does april bring in your part of the world? Apart from my birthday, April is the beginning of spring, so it brings better weather (hopefully), lighter nights, and the first flowers and blossoms, I think it’s fair to say April is one of my favourite months of the year.

It seems ages since I've done one of these, and I feel like I need some normalcy back in my life, so here I go with a set of questions from 18th February.

1. Do you have Spring or Fall allergies? I get hayfever fairly mildly and it’s set off by tree pollen, so I tend to get it early in the year. It normally kicks off about now, mid March, and is all over by mid May.

2. Do you have something in particular that you are allergic to or is it just general? I get hayfever from tree pollen, and the only other thing I know I’m allergic to is, don’t laugh, guinea pigs!

3. What do you take, if anything, to help? I have to be careful because I’m extremely sensitive to medications that make you drowsy. Anything Piriton-based knocks me out – literally. For that reason, I try to avoid antihistamines unless I’m really suffering which, thankfully, is rare. When I do take them, I take Benadryl because I know they don’t make me sleepy. I know I can trust them.

4. Do you seem to be saying, “It’s just allergies” a lot more than usual these days (i.e. because of Covid)? No, not really.

5. What do you hope to get out and do this spring, allergies and pandemic willing? My main aim for this spring is to have a decent birthday. My birthday is early April and my last two birthdays have been in full lockdown. I refuse to make it a hat-trick this year. All restrictions have been lifted here in the UK at last, and I’m booked to go away with Mr D for a few days over my birthday weekend to a nice luxury hotel in Stratford upon Avon with a performance of Henry VI at the Royal Shakespeare Company! Pandemic can go screw itself!

Current Location: Home

I've let the Friday Five go while I've been concentrating on the Snowflake challenge, but I'm picking it up again now. This is a set of questions from the 28th January!

1. Do you write letters on a regular basis or just for special occasions? Sadly, I very rarely handwrite anything now, mainly cards and that’s it. Everything else is typed.

2. Do you stockpile cards and notepaper? I have a small stock of notelets and thank you cards, just in case!

3. Are you in the habit of writing thank you notes or just send something via e mail and call it good enough? I was brought up to always say thank you. I write thank you notes for people I know aren’t really technologically active – like my parents, otherwise I send an email, text or a Facebook message

4. Do you have any stickers or fun ink stamps? No.

5. Without looking (and I’m going to have to trust you here), how many stamps do you currently have on hand (a roll, a sheet, something like that)? I bought a book of 12 first class stamps about a week ago. I think I’ve used two so far, so would have ten left.

Current Mood: content
Current Location: Home

I haven't done this for a while, so I reckon it's time to get back into the swing of things.
So, here we go with today's questions:

1) What sort of alarm wakes you up in the morning?

I normally wake up to my husband’s alarm, at around 6am and then I spend 20 minutes lying in bed and browsing Facebook etc on my phone while he’s in the shower, then I get up and do my ablutions. He sets his alarm on his phone and it’s just a simple but very loud beep!

2) If you can sleep in, how late to you sleep?

At the weekend, I have been known to sleep in until around 10 am, but I normally get up between 8 am – 9 am at weekends.

3) What's for breakfast?

During the week it’s two slices of wholemeal or granary toast and marmite, and a glass of orange juice. At the weekends, Mr D and I will usually head down to the local coffee shop and have a latte with a toastie or a croissant.

4) What makes you late to your next big thing?

Not sure I understand this question. I have been known to sleep in on occasions…

5) What's your favorite caffeinated beverage?

I love my coffee, and I particularly like a latte or a cappuccino. To be perfect for me, it has to be made with skimmed (skinny) milk, and a drop of hazelnut, almond or coconut syrup. I can’t do decaffeinated coffee, it just tastes disgusting to me.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Home

I'm a bit late with this, but the questions weren't released until after bed time on Friday!

1.Had enough winter/summer yet or are you just getting started? I’ve definitely had enough of Winter and it doesn’t officially start for another two days!
2. Will you do anything to acknowledge the Winter/Sumer Solstice? No. I intend to stay indoors and keep as warm and dry as possible!
3. Will you have a Christmas vacation/break this year and travel some place? No. Thanks to bloody covid it looks like the country is going to be locked down again. It’s all a very depressing and miserable sense of déjà vu and I am absolutely pissed off and sick of the whole fiasco. ☹
4. What do you miss about the preceding season already? Having a bit of daylight in the evenings, even though it was dwindling rapidly
5. What don’t you miss? We have a silver birch tree in our garden, which we love, but for a few weeks throughout Autumn, our garden is knee deep in leaves and deadfall which have to be constantly cleaned up. So that gets a bit frustrating, but never so much that I’d get rid of the tree, I love it far too much to be put off by a few weeks of inconvenience.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Home

This week's questions:

1. Do you brush your teeth at least 2-3 times a day? Normally morning after breakfast and bedtime
2. Do you whiten your teeth? No.
3. Have you ever worn braces? No
4. Do you ever wish you had worn braces, or wish you had never worn them? No, I’m not that bothered. My teeth aren’t perfect, but they could be a lot worse!
5. Have you ever made fun of someone with glasses or braces? No not that I can remember. I hope I’d never do something like that!

Current Mood: content
Current Location: Home

1) Who is your favourite relative? I would have to say my parents because they’re the relatives I’m closest to.

2) What's the farthest you've traveled for a family gathering? To be honest, not very far. All my family are based around the south-east of England, so I’ve probably never travelled more than fifty miles for a family gathering. By contrast, I’ve travelled hundreds of miles overseas to meet with friends!

3) Will you/when will you put up decorations for December holidays? We’re thinking of doing it this weekend.

4) What were you thankful for this week? I have so much to be thankful for, not just this week, but every week. Good health, my hubby, great friends, my family, a job which I love, a roof over my head, the means to live a good quality of life, and so much more.

5) What is your hometown known for? I was born in London in the borough of Lambeth. Lambeth is widely associated with the ‘cultural’ cockney with his rhyming slang and pearly kings and queens. It even has it’s own song – ‘Doing the Lambeth Walk – OY!’

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Home

Do you have a yearly, or monthly, clothing budget? Do you stick to it?

No, I just buy things when I need them

Do you buy trendy clothes, or classic pieces that can be worn for years?

I know what styles suit me and I stick with them. I don’t care whether they’re fashionable or not

Is there a current fashion trend that you hate?

To be honest, I’ve no idea what is currently fashionable. I don’t like feminine floaty things, or flowery patterns. That is just totally not me. But whether it’s fashionble or not, who knows??

Have you had clothing altered to fit you better?

I very rarely spend enough on clothes to justify having them altered. I honestly can’t remember the las time I had something altered.

Is there a piece of clothing, or accessory, that you covet?

Nothing in particular. However having lost a lot of weight this year, I’m looking forward to our work’s Christmas party this year (we didn’t have one last year because, you know, Covid). I’m looking forward to being able to buy a dress with a bit of shape and looking half decent in it!

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Home

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dizzojay

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Dizzojay's Dean Dreams

Entries tagged with friday five

The Friday Five - 14th February

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