Questions, Questions

Once again Joey has asked some questions, it seems almost rude not to try and as I quite enjoy this sort of thing here are my answers.

1. Do you have any nicknames? Where did they come from?

At school I was often known as PJ, this was simply so as to distinguish me from the other guy in my year with the same surname, yep it was that sort of school.   This sort of stuck and he is still often known that way, for some of my friends to whom I am out if they want too know which is coming is it PJ or Paula?   When I was younger I sort of yearned for a nickname, something like "tank" or "Bull" but I only ever aquired one other nickname, it took me a while to work this one out but several people in one of my bands were calling me George, I was sat between a not very good, very confident player and another who talked too much, they were calling me George because I was sat between Zippy and Bungle!

2. How many times in your life have you moved and where to?
I have moved a total of six times, of those all but one was within a three mile radius. I lived in the same family home for 26 years so it was a real wrench when my parents left home. I then had a few flats (one shared) before meeting the girl who was to become my wife. I had one more move before getting married though, that was the one that took me away from my home turf. I moved to Seville, supposedly for six months, but the company I was working for went bust and I was back home in SE London in six weeks.

3. Have you ever done any martial arts?
I tried boxing once, but the other guy kept hitting me, some aspects of Brass Band Competitions are a bit like a martial art, only without the art bit.

4.What is one of the first memories you have from childhood?
Working in the garden with my Grand Father, I was the only one of his three grand children who spent much time with him, I always enjoyed these times, especially in the garden he loved so much, and taught me to love.

5. If you were a food, what food would you be and why?
A boiled egg, tough and hard on the outside, soft but comforting inside ~ aghhh pass the sick bag Alice that is just sooo disney sickly saccharine sweet, so, maybe a Jerusalem Artichoke, fun and tasty but prone to disagree with a lot of people.

6. If you could eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would you chose?
My Mother has he same thing for breakfast everyday, I can't understand this, I wouldn't have the same thing every day for any meal, so the thought of the same thing all the time is frightening. Would I be cheating to ask for a buffet? I love fish, and my favorite meal would be fish soup, followed by Skate in black butter, but not every day!

7. What gives you most comfort? Where is that place? Is anyone there with you?
I suppose that the thing that gives me most comfort is my family is of course they have to be with me (although sometimes I like the more when I am away from them).   The activity that gives me most comfort is making music, by the nature of my instruments that means I need to be with other people as well.   As for the place, a bar near the Mediterranean, the evening is beginning to cool from the heat of the day, a cool beer in front of me, a good dinner to look forward to and some friends to chat with.

8. What something you've wanted and did get ?
They say that anticipation is better than the realisation, they are wrong! For ages I pined for a CC contra-bass tuba, now I have one and I love it, the only thing is tubas are like fishponds and garden sheds, it doesn't matter how big they are you always want a bigger one.

9. Imagine someone describing you to a stranger what would they say?
"The big blond girl over there"   Of course this is a bit more difficult than that since how we see ourselves is different to how others see us.   I think of myself as tall and elegant, with a timeless sense of style, others may see me as large and lumpy, wearing clothes that are either out of fashion or just too young for me.

10. Whats the best no-fail recipe you have?
I pride myself on being a pretty good cook, but I can still fail at almost anything, but for an easy way to make an impression home made mayonnaise is pretty good, and so easy, just whisk olive oil into egg yolks and mustard.

11. If you could switch into another career what would it be?
Tricky this one since so far I have been

1. A bank Clerk
2. An accounts Clerk
3. A supervisor and truck tyre specialist
4. A technical clerk (and a male model for a rubber goods company)
5. A secondhand car salesman
6. A delivery Driver
7. A professional musician
8. A fridge and washing machine salesman
9. A coffee and fruit juice salesman 
10. A delivery driver
11. A dispatch rider
12. A landscape Gardener
13. A Charity business Manager
14. An Administration Manger
15. A Business development Manager
16. A Gardener
17. And a Waste Management Consultant (MCIWM)

this may not be a complete list (sometimes I lose track) and some of these roles overlap, I still play professionally, but not very often, I garden and I keep up with what is happening in the waste management world.   The modeling for the rubber goods company consisted of being a Michelin Man but it was a lot of fun, and got me into quite a few race meetings I didn't have tickets for.   Of course these are just the permanent jobs I have also done some temping as well, but it's best we don't go there.   I am currently very happy gardening, but, I have always fancied being a radio presenter or a writer.......

That whole exercise was actually quite challenging, I'm not sure if it is at all revealing, I do know that although I have done my best to answer honesty it is not complete, and off course if I were to answer some of them next week there might be quite different answers.   However I have told the truth, but the whole truth would need more than one post, and probably bore the pants off you all.