HENRI'S WORLD

This has been a work in progress since November 2004.

I will keep updating it as people point some more things out to me that I had not thought of putting down on the list.

I have kept the original numbering scheme (84 to 100 are previous blog entries which were titled accordingly and it made sense at the time to count back).

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78. When somebody says "bear with me" during a phone conversation, I picture them sitting with a big brown bear standing behind them, listening on our chat (your call may be recorded for training purposes etc).
79. Rumours that I was once terrified to tears by a couple of sleeping labradors in a pub are not entirely exagerated though they often fail to mention the level of alcohol in my bloodstream at the time
80. The cold rarely bothers me but I like showers to be quite hot.
    
81. I do not think 12 cups of tea a day is excessive.
    
82. I have been told I have a "freakishly low resting heart rate for someone this unfit".
    
83. Given a choice I prefer food to be separated on the plate and condiments to be on the side. It takes some effort for me not to pick out the components of a sandwich to eat them one by one raher than together.
    
84. Thanks to Philippa for reminding me of this one: I have a fear of dentists and a strange brain that makes me think it is a good thing to persuade my friend to come with me. I was aske to point out that I was 8 months pregnant at the time, that i fainted and that it was the first time Philippa was coming to the flat but that it must have been a good idea since it was 9 years ago and we are still friends.
85. I have inherited my great grandfather Louis' heavy jawline and a something in the eyes that gives me more than a passing family resemblance to him but none of his fine crafting skills (my woodworking talents never went beyond a City & Guilds basic woodwork) and none of his romanticism.
86. I prefer circular routes to symetrical ones. I rarely take the exact same route on the return journey to that which I chose on the way out if I can avoid it. It often means taking a detour. If taking the same route back cannot be helped I will often walk on the other side of the pavement instead. I do not always do it consciously.
87. I cannot say HOVERCRAFT.
    
88. I don't like ticking boxes in ethnic origin questionnaires.
89. The first record I ever bought was Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. I recently bought it again on cd and was stunned to realise the album is 20 years old. It made me feel old. "Are you ready to be heartbroken" is still one of my favourite songs.
90. I label plugs.
91. The set yolk in hard boiled eggs makes me gag. When I was at primary school, friday was no meat day. The menu alternated between hard boiled eggs and fish.Fortnightly I used to swap my yolks for my friend's whites. One Fraiday the diner lady spotted the exchange, voiced her disapproval and forced us to eat our respective egg parts. We were a lot more careful the next time. The valuable leson learned was "don't get caught swapping unless you want the afternoon off sick"
92. I am a happy drunk. A very happy and loving drunk.
93. I am punctual to a fault.
94. I am a shower person. With a marked preference for the sort that requires you to peel yourself off the wall when you turn the tap off. Bath don't do it for me (marinading in your own dirt - yuk!). When The Boy and I stayed in Kim's studio flat I mised showers so much we used to go to the swimming pool just for them.
95. I grind my teeth. When I realise I am doing it I stop myself but I don't always notice. As a result my teeth have some degree of faceting.
96. If money and time were no object I would like to learn to fly helicopters. I have only been a passenger in a helicopter twice but loved it, yet I dislike travelling by plane - go figure.
97. I only rarely drink coffee. Occasionally I am tempted by the smell of it. Every time I find the taste does not live up to the smell. Add milk to the coffee and you have a drink guaranteed to churn my stomach. Make mine a cup of tea, strong, milky and no sugar (not even a stir with a spoon that has been used to stir sugar in another cup - I can taste it).
98. I am scared of heights. I used to not mind at all. I even used to laugh at my mother when she used to fret walking over bridges. Then I had a "ladder incident" when working in a warehouse and only escaped injury beacause a colleague made a heroic rescue and stopped the ladder's freefall. I am now as bad as my mother and can't bear to even watch somebody on a ladder and painting the ceiling raises my heart rate more than a half-hour cycle. I cannot walk on see through surfaces and my father now has another means of winding me up (making my child walk on walls or lean over the edge).
99. I am the messiest person you are ever likely to meet. I can turn an immaculately tidy room into an unbelievable mess within half an hour without even noticin it. It used to drive our first au-pair absolutely mad. The only thing I ever keep tidy is my kitchen cupboards. I am mildly obsessive about it and when I let it go for a bit it unsettles me a little everytime I cook. Over the years I have teded to live with tidy people. They have all given up on trying to convirt me to their way. They have all developped ways of coping which didn't involve me having to put things away myself. It's not that I dont like it when it's tidy, I do really, it's just that I do not mind the mess.
100. I am hopeless at remembering names and not particularly good woth faces. However I remember people's food preferences and dislikes for years. An ex-colleague still jokes about the time I brought teas and coffee milked and sugared to everybody's taste without having to ask them first but had to ask him for everybody's names after the meeting to make sure the minutes would be accurate because I did not have a clue who was who.