MAKI'S EOTWQ's

I have always suffered itchy-back syndrome and have developed a rather disconcerting habit of taking every opportunity (door-frames, lampposts, you name it) to have a good scratch. It may come as no surprise then that one of my favourite cartoon characters is Baloo from Disney’s adaptation of Kipling’s “Jungle Book”. My first question is simply:

1. Do you have a favourite animal cartoon character that you feel a certain affinity with?

One of my first memories is of falling headlong off the kitchen table at the age of three or four (what I was doing up there in the first place is anyone’s guess!) I was rushed into Darlington for emergency dentistry. After the dentist, my mum took me to a toyshop for a treat for being such a “brave boy” and let me choose just one toy. I spent ages trying to decide between a plastic sword and a garish plastic helmet with a visor. I finally plumped for the helmet. It was the first choice I remember having to make. I have since realised that it was significant because my choice of the helmet only underlines what I have since come to realise. That I am not such a “brave boy” after all! I tend to shie away from the difficult. I am more interested in self-preservation than being anyone´s knight on a white charger! My question is:

2. What is the first choice you remember having to make? And, do you, like me, feel it set a pattern for later life?

As a teenager one of my favourite novels was Dickens´Great Expectations. When I finally had a chance to see David Lean’s 1946 screen version, I loved it and was particularly happy with Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket. My question is;

3. Do you have a favourite novel that has so far not been adapted for the screen, that you would like to see as a film? And, if so, who would you like to see in one (or more) of the key roles?

(I have an idea for this one – I have the novel but not the actor. I’ll answer at the end of the thread, if that’s OK).

One day when I was at school, the dinner ladies served a new pudding that I had never heard of before – cheesecake. I decided I didn’t like the look of it and decided that I didn’t like cheesecake. It became a pretty regular item on the menu but I steadfastly refused to try it. For years! When I finally tried cheesecake, I found that I loved it and of course felt a right charlie. My question is:

4. Have you ever made up your mind not to like a food or drink without even having tasted it? And have any of you finally relented and found out just how wrong you were?


And finally, word-play and punning is something of a speciality in these parts, isn’t it? As a language teacher I’ve always enjoyed it. I remember one of my youngest cousins, aged six or seven at the time, telling me the following joke:

“A Japanese Airliner carrying car spares lost its cargo in mid-flight the other day, the people had to run for cover because it was raining Datsun Cogs!”

5. Do any of you have examples of the young ‘uns in your lives surprising you with this sort of word play?

I make no apologies for this last question and the barrage of “cute” replies, I hope it provokes!

Here’s hoping everyone has a great weekend!

Maki