CURRENT MISSION

Striking out... (as in, to set out in a new direction)

ABOUT ME

Hmmm...old fashioned, confused by modernity, occasionally wondering where it went wrong and yet still strangely hopeful.

Happiest... probably when away from home and freed of day-to-day concerns.

But when at home, I suppose when you suddenly realise you are completely absorbed in something stimulating and fascinating or being at a cricket match on a sunny day with a beer is pretty special or, maybe, those occasions when you share a unspoken joke with a stranger in the street or on the bus or train.

Least happy somewhere unbearably noisy, full of people who are studiously self-concerned and self-regarding and, I prefer to imagine, terrified that they are going to be found out at any moment.

As I've got older I've become more comfortable with who I am and not caring so much what other people think and occasionally I like to grow a beard even though it doesn't suit me.

PHILOSOPHY

Moderately optimistic pragmatic skepticism

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I no longer attend local CS group meetings whenever I can because of (what I find to be) the overbearing and some-what cultish and obsessive attitude of the City ambassador for Nottingham. I try to host as well as surf but because I am now travelling much more with my work this is proving more difficult.

Please, read the following before you send me a request to surf my couch. Many thanks

I will only respond to couch requests which are sent through the couch-request system. Do not expect a positive response if you haven't made any effort to complete your profile or if you have clearly not read mine.

To avoid misunderstanding, my work/travel are important to me and I genuinely value the opportunity CS affords to meet new people. I also value my own time and space. As both surfer and host, I try to strike a reasonable balance between these factors and seek to do as I would be done unto. I don't feel there is an obligation to spend large portions of time with hosts/guests if it is not reasonably convenient for both of us to do so. If a host has, for instance, a work deadline to meet then I would expect that to take priority over entertaining a guest.

Having said that, if I can I like to spend time with other CSers, I simply want to be clear that I can neither guarantee it nor do I expect it.

I make every effort to be clear with potential guests about the kind of hospitality I can offer at any particular time. I appreciate that for hosts, real life goes on even though when travelling it can feel suspended. So, if you are looking for a host/surfer with whom to hang out for a few days, it may not be me. But it might be - depending on circumstances.

But, at the very very least, it's nice to have a bit of a chat over a cup of tea.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I met Belinda's first couch surfer - Phyllis - and she was such a great person that I joined up. I had my first couch surfing experience in Albuquerque NM with Patricia which was genuinely amazing. I have now hosted quite a few couch surfers and have learned from each experience in turn, and I have revised the information given on this profile accordingly. It is really helpful to be clear beforehand about couchsurfing expectations, of both host and surfer, to avoid disappointment. On a recent visit to the US, I surfed in Boston, Newport RI and Chicago with some great hosts. And in Belgium surfed in Ghent. Again a great host. 2009 I surfed in NYC, San Jose and in San Francisco and again and again and again in Ghent and Brussels. And now in Frankfurt (Bad Soden am Taunus), Amsterdam and Bristol too.

兴趣

Most things interest me in some way or other and I am actually genuinely interested in my work. I suppose my particular interests are Sport (particularly CRICKET and rugby, and recently table tennis), getting down to the allotment (garden), reading, strummity-strummity-strum on the old guee-tar, movies, sketching, politics and current affairs, trying but failing to be multi-lingual, walking/hiking - although recently I have done very little of any of this stuff :^(

• sketching
• beer
• walking
• gardening
• politics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• hiking
• hunting
• surfing
• sports
• cricket
• tennis
• rugby
• table tennis

音乐、电影和书籍

Movie stuff: My Life As a Dog, Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Roadrunner, Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn, JFK, All the Presidents Men, The Out of Towners/Some Like It Hot, Old Brit movies/Ealing comedies, Powell & Pressburger (A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH / THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP), Norman McLaren, Woody Allen, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Eagle vs Shark, Son of Rambow, In Bruges... I have to include Citizen Kane even if it makes me seem pretentious (see below)...
Books: Peter Akroyd, Primo Levi, "Name of the Rose", Joseph Heller, Louis de Bernieres, Asterix, John Grisham... I've recently read "The Shipping News". I wasn't expecting much but it was brilliantly evocative and engaging. I failed to read Jeffrey Sachs' Economics for a Crowded Planet so read Rubicon by Tom Holland instead. I have recently finished a spate of Graham Greene followed by the Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Just William (Richmal Crompton), The Partisan's Daughter (De Bernieres) and Charlotte Grey. Murakami, Murakami, Murakami.

Music: I'm not a muzo. I started out with the Undertones and then the Velvet Underground & the Smiths and now seem to have settled on a mix based, probably too heavily, on Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and the Northumbrian small pipes... how did that happen? So it's generally folk, country, country rock (CSNY and different incarnations of the same, The Band), world (esp African), vocal harmonies - The Roches, CB&S, Spooky Men, Bulgarian and Baltic choirs, that sort of thing and some quirky lo-fi stuff like the Mountain Goats. Songs for Drella (Lou Reed & John Cale) is an old favourite I've just rediscovered. Arcade Fire seem rather engaging too...and last year I was introduced to Bon Iver and Laura Marling... outstanding! Noah and the Whale are a refreshing newbie too. Check out The Unthanks (brilliant Northumbrian Folk - especially the first album)
My Desert Island Discs (as I'll never get on, here they are)...
1. ABC - The Jackson Five
2. Re:Stacks - Bon Iver
3. Raid On Entebbe - The Mountain Goats
4. Free and Easy Down the Road - Dierks Bentley
5. Moon River - Frank Sinatra
6. Acadian Driftwood - The Roches
7. Nimrod - Edward Elgar
8. Now Westlin Winds - Dick Gaughan

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

I'm not sure I've done anything amazing although amazing things have happened around me - I can recall astonishing sunsets, unexpected acts of generosity, I never tire of seeing the Milky Way or shooting stars on a clear night. Walking into and then struggling out of the Grand Canyon was pretty special. I flulfilled a dream to edit a newspaper - which was quite an experience. As I child I met Bobby Robson and the legendary Ipswich Town FC team of 1974 before a game vs Sheffield United (inc, Mick Mills, George Burley, Allan Hunter, Kevin Beattie, David Johnson etc) and, as an adult, have met and talked with Sir Vivian "Master Blaster" Richards (he cured me of my illness) and (Sir) Derek "Rags" Randall - both childhood heroes. All were stupendous thrills.

教，学，和分享

I'll share what I know but it's not a lot. I would like to improve my french. It's dreadful. I would like to learn Dutch - and have made a little progress.

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