These are a few of...

The rules of the tag are:
1. Obviously, indicate the source that tagged you.
2. Write out 7 of your favorite things, that are dear to you, but are not "popular choice" any more. Categories could include, but are not limited to:
a. All time favorite book ever read.
b. All time favorite movie.
c. Best memory from the first 12 years of your life.
d. All time favorite teacher.
e. All time favorite tea time snack.
f. All time favorite piece of jewelry/family heirloom.
g. The one possession you would never part from...

How Do We Know tagged me more than a month ago - I’ve found this really hard, which is the reason it’s taken me so long to finish it. I hedge my bets, it seems, and don’t have a single favourite of anything.

All time favourite book. I don’t know how to choose. Book from my childhood that I still love most would probably be The Secret Garden. The favourite books on my profile: Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace and Crime and Punishment aren’t just there because the titles read well together – I think they are all superb. All three of them are books I first read in my teens, but would still reread now, with pleasure. Indeed, I reread War and Peace last year, for probably the fifth or sixth time but the first in a couple of decades. In an idle few minutes, I’ll still pick up one of Saki’s short stories – witty and sardonic and I love them. I wrote a whole post-ful of books here and have deleted most of it – no, I can’t choose one single book. It’d be like choosing one man to spend my life with – ah. Right. Well, it’ll have to be the Complete Works of Shakespeare then. I suspect this is cheating.

The one possession I’d never part from. People are more important than possessions. There isn’t anything. The things that mean most are those that belonged to someone I loved, or were made for me by the Sage, but there’s nothing I couldn’t walk away from. I couldn’t live without books, however, and be entirely happy.

Tea-time snack. Ooh, snacks. Now we’re talking. A crumpet, spread with Gentleman’s Relish. Or toast, made on a toasting fork by the fire, with butter and Marmite. Home-made scones and home-made jam. I’m not thinking about this one any more, as I don’t eat most of these things just now. Well, not butter or scones. Nothing wrong with Marmite. Or toast.

Family heirloom – One of these days I’m going to haul Bobby the leopard down from his perch in the rafters of the garage and see if he’s been eaten by worms. If he hasn’t, he’ll be made into a table and I’ll tell you the proud story of Great Uncle Ronan. If he has, he will be ceremoniously burned.

Memory. I don’t know about best, but the most remarkable is the sight of ice so thick on Oulton Broad that cars could be driven on it. This was in the winter of 1963, when I was nine. I wonder if we’ll ever have a winter like that again, but I doubt it.

Teacher. I adored my first teacher. She had soft brown hair and a perfect complexion. I remember standing by her and wanting to kiss her cheek as it looked so soft. I can’t remember her name though.
Mr Lamb, my Latin teacher of 35 years ago, who is now in his late 80s and still wonderful. When comprehensive schools came to Lowestoft and the teaching of classics was destroyed, he retired early to become an antiquarian book dealer. Once, he showed me an incunabula (the earliest printed book) dating from 1485, the same year as the Battle of Bosworth Field, when Richard III was killed and the Tudors took the English throne. I’ve never held anything I revered so much.

Films – they are on my profile. Music then? No, too wide-ranging. I listen to too much variety to compare one type with another. But a musical composer, that I can pick. Mozart’s musical genius needs no recommendation and his operas show a clear-sighted, unsentimental acceptance of human frailties that I find wonderful.

I've still got a meme outstanding from Badgerdaddy. I haven't forgotten...