Saturday 9 June 2007

Eight things that you probaly never wanted to know about me..


This really isn't my fault so please do not blame me. Someone has taged me like some heffer, next thing you know I suppose it will be the rumble of the knackers van in the lane and that will be it then off to the abatoir, another cow for the chop.. even if this one is purple. A good job too I hear some of you say no more ruddy rantings from Un peu loufoque and her dull family in Brittany. So here we have it eight little known things about me for you before the van arrives. I know they are meant to be interesting or amusing but you can not have everyting in life despite what lifestyle magazines may tell you..

1 I am by nature a very solitary and private person and not at all like un peu
loufoque or for that matter Madame Grognonne.As a child my career choices were
either lighthouse keeper or to live on a deserted Island which really should
have given someone a clue.

2. I speak Englsih french Spanish and Arabic the latter three very badly, so badly
in fact that if you conbined them together you might just about get enough
vocaulary to form a conversation but sadly of course no one would be able to
understand a word I said , so nothing new or unexpected there then.Once upon a
time I spoke them all quite well. I think to be fair I am being rather self
deprecating about my French as I do speak it fairly well on a good day which is
a stroke of luck as I live in France.

3. I have swum with a wild dolphin in a real ocean for free and purely by accident.

4. I lived and taught in Egypt and I have never felt safer than walking the
streets of Cairo at 4 in the morning totaly alone.Not something I would try in
any other major city I have lived in and beleive me I have lived in many.

5 I can not and never have been able to read social signals which makes
socializing a trial at times, hence I prefer to travel and live "abroad"
foreigners are often forgiven their faux pas on the grounds of knowing no
better, the English will crucify you for them and often take great delight in
doing so.

6. I have slept in the Sinai desert under the stars and watched the camel train go
past silently in the night led by Bedouin tribesmen en route to the camel market
in Cairo.

7. I can only skate backwards which is a shame really as both my parents were speed
skaters and played ice hockey luckily my shame died with them, one advantage of
begin an orphan is I am no longer expected to try to skate.I can however swim
like a fish.

8. I think it very possible I was born about 150 years after my time as indications
show that I would have been best suited to be one of those slightly odd victorian
women explorers who travelled the world alone with nothing but a parasol and 35
bearers carrying the little necessities in life like a full set of dining room
furniture including spode silver and linen ware. The fact that I come from a long
line of women, and men, who did just that indicates it is probaly some sort of
genetic thing.

And just one more thing.. you do realise un peu isn't real don't you?

(well Madame grognonne do you think they believed us or not?)

ps I hurt easily I just hide it well.

28 comments:

Pondside said...

Yes, I believe you.
Love your stories - they are such a gift. It is nice to have a peek at the writer - and especially generous when I know that you are a very private person.
My experience is that people who talk/write/behave as though all of life's tribulations and challenges are just so much water off a duck's back are often the most easly hurt - the most tender souls.
I liked reading your list. Thank you.
PS Jealous of the speaking Arabic as Scottish father married Lebanese mother and she speaks it not at all so we in this generation really lost out.

bodran... said...

Not real i'm off for a sulk now!!
It sounds like you've had your own share of adventures..xx

mountainear said...

Much in your list to be envious of - I would particularly like to sleep under the stars in the Sinai desert. One day perhaps...

Would I be right in saying that you are an optimist, and travel hopefully through life?

Anonymous said...

You have lead a fabulously adventurous life, you're so interesting. And I agree with Pondside re comment water off a duck's back, that is so true.
Crystal x

toady said...

You cannot be serious UPL is not real? I am horrified. Next you'll try to tell me that Father Christmas isn't real either. Do you think I'm daft? Pul the other one.

Chris Stovell said...

Oh, I found that really moving. I had a good laugh at 1. My first ambition was to be a trapeze artist so am very touched by the idea of you in your lighthouse. One of my friends submitted a poem to the school magazine (vair vair serious) called 'ode to a lighthouse keeper' and signed it 'by a Dinnner Lady' alas she never got published but you have a real chance, dear heart.

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

lovely eight things. like the languages and love the desert. I have been trying to build myself up to my eight but keet bottling out. thanks for letting us read these.

lixtroll said...

Hey Un Peu I love this - I will go and do the same on my blog x

snailbeachshepherdess said...

Wow ..what a fabulous list. Dont tell me ...my hero Loic is just a mere figment of your imagination...well wailey bloody wailey is all I can say..another dream ruined...

