Thank you, YP!

For the second time since the beginning of my blog a bit more than 5 years ago, I have been given an award. The first one was the "Versatile Blogger" award; you can read about that one here.

This time, Yorkshire Pudding has given me the "Liebster Blog" award. Please read his post here. Thank you, YP! As I said in my comment to your nomination, I feel honoured, and will try and answer the questions you have made up for your nominees truthfully and completely:

• How are you feeling today?

 Really good (as I do most days).

• When you look in your mirror what do you see?

A Librarian urgently needing a haircut (and her roots done, while we're at it).

• If you could be an animal for just one day which animal would you be and why?

That's a tough one. I'd love to soar above the fields like a buzzard, but I'd also like to know what it feels like to run really, really fast on four legs, like a cheetah.

• When you were a small child what were you scared of?

Storms and fires. I was (totally irrationally) afraid that our house would be blown away by a huge storm, Wizard-of-Oz-like. And I imagined so vividly our house burning down that I could hear the flames crackle and smelled the smoke. Both these fears disappeared completely as I hit puberty - there was plenty more now to worry about.

• If you could have any plate of food placed in front of you for your next evening meal, what would be on that plate?

There's too much great food around to narrow it down to just one type. I love cheese, I love bread, I love chococlate; I love fresh fruit and veg, soups and stews, quiches and pizzas, ice cream and peanut butter - I honestly can't decide on just one dish.

• When did you come closest to dying?

I have no recollection of the event, but it must have been the day when I was about 2 years old and accidentally swallowed a bit of chicken bone during a picknick. I had to be held upside down and firmly slapped on my backside until I coughed the bone up and started breathing again.

• It's karaoke night and you have been pushed towards the microphone. There's no escape so which song are you going to attempt to sing?

That one's easy! "Son of a Preacher Man", by Dusty Springfield.

• You can travel back in time to any era, any country - where will you go?

Another one impossible to decide on. So much happened all the time all over the planet!

• When did you last say "I'm sorry"?

Last night at around 11.30 pm. On our way home from a family gathering, my sister, our cousins and their families were walking along the dark pavement, chatting animatedly (as you do during and after such occasions), when a man on his bike was coming the other way. I only noticed him when I was nearly walking into his bike. Thankfully, he had stopped, patiently waiting for us to realize that he was there. (Well, strictly speaking, he should not have been there in the first place - the pavement is for pedestrians and the road for cars and bikes.) Anyway, I apologized to him; he went his way and we went ours.

• If you were a skilful artist with a blank canvas, what would you paint?

You keep coming up with those impossible-to-decide-on questions!

• From your memory name a special place you once went to that still makes you smile and why?

Again, there are actually too many to decide on just one, but I want to make a special effort because this is the last question: San Giovanni degli Eremiti. Read this post to find out more.

And now, in spite of me usually being a bit on the strict side when it comes to rules (see my answer to the question regarding when did I last say "I'm sorry"), I am going to break the rules of the Liebster Award, namely this one, as stated on Yorkshire Pudding's blog:

If you accept the nomination all you have to do is follow the rules and of course answer my eleven questions to become a fully fledged Liebster like me! Then pass it on as they say.

I have answered the questions and had fun in doing so, but I am not going to pass the award on to anyone else. There are two reasons for my shameless rule-breaking: 1. I am too lazy to come up with my own set of 11 questions. 2. Many of the good people whose interesting, fascinating and entertaining blogs I regularly read have made it their principle not to accept awards or to participate in any of the memes that circulate the blogosphere. I respect their wish and hope I will be forgiven for being such a spoilsports. It probably means I am not a fully fledged Liebste(r).