A little self-indulgence

If you’d asked me a few years ago, I never would have said I’d be blogging. As the title suggests, I’ve always thought of having a blog as being slightly self-indulgent, not to mention a little presumptuous to think that people will actually be interested in reading what you have to say. But since reading and enjoying (admittedly not always for the right reasons!) other people’s blogs, I’ve decided the time is right to indulge myself. If you read and enjoy it, that’s a bonus - my main objective is to entertain myself with an outlet for all sorts of stuff. And maybe I’ll entertain someone else into the bargain.

So, what will you find here? I’m not entirely sure of that myself. I can certainly tell you what you won’t find. You won’t find the minutiae of my daily life - this is not an online diary. I think I’d bore myself rigid with that, let alone anyone else. You also won’t find a themed blog - it’s not going to be about cooking/rock climbing/bee keeping/stamp collecting/[insert appropriate ‘hobby’ here]. That would be a struggle, as I am not a hobbies person. I always dread being asked - usually in job interviews - what my hobbies are. Unless you’re into some kind of extreme sport or you collect something unusual, you always end up sounding incredibly boring. “I like going out with my friends” - well, so does everyone, unless you don’t actually have any friends. “I like socialising” sounds slightly more grown up, but there’s a danger of sounding like an alcoholic (or perhaps that’s just my paranoia). In the end I normally mutter something about “the usual stuff” and leave it at that. I was amused recently when I went on a training course and we had to all introduce ourselves, along with some interesting facts about us. People went through all the usual things, and a few more unusual hobbies and facts came out too, then one delegate stood up, introduced himself and then said: “And there is absolutely nothing interesting to say about me,” before sitting back down. Needless to say, it’s the only introduction I actually remember!

Anyway, I digress. I think that may happen a lot, so prepare yourself. Of course, I have the occasional day dream about writing one of those blogs that becomes famous - like Belle du Jour (before she was Billie Piper) and that woman whose name escapes me who was single and had sex like a man, or something - or am I getting confused with Carrie Bradshaw? In reality, that’s highly unlikely because to write something along those lines that was actually interesting, firstly I’d probably have to make it all up, and secondly, even if it was true, I wouldn’t want to broadcast it in my blog!

I think what I plan to put here are my observations on all sorts of aspects of life. It could be a rant about something that’s happened, or musings about the events of my day. Had I had the blog a week ago, I’m fairly sure you might have been treated to a whinge about my leaky bathroom ceiling, for example. So, you can only be glad I started this week and not last! If I’m feeling particularly uncultured, it could be my thoughts on my current reality TV favourite. Reality TV is one of my not-so-guilty pleasures. I like X Factor , America’s Next Top Model and The Apprentice. I do not like Big Brother or Strictly Come Dancing. I might occasionally recommend a book, a film or a recipe and share my thoughts on that. Or I might just start writing and ramble on, peppering my ramblings with the occasional anecdote - as I have done today. I am hoping it will simply take shape, and I will find my own level of what I enjoy writing about. I also hope that it may entertain you, perhaps make you nod in agreement, and even occasionally make you laugh.

I certainly won’t be blogging daily, but I’ll post entries as and when I have something to say. So, what more is there to say for today, than please allow me to indulge myself!