CURRENT MISSION

To cycle down the Rhone Valley to Marseilles and then ride the coastal route to Rome. Running wise, before I die I want to do the Bob Graham Round, Everest Mountain Marathon, and compete in the Marathon des Sables and the West Highland Way

ABOUT ME

Having successfully completed my PhD in Organization Studies at St Andrews I moved to Liverpool to take up my first academic appointment. I missed Scotland, Fife more specifically, and now I am back...

I am easy to get along with and what you see is what you get.

PHILOSOPHY

If its worth doing, then do it properly!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

... by hosting, being hosted and spreading the word.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My house-mate has already had a few people stay over. Its been so far, so good. We recently had a good couch surfing experience in Fort William (hence the Ben Nevis photo), and in light of these positive experiences, I want to give this couch surfing business a blast myself...

Interests

Cheese, nuts; triathlon, MTBs, running shoes; Volvo 850s; nightclubbing; real ale, red wine, Scottish malt whisky; staircases, mezzanines, architecture, design; snowboarding; rugby; flanerie and everyday life

• cats
• architecture
• design
• wine
• red wine
• cheese
• triathlon
• yoga
• marathon
• running
• guitar
• cycling
• surfing
• snowboarding
• rugby
• business

Music, Movies, and Books

The Doors Are Open. The Crow. Amelie, La Haine, Baise-Moi, The Butterfly and the Diving Bell. Little Miss Sunshine. Sideways. Alive. The Pianist. Into the Wild.

The Eagles, Rush; Sandra Collins, Josh Gabriel, Mark Knight, Scissor Sisters, Goldfrapp; The Ting Tings.

Golf and the spirit. Gilles. Les Particules Elementaires. Le Voyage de Theo. Species of spaces. Nickel and dimmed. The Jungle. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Benetton. Who moved my cheese. Fish.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

As a kid it was amazing to see my cat, Suzie, give birth and then eat the placenta. Things have moved on a bit since then...

I have experienced a flash-flood, in Marseilles, which was pretty amazing. The city was covered in about 50cm of water. I will never forget taking the bus to pick up my Girlfriend from work and the water was about 5cm deep inside the bus! I now want to see a hurricane or an earthquake.

Gone from never having climbed a munro to running three of them in one-go (during training for a hill race)!

Most recently, something even more amazing that I have done, is, to cycle from Paris to Marseilles (via Melun, Auxerre, Decize, Macon, Lyon, Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Montpellier). I did this in eight days (8-15th August, 2009): sleeping on four different couches, spending one night in a campsite and pitching my tent in two 'wild' places (at Chateauneuf-du-Pape and La Grande Motte in Montpellier). I thought I would leave the coastal route to Rome until another time...

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach the following:
-how to cut perfect slices of grapefruit
-run up and down munros efficiently (and some of the nutritional requirements that can help improve efficiency)
-simple chords on the guitar
-how to write a good case study
-how to make things really clean

I want to learn how to practice yoga.

I can share the following:
-a damn good spaghetti carbonara!
-my passion for running
-my stories

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Spain, Switzerland, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom

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