Dave's Blog: I've been tagged

I've just been tagged by Robyn of Have Dogs, Will Travel. Thanks, Robyn, it was fun! I expect you're familiar with this; you have to tell seven secrets that most people don't know about you and then tag another seven bloggers. The former is fairly easy; finding seven people who haven't already been tagged is more of a challenge! Here are my seven secrets:

I've suffered from depression on and off for years. Drawing is one of the things that helps to keep it more or less at bay most of the time. Meditation is another; I think drawing and meditation are quite similar in many ways. Both are about being completely absorbed in the present.

I'm 50 this year. EEK! I've already had my mid-life crisis, and I've got the leather jacket to prove it. And the electric guitar. But I stopped short of getting the motorbike!

I secretly like getting done up in full academic dress once in a while.

When my wife is away, I sometimes stay up until 1.00am, watching old movies, eating crisps and chocolate.

Before I moved into academia, I worked as a social worker in Scotland for 10 years. I found dealing with child abuse too difficult to handle in the end. It's never straightforward, you have to make impossible decisions with very little support. It's a miracle tragedies don't happen more often.

When teachers don't know the answer to a student's question, they say "What do you think about that?"

I'm a big fan of The Archers, a soap opera on the radio set in a small village somewhere in central England.

Here are the seven blogs I'm passing the tag on to. Please let me know if you've already been tagged before. I tried to check, but I might have missed some.

Teri C of Teri's Painted Daisies. Based in Arizona and Wisconsin (though luckily for her, not at the same time!), Teri produces beautiful paintings, particularly of flowers.

Lin of View From The Oak. Lin is fortunate enough to come from North Carolina, where she produces lovely work, mainly in watercolour and ink.

Casey Toussaint of rue Manuel bis is an American living in the Loire region of France. She works in a variety of media, including walnut wood stain!

Omphaloskepsis is a blog by E-J, who comes from East Anglia in England. She is a very talented pastel artist, but she also produces sketches in a variety of media. I wonder how much time she actually spends contemplating her navel!