Sunday Social (11)

Linking up with Ashley and Neely for the Sunday Social

• What were you like in Middle School/HS?(pictures)
  So, I'm trying to work out what Middle School and High School equate to in terms of the UK system; I think that Middle School is when I was at the end of primary school/a junior at Secondary school and High School when I was a senior (ages 9-12 and 13+).
  
  Pictures are surprisingly hard to come by! This was the era before digital cameras so 1) a lot less pictures were taken and 2) most of the ones with me are at my Mother's house.
  
  What was I like? Well most of the time I didn't really know who I was. I was lucky enough to go to private school for my primary education and when I went to secondary the sheer size of everything was very intimidating; I found it hard to find my place. I was quite a tom-boy growing up, but terrible at sports. I was quite quiet, shy and introverted... and terribly messy (some things don't change).
  
  As do most teenage girls I had terrible body image issues; I wasn't comfortable with my size, I wore braces on my teeth and I hated my hair (I was constantly dyeing it!). I can date any picture of me from the age of about 12 onwards by the colour and length of my hair.

Age 10 at Primary School

Age 10 - getting ready for horse riding

Age 12 - Joining the Choir

Age 13 - Playing the piano (very 80s sweater)

Age 14 - Senior at Grammar School (dodgy dye-job)

Age 15 - German Exchange (terrible anorak)

Age 16 - with my dog Leo

Age 16 - very dodgy dye-job

Age 17 - School Senior Choir Tour (Geneva)

Age 18 - leaving school (hippy phase)

• What were your favorite pass times?
  I loved my pets (the dogs and hamsters we had at home) and the Animal House at school (rats, gerbils, rabbits and more). Until about 13 or 14 I was obsessed with horses and rode every weekend. I loved then (as now) to read and had a huge collection of 2nd hand paperbacks. I was also a music geek; I started learning recorder and guitar when I was about 8 or 9; and I progressed to piano and singing at 11 (and a brief flirtation with violin in my late teens). I studied music GCSE and A-level and sang in our church choir until I left home.
  
• What songs were you obsessed with?(Backstreet Boys anyone?)
  I have to admit to never really getting into popular music. I was much more a show-tunes girl, or classical music. I actually can't think of any songs I bought between the ages of 7 and 19!
  
• What fashion statement do you look back on and cringe?
  All of them! It was the late eighties and early nineties. There were far too many bright colours about. I also had a horrible habit of wearing oversized clothes to hide my figure. Finally there was the best forgotten goth phase.
  
• Who was your celeb crush?
  Ah, Christian Slater. I had pictures of him stuck all over my 'rough book' him and Tom Cruise (don't judge me, it was 25 years ago!).
  
• What were your favorite tv shows/movies?
  We didn't watch much TV growing up and my parents were very against commercial programming. There was a lot of BBC in our house; I'm not sure they were my favourites but I look back with affection at all the old comedies such as Only Fools and Horses, 'Allo 'Allo and Dad's Army. Movies; well 'Dead Poets Society' is head and shoulders out in front; but my grandmother did introduce me to all the Hollywood musicals.