I love / I hate

In moments of true boredom you can't beat writing out a good list - so we're asking for your top 10 loves and hates. First up, Natalie Bursk.

''Ask any of my friends and most will say I might as well be called Ms PG Tips.'' ''Nothing quite beats sleeping in your own surroundings, especially when it's cold and blustery outside and you have your thick duvet to keep you warm!'' ''Holidays begin and end in grey places with unflattering lighting, where no-one smiles whilst finding their ever-changing gate.'' ''Well, it had to be in one of the lists, didn't it?''

TOP 10 LOVES

1. Family and close friends
The best people are those who are irreplaceable.

2. Reading
Books can inform, entertain, develop the imagination, and are highly portable. It can be a great feeling getting lost in a library or bookshop if you love to read; the world is your oyster.

2. My bed
Nothing quite beats sleeping in your own surroundings, especially when it's cold and blustery outside and you have your thick duvet to keep you warm!

3. Tea
Ask any of my friends and most will say I might as well be called Ms PG Tips. A cuppa can perk you up when you need a caffeine boost, calm you down when you're stressed, and taste particularly great with digestive biscuits.

4. Rag raiding
This experience is newer for me. Recently going to a new city and encouraging people to part with their spare change for charity helped me to look at others with different eyes, and to meet new people.

5. Ice cream vans
This may only apply to where I live, but the sound of a tinny version of Greensleaves being played in the streets is becoming a rare occurrence these days. Despite the rise of fancy desserts, buying a 99 from the special vehicle tastes fantastic and always creates good memories.

6. Letters
Modern technology is wonderful, allowing communication across the world at high speed. But the little thrill of opening a letter from a friend or relative updating you with their news undoubtedly surpasses finding a bill inside the envelope.

8. Stephen Fry
Some of my friends can't stand him, but what is there not to love? Comedian, writer, director, quiz-show presenter and a walking encyclopaedia to boot.

9. New music
You know the feelings you get when you hear new music? Anticipation, slight doubt over it living up to your expectations, or a bit of a buzz as new songs are to be discovered. Only going to gigs and seeing the songs played live can equal that initial reaction.

10. Writing top 10 lists
A bit of a cop-out it may be, but it's a last minute addition: try writing your own lists and you'll see how therapeutic it can be...

TOP 10 HATES

1. Endless insurance/loan ads on TV
No, I do not need a loan. No, I do not need to consolidate all my debts into one easy monthly payment. I just want to get back to the programme I was watching in peace. Do the people in all of these ads graduate from the same University of Shouting?

2. How every high street looks the same
'If everybody looked the same, we'd get tired of looking at each other', as the song goes. But walk down the average high street and chances are it'll all feel familiar - a bit too familiar - in fact. What happened to more individuality?

3. Packaging
Take an average, newly-bought item. Now try and open it. Bare hands, scissors, or any other sharp implement just won't make those layers of plastic budge easily. Chances are you'll need a chainsaw to access that toothbrush - or similar innocent item - that has wasted about the same amount of energy to be packaged as you're using to open the damn thing. Not to mention the amount of rubbish it produces.

4. Beige
I've yet to find a person who, when asked their favourite colour, replies with peals of laughter: "BEIGE! As if you needed to ask!" It's not inspiring, soothing or uplifting, just a middle-of-the-road colour which has lost it's mixing palette.

5. Politicians who claim to know about popular music culture
It's great to see them try to relate to our generation, but name-dropping any band that peaked with the rise of the download industry won't gain my respect or vote.

6. Airports
Holidays begin and end in grey places with unflattering lighting, where no-one smiles whilst finding their ever-changing gate, and where luggage inevitably ends up partying on a one-way ticket to the destination half a world away from where you're heading. Then there are the carbon emissions and environmental impacts...

7. 'At the end of the day'/ 'like'/ 'I hear what you're saying'
Certain words are fillers, to delay or avoid what you are really trying to say, have become daily part of our language (mine included). Honesty is the best policy, but when the softly-softly approach is overused, people can no longer talk to each other frankly.

8. Food critics
Who cares if the culinary masterpiece could do with a few more granules of seasoning and is a couple of degrees below the temperature one requires? Extreme nitpicking and snobbishness over food is just a tad sad!

9. Coughing without holding your hand to your mouth
When I'm in public and see little kids coughing like this, you know that chances are they still will when they're older. Other similar public grievances include spitting, chewing gum on the ground, and people getting on buses before letting others off.

10. Marmite
Well, it had to be in one of the lists, didn't it?