Adrian tagged me with the "Five things" blog meme this week, but I'm afraid I've been trapped at a travel fair the last few days (for the launch of an annual travel mag I'm involved with) - hence my late reply. It's a bit of a tricky one this: some of my readers know me (a bit too) well, while most hardly know me at all. I've tried to include a bit for each faction:

1) My most 'exotic' dinner company? Her name was Eve, of course. She was a viper snake, a Cobra if I remember correctly, and, no, I can't even blame my ever irresistible curiosity for this one. She was a surprise guest at the dinner of a friend's friend (the owner used her to dance with). Eve slithered around the table to welcome all the guests, but luckily she stopped before she reached my end of the table...

2) I once attended a reception with VIP guests, such as the then president of Costa Rica (99), donned in the hotel's bed sheets (my luggage was lost in transit to San Jose). It was a great icebreaker and alerted a few older American women to my predicament. They generously lent me their multi-coloured garments throughout my stay (the luggage didn't arrive until my last day), but, as my travel companion, who suggested the novel attire in the first place, said: it would perhaps have been more appropriate in Athens

3) As a kid I slipped out of the kindergarten, unnoticed, almost every day: there were so many more interesting things on the other side of the fence, and the stories of how I found the 'treasures' I came back with, flowers that didn't grow in the kindergarten etc, always worked - until one fateful day when I took a handful of girls home to see my kittens, provoking a 2hr search party. Not popular

4) I pretty much grew up on the basketball court as my mother used to play for the national team

5) My grandfather on my father's side, a printer and Milorg man, literally gave his life to the newspaper he served. He died of lead poisoning when my dad was but a child, and I often wonder what he would have thought had he lived to see today's media world

I tag: Daniel, Natalie, Adriana, Solan, and, I'm really curious about this one, David Trads