Scranshums has been nominated for the Real Neat Blog Award! I’m canny flattered, and many thanks to A.J Sefton for nominating me. Do go and check out A.J’s great history blog. There’s lots of Anglo-Saxon stuff, which I like.

The ‘rules’ of the Real Neat Blog Award are: (feel free not to act upon them if you don’t have time; or don’t accept awards; etc.):

1. Put the award logo on your blog.
2. Answer 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
3. Thank the people who nominated you, linking to their blogs.
4. Nominate any number of bloggers you like, linking to their blogs.
5. Let them know you nominated them (by commenting on their blog etc.)

So, in answer to my seven questions:

1) Where do most visits to your blog come from?
The UK, closely followed by the USA.

2) What is your favourite sport?
I’m not a massive sports fan, to be honest – 12 years of P.E. at school rather put me off! I do however like walking and folk dancing (clog, rapper, ceilidh, occasionally morris).

3) What has been a special moment for you in 2014?
At the risk of sounding trite, I’d say it was my graduation from university last summer. Although special, the whole thing was bittersweet because it marked the end of an era and the geographical dispersal of friends who I’d had on hand in one place for the previous three years.

4) What is your favourite quote?
This is a tricky one, I have lots of faves and used to have them all on a wall of post-it notes in front of my desk at university. In fact, I might do a whole blog post on them. I’ve always liked: “The difficult we do easy. The impossible takes a little longer.” I believe it comes from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. book, “The Copenhagen Affair”. (1960s spies…oh yeah.)

5) What was your favourite class while still at school?
History. This was greatly helped, though, by being taught by the Best Teacher Ever for four years. English was always good too.

6) Anything you wished to have learnt earlier?
How to open a corked bottle of wine. I only learnt that last weekend, in a desperate fumble while making spaghetti Bolognese. I’ve obviously been spoilt by the proliferation of screw cap bottles in society.

7) What musical instrument have you tried to play?
The violin is my main instrument; I’ve been playing since I was five. I can also play bits on the melodeon, piano and am currently learning the mandolin, which is nicely similar to the violin! I would like to pick up the bass again – I haven’t played that since I was in a rock band summer project when I was 13 (we had a song called “King Kong Kicks Butt”, composed almost entirely out of words beginning with K, B and L. Psychedelic.).

So that’s all about me. My questions for my nominees are:
1) Where do most visits to your blog come from?
2) Have you made a New Year’s Resolution, and kept it so far?
3) What is your favourite quote?
4) Where was the last place you travelled to in another country?
5) What was your favourite book when you were growing up?
6) Anything you wished you had learnt sooner?
7) What are you going to eat for tomorrow’s breakfast?

And I would like to nominate the very informative and entertaining:

Just Rise Above It
Stephanelli Designs
The Barefooted Bookworm