Welcome to a cold but sunny South Manchester on day 385 of COVID-19 restrictions. Spring is definitely in the air and as restrictions are slowly being lifted, the warmer weather and the potentially resurrected freedom we used to enjoy are slowly raising my spirits. Not that I am struggling, dear reader – on the contrary, I am absolutely fine and the daily routine is keeping me sane. 

Things will improve and that is delightful. 

Let’s leap into a set of questions, as usual compiled by Bev at Sunday Stealing. 

P.S. You may have noticed that I have corrected the questions from an English perspective, having replaced “favorite” with “favourite”. There are two reasons for this. First, the spelling is labelled as incorrect in Microsoft Word (because I use a UK spell checker) and secondly because I am English and not American. I don’t mind the fact that Americans use “favorite” at all; on the contrary – it means that I am fluent in another language – “American English”. I know the meaning of words like “diaper”, “sidewalk” and “faucet” as well as many others that our cousins across the pond have adopted. 

Anyway – enough nonsense – let’s dive in.

1. What’s your favourite kind of cake?

Black Forest Gateau by a country mile. In fact, I persuaded Mrs PM to buy one for Christmas Day instead of boring old Christmas Pudding, which I find too heavy. After eating Christmas Pudding, I can feel it squatting in my stomach for hours and days.

“Why have you got that tired and strange look on your face?” people ask.

“I am doing battle with Christmas Pudding,” I say with a sigh.

Black Forest Gateau is a culinary delight and about as evil as food can get – deliciously dark, with Cream and a rich cherry filling. It is one of the best things to come out of Germany (apart from their wonderful beer). 

How can you truly resist this?

2. What’s your favourite cocktail?

As a rule, I don’t drink spirits of any kind, although occasionally I will have one if nothing else is available, or as an aperitif. The ones I have tried that are okay are Piña Colada and Tequila Sunrise – so I will opt for those two.

3. If you are alone for the evening, what do you fix yourself for dinner?

As I stated in the last post, I hate cooking. But if I have to cook for myself I will opt for a chicken pasta dish, a stir fry or a typical meat and two vegetable dish.

4. What make was your first car?

It was a Nissan Micra, one of the most reliable little cars I have ever had.

5. What is your height?

I am 5ft 11 inches, I think. My hair makes me look about 6ft 1 inch.

6. What was your least favourite toy as a child?

I don’t think I had a least favourite toy as a child. I had a very active imagination and absolutely everything that I owned could be used to form an elaborate framework for bringing elements of that imagination into reality. Toy soldiers would become an army to fight a giant (played brilliantly by Action Man), marbles would be used to stage football matches for example. I could us anything to create anything that allowed me to dive into my weird little mind, even it if seemed useless. 

7. What’s your favourite cartoon character?

Are we taking classic children’s cartoons or modern cartoons? I tell you what, I will do both. I used to love Scooby Doo, Wacky Races (particularly Dick Dastardly), the Pink Panther show and Tom and Jerry. 

Here’s an example:

Modern day cartoons? It has to be the Simpsons and my favourite is, of course, Homer himself. 

8. What’s your dream car?

I don’t really have a dream car. I guess the ideal car would be one that doesn’t break down, has enough room to accommodate the things I need to drive around, is economical and isn’t so expensive that people try to steal it

9. What’s your favourite pizza topping?

Anything with meat and cheese is good enough for me.

10. What’s your favourite sports team?

Sadly, my favourite sports team is a football team playing in the fourth tier of English football: Walsall FC. At the time I gave my soul to this football club, there were many other teams in the West Midlands that were bigger and better. My dad supported Walsall and he took me to the games – and I have never looked back, despite the fact that they will never compete with the Manchester United’s of this world. 

I have endured many years of people saying “Who?” or people thinking my team is called “Walsall 0” but they have given me enough pleasure to carry on supporting them. Not this year, sadly – they are not doing very well unfortunately.

Here is a game from this season, one of the few games we have won. We are playing in red. Note – the reason there are no spectators there is because of COVID-19 restrictions, not because we are so poor that nobody goes to see us.

11. What’s your favourite TV show?

At the moment it is a toss up between The Expanse and The Boys, both of which I am thoroughly enjoying at the moment.

12. What is your favourite ice cream?

I don’t eat much ice cream to be honest. However, I do like French and Italian ice creams and will always try some in those countries. Also, I do like Häagen-Dazs and Ben and Jerry’s chocolate ice cream.

13. What is your favourite song?

It is difficult to say. However, here are three that I really like at the moment – a pop song, a progressive rock song and a progressive metal song.