Questions and Answers

Here are five questions set for me by Transience. If you’d like me to ask you five questions you only have to ask. I’ll try and personalise them, as Transience has done, but I won’t try and match her dedication to the Blog. So it’ll be the first 3 of you to apply. You will then have to publish the questions and answers on your blog and pass the invitation on. Here we go then…

1 - your new radio blog sounds really interesting. could you describe it for me? answer in haiku, please.

a regular blog
with added radio waves
as well as broadband

and if you take part
you might find your words voiced
by a famous actor

2 - if it is indeed true that peter piper chose a large number of peppers that had been soaked in vinegar and spices, where are they? i'd have to ask why they got there in the first place, too, you know.

The rhyme started out as an example in a book of pronunciation published in 1813. No one knows who Peter was or why he was given the task of choosing the peppers and what happened to them. I think he probably went to the pepper shop with his mum who said, Pick us some peppers, Peter. Then, on the way home they were stolen by a pepper thief. Eventually they would have been eaten by the thief and his mates, possibly stuffed with stolen hamster meat or similar.

3 - you are allowed only one wonky journey in your life. your survival kit is composed of one poem, one literary work, one song and one art piece. identify what the poem, literary work, etc. will be. how will these help you survive?

Tricky. Does one go for nostalgia? Or something that will release its pleasure slowly? Something short or long? Only one poem. I’d have to think about this a long time before I could decide. It might be Roger McGough or e.e. cummings or maybe something that would take some unpicking like a poem by Don Paterson. The literary work is slightly easier. I’d probably choose the Gormenghast trilogy. It would remind me of my youth, help me pass the time, and it’s a big, densely packed book so it would bear several readings and to keep me going for a long while. The song would be Strawberry Fields Forever. To cheer me up, remind me of good times, to astound me with its cleverness and the genius of the song structure, and to remind me how a good song lyric ought to be written. I’ve been listening to it for over thirty years now. Scary. And probably sad. The art piece? Hmm… how to fit it into my travelling kit. Something small. Maybe something tactile. A small bhudda. Someone who also once went on a very wonky journey. I’d like its contemplative nature.

4 - damn right i got the blues. but i want to shake them off. what is the best remedy for a girl who pedals constantly in search of norway?

Well, where or what is norway and why are you searching for it? I’d need to know that first – then it would be a pleasure and an honour to help.

5. you don't think roses-are-red-type verses very original. but they seem to be everywhere. would you rather be non-original and enduring or original and forgotten? why?

That’s not a fair question. Obviously I want to be original and enduring. I guess that the options you give are better than being non-original and forgotten. Okay – I’ll go for original and forgotten. The human race will be forgotten one day. One day the solar system will be consumed by the sun. One day even the universe will probably cease to exist. So, I’ll take my day now, thankyou.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Thanks for the questions
How did I do?