I recently got a little award. It’s the versatile blogger award. How cute! Jacqui from French Village Diaries – oh she of the bees like me – gave it to me.
I feel quite honoured because hers is a lovely blog and she always has the kind of life I can only aspire towards – being much further down the Good Life road!
So the deal is this:
Thank the person who gave you this award.
Include a link to their blog.
Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.
Include this set of rules in your post.
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.
My 15 blogs are as follows:
Three other blogs I follow and love are:
Living the Life in Saint Aignan
and
A bit of an eclectic mixture. I’m reminded of whichever dimwit it was on Big Brother who said: “I’m eclectic. I collect things.” Sometimes, before Big Brother got rubbish and is full of plastic wannabe slebs, it was great. All those people have faded into the ether. I do believe that was Glaswegian transgender Sam who said that, but only on research. But I digress. There’s French lifestyle blogs, design blogs, Charentais blogs, writer blogs, garden blogs. And I tried to pick smaller blogs who’d like the backlinks, like I do! All is fair in the SEO battle. I might post fifteen huge blogs I read, too, in the next couple of weeks.
So, seven things about me that the person who gave me the award might not know…
1) I too have forsaken the commuter life to live in France, and if sometimes I forget how much I hated having to leave at 6:50 am just to be at work by 8am, then I just need to remember that awful drive. 29 sets of traffic lights between Bolton and Bury. 36 between Bolton and Clitheroe. I miss take-aways, but I don’t need them anymore because I’m not knackered all the time. I miss Sainsbury’s and I miss Asda. I miss cheap clothes and I miss having my hair cut and coloured every eight weeks. I miss the Trafford Centre and I miss shopping.
But really, it’s a longing for something I know is bad for me, like longing for a cigarette – because capitalism isn’t a healthy lifestyle for me and the rat race is very cut-throat.
2. I wish I had a whole lot of time to do a project or DIY blog, but I rarely finish what I start.
3. I wish I had a cool design or art blog, but I don’t.
4. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I’d dedicated my life to images rather than words.
5. I’m itching to get enough cash to buy a decent second-hand or reconditioned digital SLR camera. Itching, I tell you!
6. Sometimes I look back on my blog posts and think they’ve evolved a lot in three years, and I wonder what it would be like to have a concept blog that’s all on one theme rather than a whole lot of random nonsense. Meh. Such is my life.
7. If I could manage 10 dogs and 20 cats, I’d have them.
Lady Justine's Blog 
Thank you for your support of our blog, and your regular comments. From the beginning we wanted the blog to be about anything and everything so long as it was relevant to us and / or France and in particular the Touraine. It meant that we have been able to blog every day for 6 years without boring ourselves or our readers too often. The discipline is good for us!
Susan, I can only aspire to your dedication. I feel like such a nature virgin in comparison, but I enjoy every single minute of learning!
These are wonderful thoughts. As for #4, it’s never too late to try; and for #10, I like concept blogs but I also love ones with variety. 🙂 Thank you so much for nominating me; due to time constraints I no longer participate in awards but I love your thoughtfulness in giving it!
Catherine Denton
I can understand that, Catherine – it took me ages to link to everyone I liked! But then, I read these blogs every day and enjoy them, so I thought I’d give a little back!
Thank you so much!
Time flies you’re right.. have got all these DIY projects in my head, but not getting much done.. Love the way you write.
Want to meet up for a coffee Tuesday?! Only day withouth my little one.
speak soon! Hege
Coffee will be fab – will email you on FB.
Thank you very much! I only discovered your blog recently thanks to your wonderful rant about Ms Brick. We seem to have a few things in common 🙂
About #4, after taking virtually no photographs for years, I’ve dusted off the DSLR and started posting to Blipfoto. It’s great fun, and I find the discipline of posting a photo a day makes me look around me and appreciate my surroundings much more. Plus (on #5) there are people on Blipfoto who take fabulous photos with phones or cheap point-and-shoots; it’s not about the kit!
This is true about the kit Veronica, but oh my word, how manual focus makes a difference! How I can capture what I want, not what the camera can. I’ll check out Blipfoto!
Thank you so much! Your comments inspire me to stick with my writing and keeping blogging, even if I do feel as though I’m constantly reinventing – change is good, right?! (& I miss ASDA too! I lived in London for a while and looked forward to our weekly asda excursion with such delight. It’s not the same here in NZ!) 🙂
Kirsty, change (and inspiration!) is all good! And definitely keep blogging. It reminds me we often have so many ‘lurker’ readers who never comment, but still enjoy what we write very much! It’s like a key to another world to read a blog.
Thank you. Interestingly I was born in Clitheroe and have spent most of my life there. I assume you taught at one of the schools, Ribblesdale or CRGS. Colin
We agree about the nature of time: where does it go? There is never enough to do all the things you want to. Like you we both enjoy creating things and would love to dedicate more time to this. If we did do more then we’d have the problem – what do you do with the stuff you’ve made??
But isn’t it good to swap this dilemma for the old ones? – the traffic, the rat race etc??
I’m like you in that I miss my hair cuts! I’ve never found quite the right place to go here. And I miss browsing round the fabulous charity shops we have back in the North west of England… um charity shops…. (Elizabeth)
Lots in common, which adds to the fun of blogging!
I love Clitheroe – If I could have lived in Mitton or Sabden with house prices and weather like English ones, I think I woud have. But the garden is such a lure!
Oh thank you very much; we’re continually touched. at people’s interest in our posts 🙂 We write about things & life here and as you may have noticed we slot in some history when we can. There’s so much round here that hopefully we can continue to post with boring people!
Our blog reading list isn’t as extensive as yours seems to be so it will be a challenge to meet the criteria for passing on the award but we’ll give it a go!!
I had a job finding 15, to be honest, Antoinette & Niall, because I was looking for something a little off the beaten track for people who come here – didn’t seem much point giving an award to a blog that gets 250,000 hits a day (unless you do!)
Thanks for passing this award on to me, I do appreciate, it but as I am an award free blog it will not be passed on from me sorry. Never the less thanks for the thought. Will be back soon, take care Diane
Thank you for thinking of me for the award, I am dead chuffed !!
Your list of seven things is interesting – as we talk constantly of moving to France for good I wonder if I would miss Sainsbury’s – it’s fascinating to discover what other people miss. I have not been involved in the rat race as such for some time, but my OH still is and I do wonder if he might miss the buzz of it.
Anyway, thanks again for the award. I will put thinking cap on head and see if I can do the passing on bit too.
Jean x
I don’t miss it that much, but a twice-yearly trip would be appreciated! It was the best move I think I ever made, though.
Thank you so much. I am honoured. And I’m with you about the dogs and cats! Wouldn’t that be fun. Messy and probably a bit stinky, but fun! 😀
Thank you for considering me for your award. I am such a newbie, I didn’t even know such things existed. I am so happy to know that you like my blog so much!
It’s a lovely blog – I look forward to reading it!