The absolutely lovely Smelly Socks and Garden Peas nominated me for this award. I’m continually grateful for the support she gives to my little blog and suggest, no, damn right insist that you check out her wonderful work.

The rules are simple, luckily for someone as simple as me!

1. Thank the person who nominated you with a link to their blog. ✅
2. Make a post of the award (with a photo of the logo).✅
3. Post the rules.✅
4. Ask 5-10 questions of your choice.✅
5. Nominate 10-30 other bloggers (or more) and notify them.✅

You can see Garden Peas and Smelly Socks award here.

First, here are my responses to Smelly’s questions.

1. If you could fix one environmental or natural crisis, what would it be?

Given the gales that are battering my garden as I type, it would have to be climate change. There’s also the forest fires in California as I type with loss of human life. And numerous other crises taking place which aren’t quite newsworthy at the moment because of a man made catastrophe? Nowadays, I’m constantly sounding like the older generation “We never had weather like this when I was a lass!” But it’s true. When it’s hot, I can’t tolerate it. When it’s windy, I’m forever chasing garden furniture. And when it rains, I find myself in waterproofs which I never imagined would be a staple of my wardrobe! So this is the environmental crisis I would fix.

2. Should stay at home parents be compensated by the state at the same rate as a nanny or nursery worker?

When I was a stay at home parent, I certainly felt I’d put in a shift worthy of payment by the time bedtime came around! But neither did I expect payment for raising my own children. I chose to quit my job. I could easily have put them in a nursery and continued teaching full time but chose not to. As I’m sure the majority of stay at home parents would be women, I would worry it could damage equal rights in employment if more females chose to stay at home rather than return to work. However, from my time in education, I have seen how an unstable upbringing can affect a child so if paying a parent to stay at home was an option, I would see it as a positive.

3. Is making your own sour dough all it’s cracked up to be?

Never made it, never ate it, don’t intend to start!

4. What are your thoughts on proportional representation?

I know only too well how frustrating it is when your vote hasn’t counted. In various elections it my area, it’s generally always been a foregone conclusion and my vote has been pointless. And when you see how a political party can take control of parliament with actually a very small percentage of the votes, you do think that PR would be a fairer system. More votes would count and the majority would be represented. But there are always going to be losers and no voting system can cater for that!

5. Ketchup or mayo? Or something else?

When it comes to chips, it depends on the country. In England, it has to be vinegar. In France, I remember being shocked that people put mayo on their frites but I soon found it completely acceptable and automatically revert to mayo when in the country. And in Scotland, it has to be chippy sauce. Always.

So, here are my questions. Not sure I would like to answer some of them 😜

1. Do you ever compare yourself to anyone? If yes, who?

2. What is your most beloved childhood memory?

3. Which life lesson did you learn the hard way?

4. What can you do today that you couldn’t do one year ago?

5. If you could choose one book as a mandatory read for secondary schools, what would it be?

6. Can you describe your life in a 6 word sentence?

And here are my nominees. The baton is now yours!

Mrs T’s Corner

Unwanted Life

Vocalised Thoughts

Momcraft

Experiments in Fiction

The Book’s Whiskers

No Time for Pants

Brainwork

I Can Show You the World

Specks of Thoughts