CURRENT MISSION

Not dying too soon :-) Staying socially connected too….and sharing (with whoever wants or risks it) whatever wisdom/learnings I’ve picked up through my travels and travails...And listening and learning, learning, learning: the world is a fascinating place!

ABOUT ME

"Renaissance Man". That's a joke, but I like cracking jokes. I have a very wide range of interests and I tend to see the world from an angle, including bottom-up. Having lived and worked across 5 continents, I find commercial “tourism” disappointing. I escaped Paris - such a relief! - in 2017 and am now living in the south of France, near Nimes. But we also spend a lot of time down on the Loire, near Angers, AND/OR in my seaside house in Komiza on the island of Vis in Croatia

And what have I been doing "across 5 continents"?? Many, many things, for example “stirring up trouble” (my mother’s description) Theme: trying to make the world around me work a bit more justly, equitably, companionably.

PHILOSOPHY

See "Amazing Things", below

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My idea as GUEST is to link with interesting/congenial people. I suppose my first preference AS HOST is going to be people upwards of 50. But who knows? It's the singer not the song....

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've been active on Couchsurfing for several years now, and been hosted about 10 times (France, Italy, Tunisia, England), and I have hosted twice in Croatia (But nobody has wanted to be hosted in beautiful, rural France so far! C'est dommage....). So far, only very positive experiences, including a few surprises to add de la sauce....

I suppose my first preference AS HOST is going to be people upwards of 50. But who knows? It's the singer not the song....

So far, (as host and guest) I'm finding that Couchsurfing is proving a good way to escape the generational "bubbles" (where oldies talk only to oldies, teens only to teens, etc etc. )

Interests

the world around me; culture-as-lived e.g. people's lifestories; the history and the future (for better or worse!) of humanity; hiking and various handy-sporty things like volleyball, ping pong and snooker/pool; health, as a mind/body/soul thing; science; social science, books, la cuisine….etc etc

• culture
• books
• cooking
• coach
• traveling
• hiking
• history
• science
• social science

Music, Movies, and Books

I have been in "enjoyability" bookclubs in Joburg, Paris etc where the super-wide range of tastes led me to read stuff I would never have read otherwise. e.g. veryvery "liked" Ruth Ashoki's "A tale for the time being", Yannis Varoufakis's "Adults in the room"

Every time I move from one country to another, I seem to leave behind 1,000 books...

a recent movie-on-circuit I saw was Jim Jarmusch's “Paterson” = wonderful....

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Being alive. (Wish I could be more aware-of that reality , and more consistently alert-to it!)

Teach, Learn, Share

Sounds great in principle. If only! –so that’s the goal…. Let's see....

What I Can Share with Hosts

1. my curiosity about life (and theirs in particular …), my wide-ranging interests, travels, experiences, friendships
2. hosting them someday when/if they travel near where I am. I can cook interesting things e.g. an excellent Durban curry :-)
3. in a world where English is now "lingua franca" I’m happy to teach/coach anybody who needs this.

Countries I’ve Visited

Angola, Austria, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Congo, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United States, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Croatia, England, France, South Africa, Turkey