Recently I was delighted and very surprised to be nominated for The Mystery Blogger Award by the very lovely jrose88 of the at Milliways with a pen blog.

The Mystery Blogger Award…

• is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there and they deserve every recognition they get.
• is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging and they do it with so much love and passion.
• was created by Okoto Enigma.

To be honest I’m extremely flattered!

Here’s what you have to do:

• Display the award logo on your blog.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Mention the creator of the award and provide a link.
• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
• Answer 5 questions from the nominee.
• Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers.
• Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Ask your nominees 5 questions of your choice, including 1 weird or funny question.
• Share the link to your best post.

So let’s get to it shall we?

Three Things About Me:

1. I’m clumsy. I regularly trip over the chairs in my classroom, much to the amusement of my students. I spilled a cup of coffee in the welcome staff meeting on the first day of my first job. And then did the same  on my second job. And my third.
2. In my second job I was awarded the nick-name ‘Beast’ after stumbling into a very nice lady English teacher, causing her to spill coffee all down the front of her dress. This was nearly twenty years ago and I still feel bad about it. Sorry nice lady English teacher!
3. The nick-name stuck to the point that when I moved from living in town to the countryside the other teachers referred to my village as ‘the enchanted forest’. Also  my wife started getting called ‘Beauty’ but she was quite happy about that.

The Questions I Have to Answer:

What’s the book you always wanted to read (or should have read) when you were younger but couldn’t because you never found it/it didn’t exist? Like, what would you have felt truly represented you?

Great question. The Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. I would have absolutely loved them when I was a kid. They’re exciting, funny and have great characters. also I was really into myths and legends so they would have fitted right in.

Are you good with directions?

Yes and no. I have a really good sense of direction and I don’t get lost, in that I can always find my way back to somewhere I’ve been (particularly pubs for some reason). The problem is my ability to recall the correct word for any given situation is pretty poor, so I’m useless at giving directions. “Go over there!” is not an instruction my wife finds helpful when driving.

Starbucks, yes or no? Explain why.

In terms of coffee I prefer Costa. When Starbucks first had their massive expansion people complained they were taking over the world. This isn’t so much of a problem for me, I mean, its better than the usual megalomaniac dictators.

What are you the most hopeful about for 2017?

Tricky. Asking a maths teacher a ‘most’ question immediately results in them trying to rank order everything that might possibly happen. Hang on I’ll switch maths teacher to off. There, that’s better.

In general I’m an optimistic person so everything, but if I have to pick stuff I really hope will happen:

Big things – Peace in Syria and improvement in the state of the middle east in general.

Personal stuff – keeping my work life in balance, No. 1 daughter does well in her exams, I publish something.

Weird question: Do you have a favourite airport?

Interesting! I quite like Manchester, East Midlands is Ok as well. Any airport I arrive at when I’m going on holiday is exciting.

My Nominees:

The Orang-utan Librarian

Tanya Simone Simpson

Inside the mind of Davy D

jml297

Yeah, Another blogger

Simply Marquessa

eyes + words

Unbolt me

The Five Questions I’m Asking:

If you had to stick to one genre of book ,what would it be?

What are your all time top 3 films? ( I mean seen rather than starred in, but whatever…)

What is the best comeback you wished you’d said but didn’t think of at the time?

Pizza is a better invention than the wheel. Discuss.

Weird Question. What is your favourite fish? Explain.

My best post? I think its is probably this: The Exercise Bicycle for the Mind

all the best

M