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Currently somewhat "under construction"
http://sites.google.com/site/gentlegreen/bikelighting
" King Tubbys meets Rockers Uptown" by Augustus Pablo / Jacob Miller et al.
Hearing this on the John Peel Show in 1977 was something of a turning point for me.
A Little About Me
I live in Bristol - a city of approximately 400,000 in the southwest of the UK. I have lived here all my life.
I have recently reached the dreaded 50 and am trying not to count the days to retirement in France - probably Morbihan, southern Brittany - where I hope to live nearer the sea and grow a fair bit of my own food as well as doing a lot more cycle touring, camping, swimming, fishing, and maybe diving and surfing.
Mind / spirit
Agnostic / atheist - I appear to lack the gene that causes people to look at mould on an apple, or an aphid and think "God must have designed that". I'm with Richard Dawkins and David Attenborough in finding wonder enough in the complexity of evolution. Pacifist; libertarian; "Green", I don't expect to be particularly well represented by any government in my lifetime.
Physical specifications
6'2" 250lbs / 18 stone / 114 kg - embarrassingly podgy at the moment, but fitter than most. I cycle 9 fairly hilly miles every working day - to the limit - especially on the homeward journey which starts and ends with a decent sprint whenever it isn't too busy, and have recently started going on group rides on weekends - usually about 40 miles, longest so far 68 miles in a day . Last summer I also built up to doing as many as three extra 17 mile rides a week on the Bristol to Bath railway path - the return leg at a decent speed - a token nod in the direction of experiencing a little of the Tour De France which I usually end up watching parts of on account of the scenery.
I was a wholefood vegan through my 20s and 30s and my diet is largely unchanged except for the recent addition of a little seafood. I have never smoked tobacco and drink only a little red wine / beer with meals.
Favourite Things
Oolong tea (actually 75/25 Oolong / Keemun by volume), the Atlantic ocean, sushi.
Music
I consume vast amounts - everything from Bach to hip hop. I will be eternally grateful to have been raised on "English" music - Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax etc but my tastes were shaken up, firstly by punk rock and dub reggae in the 70s, then modern Jazz in the early 90s and latterly by the rave scene in the mid-90s. I particularly like deep funky house and jazzy drum and bass.
If you're suffering from "genre anxiety" or simply want to see one of the best bits of "Flash" around, you simply MUST visit "Ishkur's guide to electronic music" .....
"This week I am mostly listening to ....."
France Inter - "Panique Au Mangin Palace" -
French radio is almost proving sufficient motivation in itself to learn the language.
Dancing
I got into the rave scene at the relatively advanced age of 35. A natural development from listening to the electronic music that had such a renaissance in the early 90s. I didn't drink, never got into pill-taking and always wore earplugs. Inevitably I felt so out of place socially I gave it up after a few years and went back to gardening.
Though I never learned to dance "with" people, I became rather good at moving spontaneously to music, and if only from a health point of view I sorely miss my weekly 3 hours of "power aerobics" (the 2 mile walk home was always a challenge with very few leg muscles that weren't "danced-out" !) and I'm left with this persistent "Fred and Ginger" fantasy ....
I tried to make the change a few years ago by taking some Salsa classes, but though I have a fair bit of latin music on my CD rack, I find Salsa a bit "cheesy" .. I lasted 20 minutes of Lindy Hop and don't even mention "Leroc" or line dancing !
Maybe I just don't have the ability to learn to dance in a coordinated way with others....
This appeals to me - a shame it's advertising a car :-
1.74MBytes download Windows media video
(Right-click, select SAVE and then OPEN if it fails to stream)
Film / theatre / TV
I find I dislike most of the output of Hollywood apart from a few classic movies such as "To Kill a Mockingbird"; "Inherit The Wind" ; 12 Angry Men; Goodbye Mr. Chips (192kBytes MP3).
I prefer TV series where one gets to know the characters over time. I've watched every MASH several times, find Star Trek (TNG / Voyager) much too silly these days, I can no longer stomach CSI or "Law and Order". My favourite one of all time is House - I really can't square that gem being produced by the same people who deliver the vileness that is Fox News ... it takes me two or three viewings to get all the "dimensions", but I never really crack the medical side - I think I'm basically too squeamish.
