CURRENT MISSION

make new friends with different perspectives

ABOUT ME

I have two lives - term time and vacation. In one I'm pretty busy, mostly with musical projects, in the other, I travel, catch up with family and friends, stare at the wall, read, write music, get out into the countryside.
I'm calm, quiet, prefer to listen than talk, and I'm a bit of a daydreamer. I live alone so I enjoy having people to stay very much.

PHILOSOPHY

Try to do what I do as well as I can. Get fidgety on my own so like to be with people, both in work and playtime. Live for my projects. My project management technique? throw a stone as high and as far as I can - stare at it until the panic sets in then run after it, trying to take everyone with me. Ultimately an optimist. Problems are for solving; Life gets better every day.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

New to this, but bowled over by the simplicity and the potential of it. Three aims - help people visit Edinburgh, get out into the world more, make real friends around the world. Very happy to show you around this incredible city if time permits, but at the very least a meal together is a total pleasure.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have now had plenty of guests and every experience has been life-enriching. I've met some wonderful people, enjoyed hearing different perspectives on life from different corners of the world, and I have enjoyed some fantastic cooking. A meal made for me, in good company, is such a treat. I have yet to go surf... What I get a kick out of is the mutual trust that couchsurfing inspires: it creates a real human bond instantly.

Interests

music- Nyman, Tallis, Sondheim, Sibelius, Sufjan Stevens, Mr McFalls Chamber - now they are a reason to come to Edinburgh. Like to keep fit, love to cycle - touring and commuting, gym and swim to keep sane, cinema, theatre and concerts, eating and more eating. Bit of a pub-hound when funds allow. Reading - history and novels, especially Hollinghurst, McEwan, Roth, Franzen

• concerts
• cooking
• running
• pub crawls
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• swimming
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Recently.. Freedom, The Rest is Noise, Synecdoche NY, Illinoise, Nielsen 4, James Macmillan, the New Yorker, Winter's Bone. Update: you must read The Slap! Guilty pleasure: The Last 5 Years (a musical - get past the cheese and you'll hear real craftsmanship).

Teach, Learn, Share

Can teach lots of musical stuff - not that you'll get far in a single visit.. but i'll happily share my thoughts till the cows come home. Really want to brush up my German (do you have the patience?) I can show you the secret of my Schwabian lentils..