CURRENT MISSION

Getting out of the city more!

ABOUT ME

All about me? :) This is a bit about me...I love to be outdoors, walking, exploring, up trees and off on bikes. Swimming outdoors. Hills and woods.I believe in justice and treating people well, and I'm anarchist in my politics. I'm interested in communities and community, horrible overused words though they are, and though being on my own sometimes is very important too. I'm interested in travel and change and these days more and more about setting down roots too.I'm a trumpeter and love playing music, singing badly, jamming, hearing new songs.I'm a vegetarian, but receiving hospitality from people I am sometimes happy to break this. I hate the food industry and what it does to animals, our whole damn ecology, us as a society and our bodies! But staying with someone non vegan, sometimes accepting what you want to offer with grace is important. Maybe I can cook a tasty filling vegan dinner for you and your house? That I'd like best.I have always liked smaller and more homely places, having grown up in a small rural town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hereford).

PHILOSOPHY

Like Alvy Singer feels about eggs.

Alvy Singer: [narrating] After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Meeting people new to Edinburgh or just passing through and hanging out, getting to know them, showing them the sights! We can probably find some good music, pubs, real ale, walks in the countryside or the beach, cycle rides, city strolls...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I did it backwards. First I met some friends in Edinburgh through Couchsurfing, then I found out about the couchsurfing website. I couchsurfed a little bit while hitching in Germany. Hosted some people in Oxford. And surfed a lot of great and generous people's couches cycling across Europe.

Interests

Counselling. Exploring and finding out of the way places... I play trumpet, erm... anarchism, history, feminism. Bits of history which cut against the grain of received wisdom. Reading a lot! I love walking, cycling and camping wild. My bike feels like my other pair of legs. I love to swim outdoors, any time of year.

I am re-learning German, oh god, slowly, through short stories and poems as well as grammar, which is fun. I want to teach myself to write. I like to cook communally too, its a nice way to get to know people.

• animals
• poetry
• singing
• womens rights
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• vegan
• walking
• pub crawls
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• dumpster diving
• music
• trumpet
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• camping
• scuba diving
• rock climbing
• swimming
• ecology
• history
• medicine
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

This is quite a random selection...

The Crow Road, James Robertson, Tolstoy, Patrick Leigh Fermour, Jan Morris, Miklos Banffy's Transylvanian trilogy, Q, The Moomins, The Name of the Rose, His Dark Materials, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Northanger Abbey, Joan Didion's essays, Margaret Atwood, The Forsyte Saga, Seamus Heaney, Germaine Greer, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Roger McGough, Phillip Larkin, Birthday Letters, Hamish Henderson, Rilke.

David Graeber, David Harvey, Karl Marx, Judith Butler, Joan Scott, Eric Hobsbawm, William H. Sewell Jr.

Lau, Breabach, Mahala Rai Banda, Taraf de Haidouks, Besh o Drom, Boban Markovic, Mostar Sevdah Reunion, Scout Niblett, Belle & Sebastian, And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Misty's Big Adventure, Kate Goes..., Dylan, Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel, Tom Jobin, Joao Gilberto, Gal Costa, David Bowie, Shostakovic, Janacek, Rachmaninov, Bach, Beethoven, Messaien, Schönberg, Silvestrov, Sleater-Kinney, Neutral Milk Hotel, Joan Baez.

The Leopard, Annie Hall, The Maltese Falcon, Let The Right One In

Firefly, The Forsyte Saga, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Midsomer Murders, Jonathon Creek, Buffy, Doctor Who, Pride & Prejudice.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Cycling from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul in summer 2011, camping in farm fields and couchsurfing.

Cycling and camping up the Wye valley and Black Mountains. Going over the Gospel Pass on a beautiful bright afternoon, high above the Welsh borders...

Hitching, cycling and camping around Danish islands one sunny summer. Hitching from UK to Berlin in 18 hours :)

Celebrating Samhuinn and Beltane high up on a cliff in a ravine, wind swirling, fire roaring, songs and music, friends and lovers and food.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could also teach you to play the trumpet, play/sing some tunes from England, Scotland, Eastern Europe, Cooking, vegan cooking. Dumpster diving. Very basic bike maintenance. Climbing trees.

Let's play some backgammon!

I would love to improve my Portuguese again before I have to pronounce it D.O.A., and learn German - chat a bit in German with me :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Brazil, Canada, France, India, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, United Kingdom

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