Withy Brook said...

I have to believe that most of your list is really you. Lovely, whether or not.

LITTLE BROWN DOG said...

Un Peu, you are just wonderful! I kind of guessed you might have an interesting past and exotic heritage - you're obviously a woman of many parts (even if not all of them are in fully working order. That was my attempt at a joke, by the way, so please don't be hurt.) Please keep writing - your blogs are always guaranteed to put a smile on my face (even if only one of relief that I am not married to a man permenantly covered in sheep's fat). Bonne chance, bon courage, bon bon.

LBD xx

Faith said...

How lovely and lucky to swim by accident with a wild dolphin. I hope that's true! I feel it is.

Blossomcottage said...

I love both You's you have ssuch talents and I can relate to the solitary side. You have done lots of fantastic things and I still think you Madame Grognonne stories should be published or turned into a play they are wasted just on a blog site although we all love them very much, and clearly skateboarding backwards is an art its itself.

I too get hurt very easily and I think it is a charming trait.

Blossom

Frances said...

Ah, now I begin to get the idea. Thank you very much for the peek at more of your many facets.
I will try to think of something to write now. Must I then tag another?
Merci

Westerwitch/Headmistress said...

An interesting and private person who lives under the delusion that Un Peu isn't real - DUH . . . .

Sally Townsend said...

Anyone that wanted to be a lighthouse keeper is my sort of person but I know that Un Peu is a NOT fiction don't I ?

Zoƫ said...

Superbe! (said in my very best franglaise accent)

Kitty said...

well how interesting your life has been, aside from the imaginary characters! The Cairo/Sinai desert/Beduoin bit fascinates me.

I love UPL & MG, I am intrigued by your imagination - the stories are funny and weird and wonderful and so complex and descriptive. How do you think of it all? Such a lot goes on - keeps us all amused!

Suffolkmum said...

Lovely list - wow, swimming with dolphins - travelling - sleeping under stars in the desert - all sounds amazing. i'm easily hurt too. And if enough of us believe Un Peu and Mme G etc ARE real .... doesn't that make them real?

annakarenin said...

I have been very good recently and not turned on computer. No 3 had a birthday weekend and garden seriously neglected. This tagging thing had completely passed me by so will now go off and do as I am told.

p.s I dread to think how much of UPl's adverntures I hab=ve missed sher was off to Brest when I switched off I tkae it though they are all still there daren't look for mo too much to do.

Bluestocking Mum said...

WOW!! YOu sound so interesting. Awesome!

I would love to hear more about the REAL you!!-wish I was that interesting!

YOur Un Peu stories are so funny and now I realise that there is not some real snippets of you/disguised feelings I can enjoy them more!!

You are very clever lady UPL

warm wishes
xx

DevonLife said...

Bon bon, loving seeing the peek into the real you

Exmoorjane said...

Oh lovely, lovely - amusing though Un Peu and Mme G are, it's lovely to hear the 'real' you. I am SOOO envious of your desert nights... and Cairo. In love with deserts, have been since whenever and don't know why. I keep saying to Adrian I want to go to desert places and he keeps saying 'ah but that's a war zone' or whatever....Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, etc....what's the problem? Silly boy.

Sometimes it's much easier doing things backwards, isn't it?

Janexxx

have always yearned to speak arabic....stunning language.

Inthemud said...

Skate board backwards! Well that is a skill!

I'd love to sleep under the stars in the Sinai desert.

Glad to get a glimpse of the real you!
It is the real you isn't it? I get so confused.

Exmoorjane said...

btw, just wanted to say, vis-a-vis journalism.....that I'm just being incredibly nosey (or interested) when I ask questions. If I were writing a feature, I would always say so and ask for help (as in my post today about the young people getting married).... So, relax! You won't find yourself in the Telegraph!
jxxx

Exmoorjane said...

Ah, how about if I write a feature about you when you become a famous authoress??

Grouse said...

I have never known anyone (other than my Pa) who could write about nothing at all and make it so intoxicating and amusing....I really missed you when you were absent without leave UPL!

Exmoorjane said...

Think you might be right about the invisible fence!
If you are really serious about the wallpaper (??!!) email me your postal address. How much do you want??? We could try to pull it down in large bits (walls so damp would probably come off in one big chunk.) Hmm, maybe I'll take a picture and post it - you can decide then! jx