Caroline Verdon: People say I’m too competitive. People may be right. Perhaps.

I’m terrible with cards – I love playing but I can never remember the rules from one time to the next so always insist on an open hand for the first round. We weren’t playing cards for money or chips or anything other than fun. We weren’t even playing a serious game, just a friendly one called “7s” but there’s a chance that I took the game a little too seriously.

I know there’s a chance because I woke up the next morning and could barely more my left arm (my card holding arm). I’d evidently tensed it so much for the two hours the night before that I’d pulled something.

It’s not the first time I’ve injured myself in a bid to win something. I broke bones in my foot from attempting to prove I could can-can down the stairs once. I don’t even really know how this came about but I just remember a friend betting that I couldn’t can-can and so I thought I’d prove them wrong and so I did the can-can in the hall and nailed it. The conversation continued and they went one better and did the can-can down the stairs so I went to join in and instead of high kicking with the grace of a swan I instead took a nose dive which resulted in breaking six bones in my foot.

It seems I struggle to learn a lesson because less than a year later, I was on a weekend break with my now husband and we’d gone to the coast. Obviously you can’t have a trip to the seaside without visiting the arcades so along we went. After handing over all of our 2pences on the slot machine we started playing air hockey – he won. Then we played that basked ball game – he won. Then we moved on to that whackamole game – he won. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a horse riding game. There were two horses that you sat on and rode and whoever finished the race first won. After checking that he’d never ridden a horse before and with three years riding under my belt I hopped on. I rode as if my life depended on it. I made all the jumps and with 300 metres to go he was at least two fences behind me. I was about to win this. In his face I thought. I celebrated too early as without warning there was an intense stabbing pain in my lower back. I was in agony. I let go of the reins and doubled over in pain, unable to finish. Once Rob had finished his race and taken the first position he eventually checked to see I was alright and long story short we spent the rest of our weekend in hospital where we spent most of the time trying to persuade staff that “vigorously riding a horse” wasn’t a euphemism.

Then there was the time that we put in a shed. We’d built it and needed to move it across the garden to put it into place. It wasn’t a small shed and our garden at the time was about 200 metres long. Rob suggested lifting the shed and moving it in stages, stopping every 50 metres or so if I needed. I decided there and then I was going to prove I wasn’t a weakling and could march across the garden carrying this wooden behemoth in one go. We lifted on 3 and started the manoeuvring. Fifty metres in I was solid. One hundred metres in less so. One hundred and fifty metres and I was feeling a bit wobbly but there was no way I was letting this shed get the better of me. “If it’s too heavy for you, we can put it down and have a pause” he said. Too heavy for me? What on earth did he mean? I’m strong! I can suck this pain up, I can make it to the other end of the garden. I. Can. Do. This. Only I couldn’t. Two more footsteps and carrying the shed like a boss, I dropped it. On my husband’s foot. It broke his big toe. This wouldn’t have been so bad and would have healed pretty swiftly if four weeks later I hadn’t dropped a cast iron saucepan on it. That saucepan nothing to do with being competitive though, that was just pure clumsiness. The rest though? Perhaps there is truth in what people say.

What we’ve never done...

I have never been on a rollercoaster. Apparently Grandpa Pig’s train at Peppa Pig World doesn’t count and neither do the tea cup rides that come to Millennium Square.

We were talking about the things this week that we’ve never done that seem normal to us but strange to everyone else. I also have never seen Star Wars or Indiana Jones or any James Bond pre Daniel Craig. In the scheme of things though it turns out that’s nothing!

We had a call from Sarah in Armley who has never moved house – she’s 63 and was born in the house she lives in today as were all of her children.

She’s got a grandchild on the way and is secretly hoping the tradition continues, although when she suggested it to her daughter she was told in no uncertain terms that not all traditions needed to continue!

We also heard from Lisa who has never made a cup of tea or coffee as she doesn’t drink caffeine and from Sean who has lived in his flat for seven months and yet has never used the oven or the hob.

He does have a microwave that he uses occasionally but on the most part eats his dinner at his work canteen. Our favourite call of the week came from Dawn in Holton who has been with her husband for 15 years and never in that time has he seen her without make-up.

She says she loves make-up so much she has her lipstick, eyeliner and eyebrows and blusher tattooed on and then gets her eyelashes permed and tinted every month.

Despite that it still takes her two hours to get ready in the morning!

A UFO at Lofthouse?

On Tuesday morning, on the side of the M1 near Lofthouse, Ant reckons he saw a UFO.

He was driving northbound when out of the corner of his eye he saw a red and a green light hovering near the ground in the field on the other side of the road. Unsure of what it was he looked closer. He decided it wasn’t an aeroplace or helicopter as it was too small and that it wasn’t a drone as it was too big.

He claims that all of a sudden, without warning, the craft moved upwards in the air by about 25 metres before hovering. I’ve suggested it could have been a remote control helicopter but he thinks it’s really unlikely that anyone would be out flying that at 5.30am on a cold damp Tuesday. Because it’s far more likely to have been extra-terrestrial life.

Caroline Verdon is one half of the breakfast show on Radio Aire. You can hear Caroline and Ant between 6-10am every weekday morning.