I’m very pleased to welcome Nicki Maguire from Secret Library Book Blog to Afternoon Tea With Mrs Bloggs for a grilling over tea and cake.

Thanks for volunteering Nicki.

Tea or Coffee?

Definitely Tea

Favourite brand?

Waitrose brand decaf Earl Grey

Cake?

That’s a difficult one but I do love a a mile-feuille  or custard slice, but I do love any of little cakes you get for Afternoon Tea.

I realise the year is young but could you name one outstanding book you’ve read from this year?

The Queen of Bloody Everything by Joanna Nadin a brilliant novel full of nostalgia.

How large is your TBR pile?

My Goodreads shelf is far too big at over 1,000 books

What are you reading now and what’s your next read?

I’m finishing off two books, the Light Keeper’s Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol and an audiobook of the Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. My next read should be The Flowerseller by Linda Finlay for a blog Tour next week, but if it doesn’t arrive in the post it’ll be something else.

(I haven’t read any of those, so will look forward to hearing what you think of them)

When were you happiest?

I’m actually really happy at the moment enjoying reading and book blogging, and of course having a delightful afternoon tea 🙂

What is your greatest fear?

Homelessness, because I know it can happen so easily.

Which is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Procrastination. I’m such an expert that I don’t even realise that I’m doing it most days.

Which is the trait you most deplore in others?

Ignorance. My Dad always encourage to looks things up if we wanted to know something and these days with easy access to the internet there’s no excuse for it.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

It’s got to be when my father-in-law introduced us to his soon to be second wife. They visited us at home when my son was a toddler. My hubby was making lunch and I was playing shops with my boy. I bought something from him and he replied in such a clear eloquent voice: “Five pounds f**k please ”

Well I was mortified, but then it got worse when the soon to be second wife said “Well he must have learnt it somewhere!!!”

I just wanted the ground to swallow me up, so, I exited the room as quickly as I could, muttering something about seeing what was happening about lunch!

I can laugh about it now but it was awful at the time.

What is your most treasured possession?

I have lots of lovely things, but I think my memoires, especially of my Dad and Papa who both passed away some time ago.

What’s the worst job you’ve done?

Saturday job waitressing in a café covering the school holidays. I was about 14 and quite shy so was mortified when some punks came in wanting to be served.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

I read a fab book last year, Step Back in Time by Ali McNamara, that made me want to go back to London in the 60s to experience swinging London.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?

Owning our own house all paid for and in good repair

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

It’s got to be a joint achievement with my husband of home-educating our son.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

I love this quote by Anne Lamott “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.” I’ve seen it’s affect in my life over the years and it’s very true.

Many thanks Nick for such interesting replies.

About Nicki

I’m Nicki a 50 something wife, and mother to a 16 year old son. I live on the beautiful island of Jersey where we only have a Waterstones and a WHSmith to buy books from. Fortunately we have a fantastic library service over here and all the charity shops sell good quality second hand books too. Twice a year the local guide Dogs for the Blind charity have their second hand book sales which raise thousands of pounds each time. I’m also a member of blipfoto, a fantastic global photography community, very much like the book blogging community, except sharing daily photos of our lives, instead of book reviews.

https://thesecretlibrarysite.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SecretLibraryBlog/

https://twitter.com/Nicki_Mags