Three of the Other Ten

1. I’m obsessed with paper. I can remember going for early morning walks to the newsagent with my Dad – I’m still a bit of a paper shop groupy now. Having a notebook in my bag can be more important to me than food. I don’t think it’s such a crazy thing – some women have a passion for shoes or feel naked without lipstick.

We went to the Chooka’s exhibition last month for the kids’ benefit of course – well actually I saw the advertisement for Giant Origami and thought 'I' have to be there. I did learn that folding huge pieces of paper takes a long time. We went for an icecream/latte break during one of the projects (this elephant I think) and still made it for the finale.

2. I get straight-eyebrow-looks from people because I like to state the obvious. For example:

When my next door neighbour cut his house in half and moved it to another property, so I had to make a ‘moving house’ joke. I suppose a lot of people had been doing that.

Or when my girlfriend dated this weatherman.

My kids just shake their heads and smile as though they’re envisaging the nursing home they’ll be finding for me one day. The fact is that simple things make me laugh. Give me a bag of jelly ears and I’m in pun paradise. Or a jar of thyme - oooh - it’s like a disease…

3. My kids are generally people pleasers – I brought them up that way. It was the way I was brought up – put yourself aside and make sure the other person is happy at an often ridiculous cost. Life has changed a lot between Gen X and Y I notice that both my children will jump through hoops to please you but not if it prejudices their dignity. This I guess, is evolution.