Book Award & 7 things you didn't know

Thank you for your award Sarah!!! It's really nice to get one :)

I understand though as a recipient of this award I have to write seven weird and wonderful facts that people don't know about me. So... here goes!

1. I love almonds, and just about anything made of almonds. I have a particular weakness for almond croissants and marzipan. No idea why I'm so addicted but if I eat out and see a pudding containing almonds, that's the dessert sorted!!!! I even go for dishes with almonds in when I'm eating Indian food.

2. I occasionally do needlework. I come from a family who do an awful lot of crafts. There are a lot of quilter's in the family, and my Mum has over the years dabbled in everything from lace making to dying fabric. So its no surprise that despite every effort to avoid these things I do do some sort of craft work. I've even been known to do a bit of knitting on very very rare occasions. At the moment I'm working on a cushion cover and am about to pluck up the courage to work on a large piece of cross stitch of a Samurai warrior.

3. Also, despite claiming to be the artisticly deficient member of the family, I took A-Level photography

4. I love Italy. I fell in love with Rome the first time I visited and have been there four times in total. I've seen the ruins at Pomepii and Herculaneum, been to see the Oracle's caves at Cumae and the museums in Naples. A few years ago I was lucky enough to work on a survey project to the north of Rome near a place called Otricoli. Back in September I started Italian lessons for the first time (as I started visiting Italy back in 1997 it's been a long time coming!). Best thing about Italy is the ice-cream. The variety, the gorgeous tastes! You've never had real chocolate ice-cream until you've been over there and had real Italian chocolate ice-cream.

5. I'm a re-enactor. Last year I joined a well known British group and have been to a couple of events. What many people find amusing is what I've chosen to do re-enactment wise. I seem to manage to evoke a need to look after me in people (is it because I'm short, pale, delicate looking???). So the last place they expect me to be is working the cannons :) Yep, I help man the artillery and yes, we do use real black powder so the bangs are real! Don't worry we use grass rather than cannon balls.

6. I love playing Mah-jong. Not that game you play on the computer where you attempt to match tiles to remove them until there are none left. No, I mean the proper 4 player game. I learnt how to play when I was at university and sadly I've not been able to really play much since I graduated. I wasn't too bad, in fact sometimes people would complain I was too good when I was having a lucky streak! I've tried to play on Yahoo a few times but people come and go so much that you're lucky to be able to play a few hands before having to abandon the game due to lack of players. I'd love to have my own set and enough friends who wanted to play round here!

7. When I bother to sit down and think about it I have a rather diverse set of interests from reading and needlework to playing with cannons. However one hobby which people never peg me for is computer games. I don't have many but I love things like Sid Meier's Civilization and Caesar III. I hadn't played any for ages but my sister bought me Civilization IV for Christmas and before I went back to work in the New Year I lost one or two days completely just playing Civ IV :)

There you go seven things you probably didn't know about me (or want to know for that matter!!!).

Remember guys, keep reading :)