I've always known I have a very short attention span. Ever since I was a child I would fervently start a project of some kind, only to see it years later, half completed, in the back of my toy cupboard. It may have been because twice a year I was whisked off to hospital with a broken leg, and while away, would start a project forced upon me by some well wishing hospital teacher. Or it may well have been because I was deathly bored with waiting for the finished prize, which in my mind should have been completed within an hour of starting! Probably the latter because it still happens now, and my last hospital admittance was nearly two years ago.
I find many different things absorbing, which is also part of the problem. The Internet has become an evil entity in my life because as soon as I surf for information on my chosen project, something else pops up and I follow the links to start something new!
Luckily computers hadn't appeared when I was young so my life was full of 'hands on' subjects. One of my first loves was anything to do with dinosaurs. Books were bought, visits to museums were arranged and I would spend hours drawing them, building them and talking incessantly to any poor person who stood next to me long enough. I was about 7 and could spell even the most difficult dinosaur name, something of which my mother was very proud. I always wondered why we were never invited to many partys!
The trouble is, most of the information I amassed back then is now totally wrong! I still have a wonderful book, (I am a secret hoarder too), called 'Life Before Man' in which many of the prehistoric animals have now been found to be many different species, cobbled together by well meaning scientists who just simply, 'Got It Wrong'.
At the same time, music appeared in my life. Stuck in hospital again, my parents bought me a battery operated record player. Visitors used to bring me 7'' singles to stop me talking I suppose, but that's when I fell in love. He was a gorgeous pop star, whom I adored. Again I received everything to do with him. Posters, albums, t-shirts etc. Aged 8 or 9 there was nothing else in life, was there? I knew, one day, I would meet and marry him and live like a princess for the rest of my life. Sadly it was not to be. Or should that be thank god? For that was Gary Glitter, a name now scrubbed from history, (and The Spice Girls movie), never to be mentioned except occasionally at Christmas when someone, somewhere plays one of his songs.
I decided sport was the next option. I started playing tennis, but kept treading on the balls and guess what happened??
So armchair football was chosen and, to this day, it is the only thing I am still as passionate about as when I was a child. I can actually remember watching The Arsenal 'doing the double' in 1970/71, (but that must be wrong because I was only 5)! So I think it must be the 1979 FA Cup win that sealed my love for the team. I definitely remember my grandfather handing me a small wooden coffin, inscribed with the entire squad names, before the game. (He hated them)! But my mum was a gooner who had been to many of their home games, and my Uncle had been groundsman there, in the Thirties, so I was in good company. The game was unbelievable with Alan Sunderland scoring a last gasp winner against United. I had another broken leg so couldn't jump for joy, but the tears I shed were some of the happiest tears of my life!
Around this time I was packed off to boarding school, which opened up a whole new world to me. I learned to smoke, drink and play snooker, all by the age of 14! Snooker was my second favourite thing in the list, but again I threw myself into it. I was picked to play for the South of England Region and was ferried around by my P.E. teacher to different 'dives' every few days. The look on the faces of my opponent when I walked in was so smug compared to his face once I had beaten him! A grown man being beaten by a 14 year old, 4 foot six inches tall, disabled girl was magical for me but not so much for him, or his mates watching. I think there were about five rounds and each one was the same. The final was to be played in Reading and I beat a fellow southerner, Christopher, to get there. But, by then, I was bored! I didn't want to play anymore, and I was giving up a weekend at home, (I only came home from Boarding school on odd weekends). So I told Chris to take my place and he went on to win it! He had a nice trophy for his parents, and I had a better weekend with my parents, at home, in London.
Another of my ongoing interests was and still is, anything strange/supernatural. Ive lumped it all together because its far too large a subject to take one by one. Ghosts, UFO's, Unexplained phenomenon, cryptiods, unsolved mysteries... you name it, I love it. Did you know that Stonehenge is only 50 years old? But by far the best is Jack The Ripper. Having lived in The East End, its a place that I adore. Obviously having also spent plenty of time in The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, its also an area steeped in quite a few other horrors which nurses seemed to enjoy informing me on each visit. The Elephant Man's bones are kept in this hospital and so is some of mine. A piece of my femur, about three inches long, is still sitting in my surgeons briefcase after he removed it, because I asked if I could have it. I wanted to make a pendant out of it and I'm still waiting for its return! Another of my skills which is odd!
And so on to my favourite thing of all. Television, video and movies. Wonderful stuff full of special effects and magic. I can relate periods of my life to certain shows on TV and have a favourite movie for just about every year. Being stuck in bed for long periods was sometimes a blessing as I could watch what I wanted all day long. From Whirlybirds, Starsky and Hutch, The Sweeney, The Professionals, through to today with Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, Medium, Ghost Whisperer and so much more, TV is amazing. Likewise movies, I remember going to see Jaws when I was 9 or 10, and it felt like the film had been made just for me, even though the cinema was packed. That was when my love of special effects started, which is why I make all the Halloween stuff for friends and family. I could go on about this subject for pages, but I feel I have already typed more than enough for now.
So now you know how short my attention span is. I started this page to talk about all the stuff Ive tried, and managed to forget what I was doing within the first paragraph! Nowdays I have millions of snippets of interesting information stored in my head, but, with the beginning of pre-pensioner Alzheimer's, I scramble it up and it all comes out in splutters which is totally useless.
And that last sentence describes my life to a tee!