CURRENT MISSION

To make music, food and friends wherever I can. Live without limits, be happy, cook up a bloody good dinner and cap it of with a song and a dance

ABOUT ME

Eh up, I'm Johno. These days I am a teacher in a primary school but over the years I have lived a very varied life, cooking, playing music, making zines and living freely.

Now I live in Manchester in a housing cooperative, right in the heart of the city. I love people, meeting new people and making friends across the world.

I'm a good cook, I love food and could talk about it for hours, and I am always keen to explore and think about the Aesthetic of Food. I'm predominately a vegetarian, I have issues with the meat industry, but then my morals aren't that strong...

I love books and movies, music and dancing (nothing specific, just a good beat will do!) I'm interested in politics but hate government, love culture but don't trust mainstream media and like to meet different people and hang out.

I used to make a satirical magazine that I edited called Spin Dry. This was an outlet for mocking the stupidity of government and media. I like to just sit and think about things, discuss issues with other people and hear what they think about the world.

I love my bike, riding about listening to tunes. I enjoy being out in the countryside, climbing hills and rolling around in grass, but I'm very much a city dweller. I like to live among the factories and see beauty in urban squalor.

I just want to see new things and have different experiences. I don't really have a life goal, there's too much choice to limit myself to one end, so I just meander and take it all in in my own time.

PHILOSOPHY

Anarcho-hedonistic Johnoism. Live freely and happily, love one another, look after one another. Don't waste resources, don't litter and care for the planet and all its inhabitants. Enjoy yourself (it's later than you think)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Ok, so I've couch surfed across Italy and Spain and had many wonderful guests. I have been very busy training as a teacher this past year so have not been very active at all recently, but that will now change again. Playing music and living as I do, we have always had an open door policy, and so while I may not have had much direct involvement with the website, the ethos has very much been a part of my life.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I was completely sold on Couchsurfing last year when me and my then girlfriend stopped the night in Geneva, Switzerland. We were put up by a lovely Polish girl, who then took us out to dinner with her friends (one Georgian, one Belgian, one Eygptian and one Syrian.) How else could I have met such a diverse and wonderful group of people in just one night in a city?
This kind of interaction is perfect, momentary friendship in foreign lands, with somewhere to sleep at the end of it!

Interests

Everything. Books, movies, travel, music, bikes, snowboards, politics, protests, comics, satire, dancing, football, squatting, agriculture, alternative culture, art, food and drink, reggae, community, education, poetry, walking, talking, looking... I dunno, what are you interested in? Tell me about it, I think that would be interesting.

• arts
• culture
• humanities
• books
• poetry
• beauty
• dancing
• education
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• walking
• drinking
• politics
• comics
• movies
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• rock climbing
• soccer
• agriculture
• communications
• teaching
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Films: Withnail & I, à bout de soufflé, pulp fiction, purple rain, land and freedom, fear and loathing in las vegas, metropolis, bill and ted's excellent adventure, coffee and cigarettes
Music: Reggae, ska, dub, punk, hardcore, metal, disco, Balkan, trip hop, hip hop, pop, surf, rockabilly, psychobilly, 80's synth, prog. Most things, just not r'n'b.
Books: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, anything by Orwell or Hemmingway, The Rum Diaries, The Beach, The Milkman in the Night, The Penguin Novels.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Big question... ummm, Two places stand out to mention right now. ADM Amsterdam and Can Masdeu, two wonderful squatted communities of people working together to make bubbling hives of activity. I recommend both to all, to go and see that life can be free.

Teach, Learn, Share

Cooking, music, philosophy, dancing, humanities, English language, critical thinking.

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