Wednesday Hodgepodge 9/9/15

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at 

 From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add your blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post.

Have fun!

1. Last thing you did on the spur of the moment?

Visited my sister-in-law last week.  I rang to check how she was and she’d just booked an appointment and needed a babysitter so I was able to step in and do that.

2. How well informed do you feel about the current Syrian refugee crisis?

Fairly well informed.  It’s had so much coverage here in the UK and is a much debated issue.  Even as to which term (i.e. migrant/refugee/asylum seeker) should be used for those fleeing their country.

3. What have you changed your mind about? 

Hard to think of a specific day to day event but my politics changed as I grew older and more aware.  I was Conservative at one point but now vote Labour.  We can’t all be rich and able to take care of ourselves with private health care, home ownership etc and we need to protect the vulnerable in our society.  Having said that I don’t think the benefit system should be an easy route for people and it shouldn’t be able to be exploited.

4. A medium sized non-poisonous snake found its way into the pool trap this weekend. If you'd been sitting poolside would you have fished it out? Gone running? Called for help? Pretended not to know? Continued swimming?

I’d have been moving away as fast as I could!  Calling for help?  Would screaming work?
 

5. September 10th is National TV Dinner Day...what's your idea of a great TV dinner? (Or at least a pretty good one!) 

We used to have a TV in our kitchen but it died and we haven’t replaced it.  The longer that goes on the less inclined I am to do so.  We usually ate dinner as a family at the table so the concept of a TV dinner wasn’t something we really did.  Occasionally now there’s just the two of us at home I might eat my dinner watching TV if I’m in the middle of something really good but with the ability to pause or record programmes so easily there’s really no need to do that.  For me the main requirement would be something that’s not going to get me in a mess if I eat it watching TV!

6. Samuel Johnson is quoted as saying, "Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other." Would you agree? Where have you seen that played out recently? What's the second greatest virtue?

Well I can see why he would say that because originally man would have to have self-preservation skills which would often require courage.  I think many of the refugees leaving Syria and other war torn areas have courage.  I think the second greatest virtue is patience.

7. What are three words you have trouble remembering how to spell?

Onomatopoeia – had to look it up even now

Manoeuvre – the spell checker corrected that one for me!

Penicillin – important as I’m allergic to it but don’t always get it right.  I’m also allergic to its usual alternative which is erythromycin, another tricky word.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’m a day late as I had a lunch date yesterday with friends and in the evening we went to a supper club with my son and his wife.  It was a belated anniversary treat for them.  Their first year seems to have flown by.