I was lucky enough to be given discounted tickets to Bristol's Theatre Royal in the early 90s and got to see a few of the classics by the likes of Ibsen, Miller and Chekhov. I have to say that, though the word-play is spectacular, I can't get into Shakespeare due to the racism, sexism and violence.
I loathe "soaps" with the occaisional exception of "The Archers" on the radio - it's not great theatre, but leaves a great deal to the imagination. I grew up with the world's best English Language radio station :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/ and I am especially fond of radio drama for that reason.
A huge regret is that I left learning French so late - French radio is even better the BBC. :-
http://sites.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/em/paniqueaumanginpalace/
http://www.franceculture.com/emission-les-passagers-de-la-nuit.html
I also enjoy nightly watching France 2's "Journal de 20 Heures" - probably because I have yet to get as fed up with French politicians - it's fascinating to see the UK and the rest of Europe viewed from a French perspective.
Literary stuff
I learned to read very early and was a fairly prolific reader as a child, but I have to confess to reading mostly non-fiction these days ... and mostly online. One book that I have read several times is Robert M Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance" (apart from the difficult bit in the middle ;-). Something slightly scary is that I have pretty well lost the ability to write or draw without the aid of a computer !
Garden design / horticulture
( Why not take a look at my garden ? )
(Sadly, after years of neglect it currently literally is a jungle.
Interior design
Artist's impression ;-)
(click image for larger version)
I'm 25 years into a (very) long term project to "do up" my 150 year old Victorian terraced house - I have less than 10 years to get it into reasonable shape as I'll need to sell it before moving to France.
It would be good to get it into shape so I can enjoy it in the meantime.
I've done the demolition bit ;-)
Cycling
My bicycle is my daily transport to and from work and for longer rides in company - up to 50 miles or so at weekends. In spite of the stress of staying alive on Bristol's congested roads (assisted by being lit up like a Christmas tree), I enjoy my twice-daily rides and I now find I am fitter than many people half my age. One key advantage of cycling is that I tend to know exactly when I will arrive at my destination.
I was recently forced to get as agressive with the local councils as with selfish motorists, over a poorly-maintained cycle lane :- http://bristolcars.blogspot.com/2009/09/rural-path-right-in-city.html - in the end I gave up and found a longer, but much more interesting route home.
My next target is to tackle the myth that cars respect traffic lights. (even though many cyclists are indeed an embarassment)
Cooking
When I can find the enthusiasm, I also enjoy cooking ("mostly vegan" plus seafood - no meat / poultry, avoiding dairy / eggs). I eat everything from my own robust seeded wholemeal bread to sushi.
Though I admit I sometimes can't resist the allure of mature cheeses when in company.
I blame Ray Mears and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for the deviation from my previous diet.
I like to grow my own vegetables but my current garden is too small and I no longer have an allotment.
I sometimes grow some food in my tiny kitchen :-
Bean sprouts are very easy :- Traditionally these are grown in the dark. but exposure to a little light adds a lot of vitamins and, to my taste, improved flavour and texture. A wide range of seeds can be sprouted and used in stir-fry, sandwiches and salads - from the slightly hot flavours of the cabbage family to the more usual mung bean.
Buying ready-made yoghurt makes no sense at all :-
I started making it shortly after I naievely took the antibiotics I was wrongly prescribed and contracted a kidney infection from my own "bad bacteria" - thereby underlining the importance of "friendly bacteria". I make mine with supermarket soy milk. All you do is add a bit of live yoghurt to a litre of milk, plug in and leave overnight. The bacteria I am currently using came from a fancy "pro-biotic" yoghurt - quite how many of the species will survive after several generations of being fed only on soy, I have no idea ....
My next project is home made tempeh
This is made from cooked soy beans innoculated with a fungus and costs £8 a kilo from the health food shop. I am currently considering my options for making an incubator to make this and several similar products.
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