It’s Brennig’s turn now and the focus has turned to music and books.

1. Who’s your favourite band/group?

Arg! A horribly difficult one for me. I don’t really have a favourite per se. I have favouriteS, plural. Where do I start? Barenaked Ladies, Kellie Pickler (unfortunate name), Take That (both old and young), Dolly Parton, the Rat Pack, Bach, Mozart, the Wurzels. Seriously. I love all of them

2. What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to? What’s the most recent gig you’ve been to?

And here I come clean.

[whisper] I’ve never been to a gig [/whisper]

I don’t know why. It’s never really occurred to me to go to one. Does that make me weird?

3. What’s the most recent book you’ve read?

At present, I’m trawling through the last Harry Potter. I re-read Half Blood Prince the other day – I couldn’t afford to go to the cinema so I read instead. Yes, I know, I’m a saddo. Once I get my bookcases sorted in the flat, it’ll be a lot easier – I’ll be able to *see* my books instead of the current lucky-dip-what-the-hells-in-this-box thing I do at the moment.

You are stranded on a desert island. You are allowed eight pieces of music to take with you.

You can also choose a favourite book (excluding the Bible or other religious work and Shakespeare – these already await you) and a luxury which must be inanimate and have no practical use.

Ready? 1… 2… 3… GO!

1. A little respect – Erasure
I don’t know what it is about this song but no matter how I feel when I start listening to it, I’m always happy by the end of it!

2. My baby just cares for me – Nina Simone
Another happy song. The piano bit in the middle makes me feel like giggling. Odd but true.

3. Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
I can’t believe how long it took me to find out about Johnny Cash. I only really got into him about 2 years ago and now can’t imagine how I ever lived without him!

4. California Dreamin’ – The Mamas and the Papas
This reminds me of growing up in Kenya – we went through a real Mamas and the Papas “stage” and this was pretty much the only song we sang or listened to for about a month.

5. I’m on my way – The Proclaimers
You may know it from Shrek but I remember this from growing up. My mother had Sunshine on Leith - an excellent album, sadly overlooked.

6. Nimrod (from “Enigma variations”) – Elgar
It makes me cry but I still love it.

7. Clarinet concerto in A major - Mozart
A really relaxing piece of music – for some reason it reminds me of summer and, I think because of its use in Out of Africa, it reminds me of home.

8. Young person’s guide to the orchestra – Britten
I can remember my father and I listening to this and my task was to name all the instruments. At push, I think I could probably still do it!

Book: Cautionary Tales for Children by Hilaire Belloc
My father used to read this to me. I still find them stupidly funny.

Luxury: Paper, lots of pencils and a pencil sharpener

 So now, over to you. Write your own blog post about your desert island.

L: Have you been? It’s very cool.

NC: Personally, I don’t really like it. It’s a bit dingy and dark for me.

L: Oh come on, you must have some Indie chick in you…

NC: Do I look like I have indie chick in me?   I’m about as far from indie chick as … well anyone.   I listen to classical music for god’s sake. Only today, I order a new recording of Hadyn’s Trumpet concerto.

L: So? I listen to classical. I go to the opera by myself.   I’m still an indie chick.   

NC: Yes but you are cool.   I am sad little geek who listens to music that over 50s like.

L: I went to The Buddy Holly Story with my parents, knew all the words, and enjoyed it more than them.   Your turn.

NC: I go to book signings. Of books I’ve never read. By authors I don’t know. Just because I want to try out new things.   That’s sad.

L: My best birthday present ever was on my 18th when my parents took me to see John Denver.  

NC: I’ve seen the Wurzels live.

L: I own Jason Donovan’s autobiography and will buy his new album when it’s released.  

NC: I have albums by Peter Andre and East 17 in my collection

L: My sister and I are booking a holiday to stay in the house from The Sound of Music.  

NC: (that is so cool by the way) I have 123 subscriptions in my google reader (and if you don’t know what that is, it means you’re DEFINITELY cooler than me)

L: I have no idea what that is. Damn.

NC: I am a sad old loser and you’re not.   HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA And the fact that I have “won” this competition and I am gloating shows that I’m even sadder than I thought!

It just confirms my fears. I am a loser. I have a secret side of me that no one knows about (and of which, this blog is part) and I keep it well away from people I “know”.

Are you uncool? What are your deep dark uncool secrets?

Particularly as the sun is shining and my foot hurts and I realise that I sound like the 10 year old me trying to get out of being timed for the 100m.  What an exercise in creativity that little evasion was.  Years of excuses and fumbled lies. 

Am also deeply stressed by having wasted a morning trying to load my son’s MP3 player.  I realise that for NC and her horrid young friends this is not the sort of sentence they will understand. Son? what’s that. Difficulties with MP3 players? well you lot came out with the intstructions hard-wired in.  Oldies have to work it out, and there’s only so much right clicking and Send To File that an oldie (with a bad foot, remember) can be expected to do.  Had to settle with downloading everything onto my iPod to give him instead.  So I will be stuck, forever, with The Ping Pong Song because there ain’t no way I’ll be able to do all that I’ve not done this morning, but in reverse.

So now it’s lie down time.  I imagine that today’s youth understand all about that.