CURRENT MISSION

Sharing and appreciation.

ABOUT ME

About me?... very happily married to my wonderful wife, musician (bassoon, voice, piano, guitar, Irish low D whistle, Northumbrian pipes, percussion, conductor, composer, singer-songwriter), children's stories, art, arts education, environmental education, permaculture design, increasing sustainabilty in all areas of life. I love to share in appreciation of forest, mountain, river, sea, music, literature, cinema, visual arts, honesty, decency, fidelity and humility. Beauty in all its forms, internal or external, gets me up in the morning (even if I do sometimes have to think about it first!). How about you?

PHILOSOPHY

More of a belief than a philosophy:
All things are interconnected by their very existence at the least...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My official couch-surfing began in 2008 and it was amazing. I am no longer able to offer accommodation, but perhaps can meet for conversation. However, I am very busy these days and often away with my fiancee. When it is possible, it will be a joy to make introductions to places and people. Although, if it is clubbing that interest you, I'm really not the guy to show you! I look forward to the exchange of ideas, skills and cultural understanding etc. There is so much to humanity and the only way to a more healthy unified human intention is through communication and sharing; media and governmental public information is limited by design but we don't need to rely on it, do we!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Well, I have surfed plenty of couches in the UK and also some in Spain but my offical couch-surfing began in Serbia and Vienna. I have also been a member of WWOOF and I was surfing in a small caravan on a farm for a year in exchange for food and accommodation. I've hosted a number of CS visitors in 2009 and, since then, I have met other CSers for "coffee or drink". I guess that means coffee is not a drink! I have also accommodated friends of friends on numerous occasions when they have visited the UK. All of these experiences have been positive and enriching.

Interests

What makes you tick? My particular interests are music (playing, composing, conducting, musicology, and ethnomusicology), cinema, the arts in general and in collaboration, sublime landscape, ecology, permaculture (sustainability, forest-gardening, self-reliance etc.), education, communication, cycling, hiking, swimming in the sea, spirituality, human decency and chastity.

• arts
• culture
• literature
• design
• beauty
• education
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• drinking
• clubbing
• gardening
• movies
• music
• guitar
• piano
• cycling
• hiking
• surfing
• swimming
• communications
• ecology
• teaching
• history
• visual arts
• wwoof
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

There are too many things to list here but a few recent favourites are:
Music - Gundula Janowitz singing Strauss, Götterdämmerung, Lieder, Brendel, Chopin, Beethoven, Schubert G flat Intermezzo, Debussy Clare de la Lune, Messiaen, Takemitsu, Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Cuban son, funk, jazz, Celtic, Balkan and African traditional music; basically anything that makes me think, laugh, cry or move and anything that stops me thinking, laughing, crying or moving.

Film - Old black and whites like those of Frank Capra,also Modern Times, Nosferatu, North by Northwest and film noir. International cinema like Jeux Interdits, Ingmar Bergman, Babettes Feast, Elvira Madigan, Time of the Gypsies or Tampopo. Documentary film such as When the Levees Broke. Love Cohan Brothers. MGM. Lawrence of Arabia. Animation from Ratatouille through Watership Down to Kiki's Delivery Service and obscure stuff etc, etc.

Books - My all time favourites are The Time Traveller's Wife, Seven Arrows, Dostoyevski, The Secret Life of Plants, The Madhur Jaffrey Cook Book.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Yosemite National Park, California - truly awe inspiring.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am excited about learning about other culture's and history as well as seeing things from new perspectives. I am ready to share / exchange in music, classical or other, cooking (asian mostly), permaculture and sustainability, trees and planting, education (especially music for children). If you are into the underground arts scene or the mainstream in London and the UK, I could have some pointers for you. Likewise if you want to experience permaculture, conservation, organic growing, environment, national parks etc. here in the UK. I might even be up for a road trip to explore whatever.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Spain, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom

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