Well, this is very nice. I am thrilled to announce that 50Sense has been awarded The Versatile Blogger Award! As I never win anything (apart from a tin of Danish Butter Cookies, two seconds after saying how much I hated Danish Butter Cookies), I have to say I’m utterly delighted.
A huge big thank you to Trace at the wonderful The Fashn Collectr for the nomination. It’s great to hear when someone enjoys 50Sense and gets something from it. Trace has a brilliant blog so check it out.
But watch out, girl, I’ll be coming for coffee when I’m next in New York.
What makes The Versatile Blogger Award special is it comes from fellow bloggers to reward other blogs for their unique content, quality writing and the level of love they show for their subject.
There are, however, some rules, one of which is to reveal seven facts about myself that my readers may not know.
So without further ado…
Seven facts about 50Sense
I have a Bacon number of 3
Whaddya mean, huh? That means in the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, I am three degrees away from the great man.
At school, I studied drama and still dream of a life in the theatre. I directed, did lights, stage managed, I wrote a subplot for Gregory’s Girl for a school production (Lee “Billy Elliot” Hall wrote the music) and acted.
And in one of those acting forays, I was on stage with my friend Dave Nellist, who played Mike Stamford in Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch, who appeared in Black Mass with Kevin Bacon.
So, I have a Bacon number of 3. Not bad. Not bad at all…
I can ask for two beers in six languages
English, Spanish, German, Romanian, Hebrew and French. It’s a handy skill, unless you’re with a wine drinker.
I blagged my way into the VIP section of a posh exhibition
Fashion is an artform to me – I once argued that I should be allowed to buy and frame a pair of Gucci shoes because they were so beautiful. Mr 50Sense, who at the time was only Boyfriend 50Sense, disagreed. So when Louis Vuitton held their Series 3: Past, Present, Future exhibition in London, I was there and seeing everything twice.
And somehow, on my second trip around, as I drooled on the display cabinets and asked the bagmaker if she got a discount, I ended up with a group that had something to do with Vogue. They were being given a guided tour and, wanting to learn more, I just sort of tagged on at the end. Even though I worked full-time for HELLO!.
Next thing I know, I’m being offered a choice of drinks and nibbles (I chose non-alcoholic. I have some ethics) and my choice of Louis Vuitton-designed stick-on letters. I chose an E for me and a G for Mr 50Sense and they’re still on the front of my computer today.
The bagmaker didn’t get much of a discount, by the way.
I am incredibly shy
People I know wouldn’t agree, but I am a shy and quite introverted person. I think lots of journalists are at heart, as I wrote in my piece on being lonely.
But I also believe in fake it till you make it so when I go somewhere new, I adopt a confident persona and she does the talking, mingling and laughing.
It still doesn’t completely stop the feelings that I’m boring or the worrying about what I’ve said, but it helps.
Growing older is also an advantage because I now have more experience to draw on when it comes to meeting new people. Plus I can recognise when other people feel shy and nervous and make an effort to talk to them.
I was the first female night editor at The Scotsman
A night editor is the person in charge of a newspaper after the editor and all the other chiefs have gone home. They stay with the paper throughout the night, deciding what breaking stories go in, what old stories come out, and then leave after the final edition has gone to press and go home to collapse.
In 2001, I ended a 184-year run of men being the night editor of Scotland’s leading newspaper.
At the end of 2004, I became the last woman to hold the post when I left to go to Spain.
Shame on you for not having another woman in the position since then, The Scotsman.
I was once a Womble
Remember my acting dreams? I think they stem from my first Nativity play at school. All the main parts had been given out, so what do you do with the children who are left? There are only so many angels you can have…
Being the early 1970s, you make the littlest one into a Womble, of course.
So I took to the stage, with a papier maché head and a purple outfit (don’t ask me), and cleaned up the rubbish around the manger.
I think that eco-friendly performance will get me right past St Peter and into The Good Place no problem.
I failed my Maths O-level five times
E the first time, U the second (unclassified – I don’t think I even got my name right), E again, X the fourth and then a D, at which point I jumped around the school corridors because that was the best fail I’d had and told everyone I was stopping at that high point.
The X? I was sunbathing the day before the exam and got sunstroke. When I woke up to go to school, I fainted and collapsed on to the kitchen sink while making a cup of tea.
My sister heard the noise and came rushing in.
“What you doing down there?” she asked.
“Trying to get up,” I replied.
Even in agony, there’s always time for a funny…
That was quite fun, actually. I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me a fact about yourself that no one else knows in the comments below.
And again, a huge thank you to Trace at The Fashn Collectr. I am truly honoured to know my writing sparks a light in someone else.
The rules also state that as well as thanking the blogger who nominated me and share their links, I must forward, nominate and inform seven bloggers who provide similar inspiration.
So as well as the menopause blogs I go to, the blogs I nominate for the Versatile Blogger Award and recommend yo
u check out are:
Camilla at Flamingo Monroe; Mandy at Mandy Charlton Photography; Nancy at The Intentional Life; Dawn at Crazy Organic Mama; Lisa at Midlife Pursuits; Candi at Inspire My Style; Susan at Figuring Out the Rest
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