Friday 10 April 2009

Alphabet soup: B

Number two in the award-winning, ground-breaking series "Nick As Alphabet". B amazed. B very amazed....

Backbiting: Not my thing. I seldom attack people behind their back, unless they've attacked me first.

Bibliophile: I've always been a keen (but slow) reader. Which is probably why I have such a wild imagination.

Boozer: Absolutely not. A few colossal hangovers in my early twenties were enough to make me a very light drinker.

Bruxism: Teeth-grinding. Never been prone to that. I used to chew my lower lip though.

Butcher: I never set foot in one, being a vegetarian. But as a kid, I was fascinated by the mincing machines.

Bon viveur: Sort of. I enjoy life and I appreciate quality and good taste. But I'm not a carefree, over-the-top partygoer.

Baby boomer: Yes, I'm one of the generation that's supposed to have screwed everything up for the young. Not me. I opposed all the backward steps. But what influence do I have?

Beard: In the sixties I had a luxuriant Lennon-type beard. But it didn't survive my androgynous inclinations.

Big-head: No way. I'm very modest about my (fairly limited) achievements and I have no conspicuous talents to shout about.

Bigot: I really dislike bigots and anyone who prefers brainless prejudice to seeing the world with an open mind and open heart.

Boarder: My five years at boarding school were pretty miserable. I was constantly bullied and there was a rigid daily routine.

Buddhism: Half religion, half philosophy, it stresses self-determination and non-material values and has no God. Fine by me.

Bleeding heart: Definitely not. I'm always sympathetic to the underdog but I'm no softie and I'm always wary of hard luck stories.

Brawn: Don't have any. I'm an effete intellectual with a feeble physique that intimidates nobody.

Blow-in: An immigrant. I blew into Belfast nine years ago but for the locals I'll always be a foreigner, so I will.

18 comments:

  1. I am enjoying these episodes.

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  2. I wish I could grow a beard, it would be so cool, especially if I used straighteners on it or pleated it.

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  3. Boarding school - ugh, brings back awful memories for me too ;-)

    Blow-in - Interesting that you say that the locals class you as a foreigner, is that on both sides of the divide? When I lived in Belfast I got comments a few times about being a foreigner but only from one side of the divide. I'll put it this way a unionist can hardly regard someone from London as a foreigner since that is their capital city after all ;-)

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  4. Grannymar - Glad you enjoy all my strange foibles and quirks.

    Hulla - No, can't picture you with a beard, that defeats my imagination. Let alone a pleated one.

    Aidan - Oh, from both sides. Unionists may praise Britain but they always think their knowledge of Northern Ireland is far superior to anything I might have picked up. They have a huge store of parochial anecdotes to trump me with in any conversation.

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  5. That's funny, I don't think that the same people would like to be reminded of their 'foreignness' in London. Mind you when I lived in the UK in the 1990s I often heard Irish people (from the south) complaining about England being full of 'foreigners' and I always thought to myself 'pot, kettle, black'.

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  6. Aidan - The Irish complaining about foreigners in England? Pot and kettle indeed. It's very disconcerting to see people in the Republic so often discriminating against non-nationals, apparently oblivious to the way the Irish themselves have been treated in other countries.

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  7. This is a neat little book on how to get to know Nick. I like what you throw in there and share a lot of your traits, though not a 'fast reader' I would be better than slow. A book every 4 days is my pace.
    And yes buddhism, I'm there. I was veggie for years but blood type wasn't good with it. I try and eat 'happy' meat when I can - i.e. raised clean and in the open.
    As to beards I fight what sprouts alarmingly on my chin now that I'm older...
    XO
    WWW

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  8. You'd have liked my risotto! I didn't realise you are a veggie.

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  9. www - I read one book a week if I'm lucky. I get too easily distracted by other things, my concentration only lasts so long. Funny you should mention chin hair, Liz was just posting about upper lip hair....

    Liz - Your risotto looks wonderful. Jenny makes a mean risotto as well. Arborio rice is absolutely essential for the best taste.

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  10. Great 'B's Nick! Should I be worried about your androgenous tendencies? And I just can't imagine you with a beard! Who'd have thunk it!

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  11. 24 to go!

    I went to boarding school, too. Nobody picked on me but I felt like a foreigner anyway.

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  12. Baino - If you're not worried, I'm not worried! I can hardly imagine me with a beard either. I never took a photo of it, a great shame.

    Heart - I didn't feel like a foreigner at boarding school, but I certainly felt like the odd one out.

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  13. Interesting B's, can't wait for the C's!

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  14. Suburbia - The Cs will be even more amazing, I'm sure. How about curtilage, cartilage, cuticles, cubicles....

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  15. Couldn't agree more with your comment to Aidan above - How did my countrymen become so detached from the their roots - we are a nation of immigrants and should welcome others as we have been welcomed

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  16. Quicky - Indeed, treat others as you yourself would want to be treated. A lot of people seem to ignore that sensible principle.

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  17. I've been 9 years in The Hague too - time flies..looking forward to C

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  18. Conor - Looking forward to C? Give me a chance, gotta get my thinking cap on. I bet your nine years in The Hague seems like half that.

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