CURRENT MISSION

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau.

ABOUT ME

I'm a bookish, film-loving, tea-swilling, "baby boomer" who enjoys travelling, even if sometimes only vicariously.

Places I'd love to re-visit: London and Paris; again, and again, and again...

Other favourite cities (so far): San Francisco, Cambridge (UK).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Contributions to the original Couchsurfing Wiki. Significantly expanded the "How to Be a Good Host Section", added a new section: "Preparing an Information Package for Your Guests". Made additions and edits to "How to Be a Good Guest".

(Now still available as Special Guides on the Couchwiki page: http://couchwiki.org/en/Main_Page)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

See below, references section.

Am also a member of Hospitality Club. I'm not comfortable with the HC practice of giving out passport numbers in advance by e-mail; but I'm partial to the idea of having a mutual check of some sort of official ID (passport, driver's licence, etc.) when we meet. So don't be offended if I ask to see yours...

Interests

Is there a "So Many Books, So Little Time" group? ...Sign me up!

I'm also a film buff, and have had an annual film-blitz at the Toronto Film Festival since 1990.

• arts
• books
• festivals
• coffee
• clubbing
• traveling
• cartography
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I read a range of things: from literary to genre fiction, travel lit, exploration lit, architectural history, cookbooks.

Some current favourites:
-River Town, by Peter Hessler
-Preserving the World's Great Cities, by [http://www.anthonymtung.com Anthony Tung]
-Paris to the Moon, by Adam Gopnik
-The Worst Journey in the World, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
-Nobody?s Perfect, by Anthony Lane
-In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson
-Kindergarten, by Peter Rushforth
-Hot Sour Salty Sweet, by Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford.

In addition to the usual classics (Godfather, Casablanca, Blade Runner...) some current favourites:

-Before Sunrise, and Before Sunset, both by Richard Linklater
-42 Up (and the rest of the Up series) by Michael Apted
-Afterlife, by Hirokazu Kor-Eda
-Winged Migration, by Jacques Perrin
-Underground Orchestra, by Heddy Honigmann
-Biutiful, by Alejandro Inarritu
-Dangerous Liaisons, by Stephen Frears
-A History of Violence, by David Cronenberg.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Northern Lights in the cold prairie skies.
The Belgian "Waffle" structure at Burning Man, 2006.

Teach, Learn, Share

BlogToronto maps and guides: http://www.blogto.com/torontomaps/ See Riverside and Leslieville for my area.

I'm generally a tea drinker, but there are plenty of good coffee houses:
http://www.blogto.com/toronto/the_best_cafes_in_toronto_east_side/ Around these parts, try Dark Horse, Mercury, and - the freshest of the fresh - Merchants of Green Coffee.

Toronto Life magazine guide to my area, and east: http://www.torontolife.com/features/leslieville-guide/?pageno=1 .

For my Couchsurfers: Schedule permitting, I'd be pleased to take you to the Art Gallery of Ontario as my guests. (My membership includes guest privileges for up to two other people.)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, France, India, Malaysia, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Canada, France, Singapore

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