Light relief - Hammies's Q&A

I could tell that my new more serious blog was going to be challenged at some point and Hammie couldn't resist sending me a meme tag to undo all my good cultured work! Who am I to refuse such a goad - so instead of viewing Beau Travail as intended I'm sitting down to answer the Q&A in my kitchen on a Saturday night!

sorry forgot to kick laundry basket out of view!

Here are the guidelines:
1. Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention; add a question of your own.
2. Tag eight other un-tagged people.

What is your current obsession? Probably the easiest to answer but my obsession in life is film, it always has been but I supresssed it for years! The trouble was I also loved writing and fashion. It has taken me years to get what I've got to do. I feel perfectly blended now as I start my film project studying for my MA in Fashion and Film at LCF. I love LCF and I also feel freed from my constant striving to work in the world of fashion. I never found my space until now so it is a passionate obsession.

Good fika place?(That would be coffee to us non-Swedes) Well if I wasn't on a no coffee for Lent drive, which has broken my coffee addiction, you'd often find me in the most unappealing place but with my perfect skinny cappuccino in Pret at Bond St Tube, great people watching and Pret is the only place I can get organic milk. I have an organic milk obsession, this is a confession, and Pret use the best organic milk in the world supplied by Rachel's Dairy of Aberystwyth. After nearly six weeks, that'll be 7 days to go I can now admit to actually being desperate for a cup of coffee, Pret will be my second port of call after popping in to Carluccios in St Christopher's Place or Market Place to get a Bicern - espresso coffee, Florentine drinking chocolate and cream - though it is more like milk than cream as I'm not a fan of cream.

Do you nap a lot? No, although I'd kill for a lie in!

Who was the last person you hugged? In my head Don Draper from Mad Men but in reality it was petit garcon before he fell asleep. There's funny advice about Don Draper yearning in the Guardian Weekend today!

What’s for dinner? It was ensalada de hinojo, fennel, potato and orange salad from the Casa Moro cookbook. Mr Film Upstart and I went to the book signing years ago where we sat poker face to hide the fact we couldn't take it seriously and that we were only there for the sherry! Which on the subject of sherry, I read again (note to self stop reading too much) in the Guardian today that sherry is the choice du jour for alcoholics. There was I thinking it was a refined cultural sip of a drink on occasion! The cookbook is fab and the salad was served with veal escalope, of which I abstained from and as well as trying to persuade petit garcon it was sausage, chopped up.

What was the last thing you bought? A dress from Cos - of which I raided all my forgotten savings accounts even my 0.07p one and took my 6 months worth of shrapnel to the bank so I could buy the £59 dress and still have money left over to stem the overdraft. The dress is fab and worth the phone call to Sainsbury to ask for my 7p, oh and the snotty HSBC lady who moaned as I handed her bags of coins to weigh on their 'super snazzy tells you how much is in the bag' scales, because I hadn't counted them myself to fill the form out - durr!

What are you listening to right now? At the start of the post it was Bizet's the Pearl Fishers but now, yes I do go on in a meme, it is the best of Stereophonics.

What is your favourite weather? A crisp, sunny late October or November day when the warmth of autumn still lingers but the beckoning winter days of December remind you that Christmas is coming! I love sitting on the back door ledge, feet in garden and hoping for a bonfire smell.

What's in your bathroom cabinet? A very large tub of Boots Aqueous cream, Environ eye gel, Environ RAD sunscreen and Environ rich vitamin A night cream. I've just run out of the day cream! Nail varnish remover, cotton wool, Chanel's Vendetta, Clarins hand cream and Crealine H2O plus Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream and Coco perfume.

Say something to the person/s who tagged you. Hammie you are an inspiration! I love your blog because not only do it give me buckets of hope but I love your writing and the kids. I've learnt so much and it has made me more tolerant towards people when they are vulnerable - I still get peed off by arrogant *******! I'm kinder to petit garcon even when he's having bath time tantrums due to his ocd routine. I've realised each of us have our foibles and we should accept and respect them - thanks to you Hammie!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? Somewhere between Jamestown and Speightstown in Barbados set up on the hill with a view out across the sea. Now would be good!

Favourite vacation spot? I think this is impossible because I love so many varied places but if I had to really be specific then I think it is hard to beat a week in France, or Italy, or Spain or Greece - I love the warm Mediterranean!

Name the things you can’t live without. Family and friends. I have to confess petit garcon is quite rightly as my dad said the apple of my eyes but Mr Film Upstart is the love of my life even when he annoys me. I also couldn't live without writing and making up stories in my head, then there is music and dressing up, that's before I even start on food and drink. My old answer would have been coffee - even before family and friends but I'm a reformed character now.

What is your favourite tea flavour? Earl Grey, Mint Green Tea and Chamomile - that is it, I don't do anything else. And I know La Belette isn't going to forgive me about the chamomile tea thing but I just drink one cup before I go to bed, I couldn't stomach it any other time.

What would you like to get rid of? Prawns, I'm allergic to them, as in seriously allergic, anaphylactic shock allergy. I've had the whole Pulp Fiction thing but in the fat of my thigh. Once was enough. I'm very careful but it does cause issues mainly of disdain as I'm sure people think you are being faddy when you have an allergy.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Austria, as they had great snow this season and I really really could do with a ski.

What did you want to become as a child? An actress.

What do you miss? Currently coffee and the odd chocolate cake.

What are you reading right now? I literally finished Cashmore's Celebrity/Culture book this morning so am finishing off reading Rojek's Celebrity now. I've always got 3 - 5 books on the go these days and all academic ones. Sadly my Proust that was bought for me for Christmas is sat languishing on my bedside table.

What's your favourite brand of jeans? I haven't got a pair of favourites because I'm not really a jeans person. I need to discover a good pair that fit and I suspect they'll be very pricey. I know everything and anything about jeans but prefer dresses and skirts.

What designer piece of clothing would you most like to own (new or vintage)? A Fortuny dress.

My own question.

Will you have plastic surgery/botox etc.? I really hope not, I've become more convinced that it is all a road to nowhere. I'm sure I could do with some and loads of people of sound mind whom I admire swear by face peels/botox et al. I'm scared I will look different. I'd rather age and still look like me with all the imperfections. Whilst I'd have facials and use skin care products I can't take the next step and I don't think I ever will.

I'm tagging Sharon Rose Vintage, Sister Wolf and Tor of Fab Frocks - that's it too tired to type anymore!