The Seven Things you Don't know

First of all, this was an interesting exercise, so thanks to Melanie Robertson-King who handed me the baton.

 1. I can hold a tune and stay on key better when I whistle than when I sing.   

2. (kind of following on from that). In my university student days, I used to travel regularly between Johannesburg and Cape Town on steam trains. See my website http://www.brendahammond.ca sometime next week for a blog on this subject.

3. I was on Robben Island before Mandela! There'll be a website blog on that as well, so tune in soon.

4. Melanie and I have some family history in common. That is, some of my ancestors came over from Scotland to Canada having been British Home Children, probably at the same Orphan Homes of Scotland west of Glasgow. My grandfather was the eldest of six children. He went out to South Africa to seek his fortune. Meantime, back at home, the siblings were orphaned, and so sent away to a 'better life'. In fact, they survived all the hardships and made good.

5. I speak French and used to be so fluent that I was once asked what part of France I came from. Now, alas, I'm rather rusty. I speak quite a bit of German, and understand more, and I have a good spattering of Italian. Less of Spanish, so I'd like to up that sometime. Then there's Afrikaans. Renee, the 17 year-old heroine of my novel 'Cape Town' is Afrikaans, and when you read it :-) you'll learn quite a bit about this charming 'taal'. When I was growing up in South Africa, we had to learn both of these official languages. However, because I went to high school in England (the Royal Ballet School) I never became particularly proficient.

6. Although I love to travel, and follow a spiritual path, I've never felt the least inclination to visit India or the Far East.

7. I've been inside the great Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt.

So, dear Readers, what do you think?