CURRENT MISSION

To add to the excitement and delights of travel by meeting those who actually live and know where I'm staying. Local insight and culture.

ABOUT ME

Friends describe me thus: passionate, outgoing, hilarious, free-spirited, dotty, generous, full of beans, chatty, sociable, genuine, a faithful and loyal friend, inquisitive, party-girl.

I'd better get back to my stamp collection ...

PHILOSOPHY

A happy life is one that is full of love. Most important things in life? Health, friendship and those I love. Happiness stems from this.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm hoping to meet an array of magnificent people across the globe. As I've got older, what with a steady job, a mortgage, etc, I tend not to meet as many people as I did in my youth (when I lived abroad, for example). I feel my life is poorer for losing this aspect in my life, so I want to get back out there, and who knows, maybe make other people's lives more enriched also?

Interests

Spain, music - if live, all the better, celtic music and culture, literature, art, photography, travel (obviously!), film, entertaining, cooking, exotic Belgian beer, cheese, swimming, learning languages, magical landscapes and scenery, meeting new people who become great friends, good conversation.

• arts
• culture
• literature
• photography
• cooking
• cheese
• beer
• partying
• traveling
• music
• surfing
• swimming
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Van Morrison, Loreena McKennitt, Prince, Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone, Ray LaMontagne, Chaka Khan, Cara Dillon, Victor Davies, Baka Beyond, George Michael, TLC, Beyonce, Janet Jackson, Nick Drake, MoKenStef, Adina Howard, Stephane Pompagnac, Jose Padilla, Claude Challe, Chieftains, Bob Marley, Chambao, Damien Rice, David Gray, Tomatito, Jools Holland, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Mary J Blige, Hed Kandi, Buena Vista Social Club, Blackstreet, Jodeci, Silk, Keith Sweat, R Kelly, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Everything but the Girl, Erykah Badu, LL Cool J, Primal Scream, The Wonder Stuff, James, Luther Vandross, Alicia Keys, Fleetwood Mac, Radio Tarifa, The Cure, Happy Mondays, Bjork, Blur, Paco de Lucia, Sade, the Isley Brothers, Maxi Priest, Shabba Ranks, Mad Cobra, Bebel Gilberto, Cat Stevens, Dulce Pontes, Toni Tony Tone, Madonna, James Brown, Fat Boy Slim, k.d. lang, Nanci Griffith, Dru Hill, the La's, Ce Ce Peniston, Dead can Dance, Santana, Aaliyah, Sinead O'Connor, Marvin Gaye, Kate Bush, The Stranglers, Quincy Jones, Brandy, Geoffrey Oryema, Soul II Soul, Cypress Hill, Cyndi Lauper, Norah Jones, Chris Isaak, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Doors, Roxy Music, Bobby Womack, Taja Seville, Freddie Jackson, Sister Sledge, Phil Fearon and Galaxy, George McCray, Clannad.

Films: Frida, Amelie, Kolya, Lost in Translation, Sideways, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Monsoon Wedding, Motorcycle Diaries, Almodovar, Intimacy, My Life as a Dog, A Clockwork Orange, Buena Vista Social Club, Kieslowski, Theatre of Blood, Belleville Rendez-vous, the Abominable Dr Phibes, Two Days in Paris.

Books: Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, Anthony Burgess, Will Self, Nabokov.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm hoping the Couch Surfing experience will eventually enable me to insert something here.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United Kingdom