Five Things

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Hello again. Now I know I was mean and stroppy  a little while back and said that I had to be free to write what came to me: how about you help me out here? As I was trying to count sheep, do all the times tables, practice breathing - the common symptons of a bad insomniac night - it came to me that lists can be fun. It was two o'clock in the  morning. The one that I quite enjoyed making was this:

Five Things Our Mothers Never Told Us

• Gravity is an enemy as you get older
• The menopause sucks!
• You don't get wiser - you just get better at conning people
• Elasticated waistbands are bliss
• Spend as much as you can on a good night cream

You see - instant wakefulness of course -- but still more fun than sheep - unless you're Welsh! (I am so I can say that) What about you dear reader? What would be on your list?

So that got me to thinking - what else could there be?

Five Movies to See Before You Die

• Casablanca
• Dirty Dancing
• Pretty Woman
• Top Hat
• Mr Deeds Goes to Towm

I seem to have missed forty years of Hollywood greats here but nonetheless these are personal and eclectic - I would want to know that I had seen all of them at least twice.

Five Books to Read

• War and Peace
• The Bible
• The Koran
• Dante's Inferno
• Mahabharatta/Ramayana

I have tried War and Peace several times but find the characters confusing and the the breadth and scope overwhelming. The Bible and the Koran - I dip in and out - loving the langruage, thoroughly approving of the sentiment but never reading right the way through. You will notice that the perennial favourite of this sort of list is not there - Finnegan's Wake; life really is too short.

Five Things to Remember on a Bad Day

• It only lasts 24 hours
• No matter how bad - somebody, somewhere else is having a worse  one
• Chocolate was invented by God for moments like this
• There is nothing wrong with putting your head under the duvet
• Phone a friend

Five People to Have to Dinner

• Peter Mandlesohn
• Princess Diana

• John Donne
• Marilyn Monroe

• My mum

Are you asleep yet? No? Nor was I. 

Five Places to Visit 

• Argentina
• Taj Mahal (all those years and I never went)
• Florence
• Venice
• Lhasa

Five Pieces of Art to Go and See Again

• Guernica
• Mona Lisa
• Sistine Chapel
• Rothko - Four Seasons
• Degas - Ballerina

Five Things to Say to the People You Love

• I love you
• Forget about it
• How are you?
• Any random piece of gossip you will both enjoy
• Shit happens

So there you are - now its up to you to get back to me with what I have missed, what you would put up there - let's have a bit of dialogue here.


Oh yes - and finally:

Five Ways to Get to Sleep

• Count sheep
• Make silly lists
• Tell yourself a story
• Close your eyes
• Take a sleeping pill!