Tagged

2 mins

Ok, so I’ve been blog-tagged. Twice in fact, by Patrick Kua and Mats Helander. Apparently the rules are that I have to tell you five things about me that you probably didn’t know, and then I have to tag a bunch of other people.

Except that this is the Interweb, blog-tagging is exponential and I’m usually the kid who gets picked last, so there are probably only about 4 people left on the planet who haven’t been tagged.

Anyway, here goes. Five things you didn’t know about me:

  1. I used to do origami. A lot. For years and years I would fold little squares of coloured paper (only squares, and only coloured on one side; I’m a purist) into all sorts of birds, beasts and useless household objects. My favourite was a turtle. You had to be pretty good to fold a turtle. It took me ten years before I could fold a jackstone. I kept going back to it each year until I suddenly got it. Then I made a whole load of them to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Then I forgot again.
  2. I love cycling. More accurately I love buying cycle-related toys like multi-tools, ever smaller and more powerful bike pumps, super-lightweight jackets. In fact, the sorts of things that make cycling more expensive than using public transport. When I’m feeling motivated I cycle 20km each way to work, usually 3-4 times a week. Right now I’m a lapsed cyclist—I haven’t cycled properly for a couple of months—but it’s only temporary.
  3. I play drums. I was in several bands over about 12 years, and played venues like the Rock Garden in London (tiny but lots of fun) and Dorking Halls in Surrey (to about 1000 people). A few years ago I started playing hand drums—bongos and an African djembe—which have the bonus of not needing a car to move them around.
  4. I got married in South Africa, on a wine farm near Cape Town. It was a fairy-tale wedding, with a horse-drawn carriage and ducks. Oh, and the bride looked amazing.
  5. I studied jitsu for several years. Once I got to a certain level—fending off kitchen knives, bike chains and a katana—I found I preferred teaching to grading (in fact jitsu taught me a lot about coaching). So I never got my black belt but I’m still double hard. So don’t make me come over there.

Right, I nominate Claudio Perroni, Paul Walker, Erik Doernenburg, Arjen Poutsma and Niclas Nilsson. You’re tagged!