100 things

1. I live in a small house in Rugby, England, with my partner G aka "the Cog" and our cat Tom (Thomas when he's being naughty). Eddie replaced Thomas in 2015, but is a permanently scared rescue cat who is not very snuggly alas. 
2. I've been a CAD engineer since I left school, although now I also do some animation work
3. I have a real rapport with cats, I haven't yet met one that didn't like me (Ha! See 1 above)
4. I love my first cup of coffee of the day. I'm not so keen on tea, unless it's weak and sweet, or Earl Grey
5. I've never been able to click my fingers. The Cog thinks this is hilarious
6. I'm allergic to penicillin, I get a nasty rash, and whatever I was given the medicine for goes away of its own accord
7. I'm also allergic to certain cheap soaps
8. I'm very creative and crafty, and usually have at least ten projects I want to start at any one time
9. I'm absolutely dreadful at finishing things. I get bogged down in the details
10. I have one sister. We are very different
11. I love the beach, and I love warmth. My holiday hell would be somewhere cold
12. I'm a little on the curvy side, but I've figured out that the Fast 800/mediterranean diet helps no end! 
13. I love anything loud and colourful, I think I was colourblind in a previous life
14. I love rainbows, and I have to photograph them
15. If I wasn't an engineer, I'd've loved to have been a photographer or an architect
16. I once designed a secondary school. I was about 13
17. I spend a lot of my spare time with my knitting machines, or surfing the internet
18. I collect cobalt blue glass, and used to collect Colourbox cats.
19. I used to collect interesting candles, but the colours fade and a few got too close to the fire and wilted
20. My favourite flowers are tulips.
21. My favourite season is summer, with spring a close second. I'm not a winter person
22. My fave way of spending an evening is a night in with a good bottle of wine, a video, a nice bar of chocolate and my favourite blokes (male and feline)
23. I like big words. I like "undercarriage"
24. At school I made up the word "despulphragate". I was never that sure of its meaning, but it was supposedly slightly rude
25. I cut my nails very short - years of being a violinist. Plus I like to keep them clean
26. I'm fascinated by stationary. My fave place is the pen department in WHSmiths.
27. The Cog thinks this is weird
28. He's probably right
29. I used to sing alto in a church choir
30. I used to be a sunday school teacher
31. I once went to church choir practice in black ski pants that I'd cut holes in and laced up - it caused a bit of a stir. I was trying to be a rock chick!
32. I once attended a job interview in jeans
33. I didn't get hired
34. I love to swim, and I try and organise most holidays to be near a water park
35. I resent paying extra once I'm inside though - Tenerife was a rip-off, Faliraki was excellent (and all-in)
36. My favourite food is thai, followed by chinese, indian, mexican. There's not much I don't like
37. I don't like swede or turnip, but I'm coming around to the idea of parsnips
38. Especially the parsnip crisps from the lunch van at work - bliss!
39. I taught G to cook, and he's far more inspired than me now
40. I'm not known for my patience
41. I love cracked black pepper kettle chips
42. I can't stand salt-and-vinegar anything. Makes my eyes water
43. I've got a certificate in Swedish body massage
44. It's amazing how everyone says they need a massage, but never get around to getting their kit off
45. I used to read only sci-fi stories, but now I just pick books at random
46. Even better if they're book-crossing ones, because I can put them back.
47. My favourite colours are hot pink, cobalt blue, purple and black
48. I don't much care for green, brown or orange but I'm working on it...
49. I love comedy programmes
50. I'm not so keen on politics. Whoever you vote for, the government gets in. I guess I'm a liberal leftie politically. 
51. Artificial people really get up my nose, especially if they pretend to be stupid but aren't
52. I'm much happier in t-shirt and jeans than a business suit
53. I couldn't care less about clothing labels
54. I love raiding charity shops
55. I try and recycle as much as I can
