Greenmantle Blah Blah......

Seems that I have been "tagged" again in one of these ubiquitous cyber-circulars. I find myself exhorted to reveal details of the man behind the blog..... As I said to Soilman, (for it were he who were the tagger). "What, talk about myself?... Oh well, only if I absolutely must! "

What was I doing 10 years ago
Probably the same thing that I am now. Sitting in the lounge in a bathrobe, drinking coffee, and inventing ever more elaborate justifications as to why it would be the sensible thing to do, to go back to bed..... Oh you mean in life, in general. Sorry.

I was just on the verge of leaving one job in London, as a manager in a large photographic darkroom, (pre-digital days) where I'd worked for about 10 years, for another closer to home in Kent, with a business publisher. They gave me a team of 7 people, and then told me they were being replaced with a sub-contractor, and I was supposed to manage the changeover. So I knew their fate before meeting them, and about six months before they did. Which was "interesting".

My To Do list for today / diary of what I actually did
Although it's only 7:20 am, it's fairly clear that I'm not going to be a Captain of Industry today.
There is a large pile of dishes, upbraiding me from the kitchen, and the hoover could probably do with an airing. After which I plan to go to the narrow boat museum at Stoke Bruerne, to see if there is anything much there to photograph. I start another proper job next week, so I'm making the most of my final days of freedom.

Snacks I enjoy
Not really a snack man to honest. Packet of plain crisps in the pub sometimes, or cheese and biscuits of an evening, if I'm still hungry again after dinner. Buffet pork pies - do they count as a snack?...Or toast? Actually that said, although I eat very little chocolate (for one so generously proportioned) I am working my way through a pack of Kit Kat dark, this week. But only because I can't resist a special offer on the Tesco website.

Things I would do if I were a Billionaire
1. Give West Ham the funds to buy back all their decent players.
2. Buy out Manchester United and immediately close them down.
3. Ditto Arsenal.
4. Fill a long wheel base Land Rover with tons of camera gear and disappear for years on end to remote parts of the world to pursue landscape photography......
5....And have the buffet pork pies flown in by private jet.

Three of my bad habits
1. Throwing food away that might be a teensy bit passed its eat-by date, in case it kills me.
2. Interrupting people mid-sentence if they are boring me.
3. Attempting witty banter with shopkeepers and bar staff. It never works. They hate it.

Five Places I have lived
1. A womb.
2. A cottage in a field just off the A26.
3. A farmhouse, on a farm, just off the the A26.
4. A flat in Tonbridge, at least a mile from the A26.
5. This cottage near Northampton. Actually quite close to the A45. (Is this what they mean by "upwardly mobile"?)

Five jobs I have had
1. Saturday Incompetent at Dixons. (1 year)
2. All and every kind of summer farm work (On and off )
3. Photographic Technician (13 years)
4. Publishing Mediocrity (7 years)
5. Lamb to the Slaughter, on the front desk of a youth advisory drop in centre (6 months)

Five people who write interesting blogs whom I shall now tag
(Usual disclaimers apply. If you've already done it, or can't be arsed, don't bother)

Frankie at Veg Cottage
Petunias Gardener across the pond
Matron, down on her allotment
Antipodes Girl, somewhere in France
Gnome, in wild and woolly Caledonia