This post is an attempt to write 30 things that people might not know about me. Hopefully it will be interesting to somebody somewhere. Here goes.
- I’m 6’3C/3 tall. That’s about 192 centimetres, 1.92 metres. 2. I weigh just under 14 stones normally. That’s about 90 kilograms. 3. I have blue-grey eyes, and they become deep blue when I have a hangover. 4. I have huge feet. Size 11 (UK sizes) - I have no trouble standing up in strong winds. 5. I used to be able to play the whole of “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” on a music keyboard. I can probably still play it if I have a few drinks first. 6. Before taking up a career in information technology, I studied art at college. My tutor was NOT happy when I told her I wasn’t going on to do a degree in fine art. 7. I’m a far better artist than computer programmer, but have had absolutely no interest in drawing and painting pictures for years. 8. When I was young my big ambition in life was to run a hotdog van. I had everything worked out - the price of bread from the corner shop and everything… 9. When I was young I thought the ice-cream man lived in his van. Really. I did. 10. When I was 6 I tried to flush our cat down the toilet. 11. During its old age the same cat (see 10) took to shitting in my bedroom. Cats obviously have a good memory and hold grudges. 12. I have never smoked. 13. I am partially red-green colour-blind. My art tutor at college never discovered this. 14. The most I have ever drunk in one night was 9 pints of lager at a company pool tournament. I reached the semi-final, but unfortunately have no memory of the last couple of hours at all. 15. While still living at home, after a night in with a girl friend spiking my drinks, I woke up in the rain in our back garden curled up around the washing line post. 16. The only academic award I have ever won was the “Simon Tovey” award for art at Carterton Community College when I was 16 years old. 17. I have no recollection at all of the path at the back of the house we lived in when I was small. I discovered the path in a piece of cine film. 18. Among the skills I learned at college and haven’t used in the 12 years since are pottery and photography. I know how make and fire any kind of pot. I could also develop photos and do dark room trickery on them. 19. I met my better half on the internet - back when it was unusual to do so. Several of our friends have subsequently met on the internet and got married (yay for the internet). 20. My Dad had a boat when we were young that exploded in Penzance harbour. Luckily we were not on it. I vaguely remember staying at Nan’s for the weekend, and Dad arriving in hospital clothes. One of his brothers got badly burned, and a dolphin arrived to try and help them get away. 21. I never went on a rollercoaster until I was 25 years old and my cousin in California took me on a monster at Great America. 22. I have jumped out of a perfectly working aircraft. Again - for my cousin. We skydived from 13,000 feet over Lodi, California to celebrate her 21st birthday. 23. When I was 5 I stood on the finger of a girl in my class in infant school and made it bleed - then claimed I hadn’t done it. I remember seeing the blood on the floor. This still haunts me. 24. I regret not doing a speech at my step-grandfather’s funeral. He was a huge influence on my early life. Wise. Funny. Amiable. A great friend. Patient. Also cantankerous and forthright, but then nobody’s perfect. 25. I still don’t like fish in parsley sauce after being forced to eat it by one of my infant school teachers. 26. I have only ever started one fight. I called an older boy called Justin a “gay boy” for no apparent reason that I can recall. He beat the living shit out of me. 27. I once hit my best friend so hard he came off his chair at school. The class cheered. 28. I regret losing touch with so many of my friends from college. When I moved away I didn’t try hard enough. 29. I won the skipping race on our school sports day even after the idiot teacher with the starting pistol stood in my lane and tangled my rope with the gun (probably trying to make sure her son won). Eric Liddel has got nothing on me. 30. I continually thank my lucky stars that I walked into a bar in Oxford for a date with a girl I met on the internet in July 2001. She made me who I am today, and gives me all my reasons for doing things. She is the first thought when I wake up, and the last thought when I fall asleep.