favourites

Inspired slightly by Stacy, I have decided to list some of my favourite things. This is by no means a comprehensive list or scientific selection, but merely off the top of my head. Having done a list of things I dislike, it would seem a bit pessimistic to leave it there, so...

1) Meat. I love meat. Strangely enough, I have more than once considered becoming a vegetarian, but have never been able to do so, because meat is just so great. Nothing else has the same texture or taste. I love chicken, I love beef, I love pork, I LOVE bacon. I especially love barbecues.
2) Chocolate (just to be unoriginal). At the moment my favourite is Nestlé's Double Blend, especially the coconut version. I can literally eat a whole block of it in one sitting. While I've gone off lollies and very sugary things as I've got older, there's no way I'm ever going off chocolate, although I try very hard to keep it as only an occasional treat.
3) Reading a good Agatha Christie mystery, or a Georgette Heyer romance. They are so light you could eat fifty without putting on one gram but they are so pleasurable, especially on a rainy day, curled up on the couch with warm slippers and some coffee and chocolate with the Jacques Loussier Trio playing in the background.
4) Playing music outside. When I finished school, our whole Year 13 went out to the farm of one of the guys from school, and he put his speakers outside playing U2 loudly and we had a bonfire and fireworks in the dark and it was one of those nights I look back to and want to recreate. Similarly, I love playing music myself, on an instrument, outside in the countryside somewhere. One of my favourite pieces of music ever is 'Evening in the Mountains' by Grieg, and I have this fantasy of going to Mount Cook National Park and walking up some track in the evening and playing this tune on my recorder.
5) How could I leave Jane Austen out of this list? There is something so satisfying about finishing one of her books, nothing can compare to it.
6) Driving fast. :) Actually, I hardly ever speed, unless you count 5-8 k's over the limit as speeding, but I just love pushing the accelerator down as you come onto a stretch of open road with a 100km speed limit. Mmmm.
7) Funny people, including Flanders and Swann, Monty Python, Adrian Plass, Jasper Fforde, Peter Hellier, John Safran etc - not to forget Jane Austen, again. Not all comedians are going to rub me the right way, but some are so good that I end up quoting them to everyone. I also love funny things that no one else gets.
8) Vanity Fair, by William Thackeray. I've just finished reading this for the second time, and I love it and would recommend it to almost anybody.
9) Being with my family, all of us all at once. (That's about 22 of us, counting the in-laws and nieces/nephews.) Makes for chaos but fun.

Okay, so that's all I can think of right now!

Photo: This is another photo with which I fiddled around with the exposure; you've already seen the original on here, perhaps. I think it looks rather cool like this.