This is a rather personal post. Check out the fabulous photo of me and my Mum above – I was a 70’s child as you can see by the gorgeous wallpaper and curtains! I think my Mum is colour-blind 😉

 

I’ve always been sensitive to the texture of food since I was little.  

I’ve never liked bananas because the stringy bits always felt as though I had a hair on my tongue and immediately triggered a gag reflex.   I feel the same about oyster mushrooms, seafood, fish and meat. Just thinking about it, whilst writing,  makes me start heaving. Bizarre I know.

I worked as a Report Writer in a private detective’s office when I first arrived in Australia.

The detectives were exactly like the stereotype.  Kind of sleazy and all wore baseball caps.  It was simultaneously fascinating and unnerving to watch the surveillance videos. Unsuspecting ‘victims’ on their way to a skiing holiday whilst claiming they couldn’t walk due to an accident at work. Unbelievable. Or claiming to need a wheelchair but then carrying heavy bags of shopping or extensive gardening. The detectives wore button-hole cameras and walked behind them in the supermarket.  I compiled the footage into reports for the clients.  Most work was based on insurance claims and it was horrifying to realise that 95% of the claims were indeed false… I didn’t believe it when my boss told me when I first started the job. He was right….

I was born in Manchester, in the UK, but have spent periods of time living in Belgium, France, Spain, the US, Brazil and currently Australia.

Since I was 25, I have called Sydney home. I start to get very restless if I don’t travel regularly.  Is it my 3 planets in Sagittarius? For the last couple of years though I have been feeling really pulled to move elsewhere. I will see what unfolds. What this space!

I love Guinness. Maybe it’s because I have three quarters Irish blood?

It also makes me feel close to my lovely Grandad, Michael McGrath, after whom I was named.  He was a very sweet man from Limerick who always sounded like he’d just stepped off the plane from Ireland. We would deliberately ask him to say phrases like ‘thirty three’ (sounded like turtry tree) just to wind him up.  My Mum still tips a can of Guinness on his grave regularly, as per his strict instructions.  I highly recommend a visit to the Guinness factory in Dublin if you ever visit in St James, as well as being home to the black gold it also has one of the best views of Dublin.  I also found out recently from my Dad, that my paternal Grandad actually worked in the Guinness factory.  It’s definitely in the blood.

When I was 4 years old and learning to read and write, I had a profound realisation that words were magic.

My Mum’s best friend Mary told me I could create whatever I wanted with words. I was enchanted. I adored Enid Blyton, wanted to be a writer and filled lots of notebooks with my stories for years.  I used to win writing and spelling competitions at school. When I was about 14, I found them in a box and in typical teenage embarrassment, threw them away. I have been tapping back into this sense of magic and wonder recently, reigniting my love for writing.

Several years ago, on New Year’s Eve, I received the ingredients for a Truth Alchemical oil and made it. 

I announced to the universe I wanted ‘everything dissolved that was not in alignment with my highest truth’.  I had no idea of the implications and my life was unrecognisable within a few months.  I do not recommend this as a course of action. Not pretty. We need take our words seriously as they contain more power than we know. Everything has a vibration and resonance. Everything.

I failed my driving test the first time when I was 17 and ended up in hospital.

I stupidly took half a tablet to ‘calm my nerves’ that a friend’s Mum had given to me.  I was unaware (and so was she) that it was anti-psychotic medication for Schizophrenia.  I had a severe allergic reaction and nearly killed myself.  I spent two days in hospital extremely embarrassed and sore after painful convulsions. I received a good telling off from the doctor about being on the verge of a heart attack and giving myself the equivalent of a massive overdose.  (Don’t try this at home kids!) 😉

I love stand up comedy.

Not performing it (although some may argue I’d be a natural) but watching it. I feel it is such a brave thing to do and so much more difficult than it seems.  Laughter is such a gift and to be able to make people laugh is a wonderful ability. It’s such an appealing quality and I admire anyone who attempts it.

I went through a destructive period (brief thankfully) of throwing bricks when I was about 7 years old and liking the sound of smashing glass. 

I once threw a brick at the windscreen of a car and cracked it.  I always feel guilty when I think of it.  That phase came to a sudden end when I tried to throw a brick over a very high wall behind my house. Yes you guessed it. The brick landed heavily on the top of my head….probably explains a lot.  I screamed as though I was being murdered and then was faced with the predicament of explaining to my Mum why I was hysterical and had a lump the size of a football on my head. Karma baby.

I’d love to hear in the comments below if you can relate to any of these experiences 😉