56. I have far too much yarn, it's taking over the front bedroom despite my being on a self-imposed yarn diet
57. I inherited someone's lifetime collection of machine knitting magazines. I'm still working my way through them
58. I've got  near-perfect pitch. I tend to sing out of tune deliberately when alone, to make myself laugh
59. I don't tend to do more than 10mph over the speed limit
60. I have a clean driving licence
61. I have a large big toe joint. I think everyone else's feet look odd
62. I used to have a gorgeous half persian cat called Fraggle. Alas, he liked to chase cars, and one day his ninth life ran out
63. I love earrings, I used to collect them - had a competition with a girl at school as to who could get the most. I won.
64. I love rock music, classical, and dance. Classical for when I've had a hard day and need to be calmed
65. I'm a light sleeper. Sometimes I have to sleep downstairs. The Cog snores, though he denies it
66. I have a very basic mobile phone, that actually rings, and I've no intention of changing it until it dies. OK I finally caved on this, on with the smartphones!
67. I love to write with fountain pens, and with different coloured inks
68. I like writing to penpals
69. I'd rather be knitting
70. If I could meet anyone in history, it'd probably be either John Lennon or Gandhi
71. My most favourite jacket is a tie dyed denim one I got from Virgin Music - that dates it!
72. I love markets, car boots, jumble sales and craft fairs
73. I love hot chocolate fudge cake, butterscotch, and salted caramel
74. White chocolate is my favourite.
75. I also like spirits eg amaretto, cherry brandy, kahlua. I adore the liquer selection packs at Schipol airport - wonder if De Kuypers would let me become head taster?! :)
76. Creme brulee. Love it!
77. I don't suffer fools gladly
78. I think I know more than anyone else, and I think I can do everything better than anyone else
79. This gets me into trouble a lot
80. The Cog has me pegged as a bullsh*tter. He's not wrong
81. I have far too many hobbies, and not enough free time
82. I'm not very tidy - sometimes you have to step carefully around piles of wool, magazines and patterns
83. I'd love to *be* tidy, and have an immaculate house, but realism tells me it's never going to happen
84. I'm quiet, shy and introspective, but I tend to hide this at social events by being loud and chatty
85. It took me four attempts to pass my driving test
86. My second car, a lovely red Vauxhall Astra, seized up on the M5. Not the best spot to break down, I rolled to halt right outside the fire station on J2
87. I love comedy and cartoons, especially Dilbert, The Far Side, Diesel Sweeties, Red Meat, Kit N'Carlyle. I have a dry sense of humour
88. I have a tendency to be too serious sometimes
89. I've never been in trouble with the law, and I've only had one parking ticket - I was dropping off a rental tv at the time so was a bit miffed
90. I love pineapples, bananas and mangos
91. My fave cocktail is pina colada
92. My fave smoothie is yogurt, honey and vanilla
93. I love hats, although I don't actually wear them that often. Go figure
94. When I was younger, I wanted to be a spy - only because I was fascinated with codes
95. My sister and I set up the Secret Sign Society, which was amazingly like Brownies with badges and targets etc
96. We used to have great fun in the woodlands at "The Cedars" park, in Barwell, Leicestershire
97. Went back a few years ago - it all seems a lot shorter now! :) I think the main house got pulled down after subsidence, and I'm not sure you are allowed around the park anymore. 
98. I get on better with men than with women.
99. I've a bad habit of engaging my mouth before my brain
100. I'm one of those weird luddites that likes her mobile phone to ring, as opposed to chirrup or play some strange sound file. To that end, I'm still using my Nokia 8310 (built-in modem and FM radio) and will continue to do so until it dies a death... see 66. 

I can't believe I finally made it to 100! :) I just realised that 100 is a copy of 66 (hey, I wrote this in shifts!), so here's an addendum:

101. I'm convinced I'm a blonde. In reality I'm kind of light mouse, or "dirty blonde", as someone at work put it. That has a whole other meaning in Dutch, too! :D