Well, I should just launch into this, I suppose... my favourite things in the world are a combination of any of the following: tea, music, books, scarves, accordions, surnames, trams, wine, red Converse trainers (I did buy some green ones once, but they made me look like I had frog's feet), Soviet propaganda, They Might Be Giants, Volvos and my own hair(!). I like to say I'm a musician, but I'm not really. Well, I don't get paid for it, unless you count the odd bit of busking. I used to live in Moscow. I love traditional pubs, and my ideal Sunday is wandering aimlessly until coming across one, before sitting and reading with a beer, especially if the weather outside is crap. My friends think I have strange taste in girls because I never think 'traditionally' pretty girls are that pretty. It's more to do with someone I can relax with and talk nonsense for hours and hours, and that nonsense seeming to be the most important thing in the world. I'm not sure if that last sentence made sense, but I think I know what I meant...! Anyway, to sum up... I kind of wish I'd been born in Edwardian times. I'm that kind of gentleman. Yet curiously sexy, so I'm told. In an Edwardian way. Hmm.

Hmm. Isn't that a question?! Well, I guess I should get the Elephant in the Room out of the way first... I'm currently living in Brno, in the south-east of the Czech Republic. I teach English and music and I got into it the same way as most other English teachers abroad did - namely quit University and panic. Apart from that, um... wine, music, books. My dream would be to finish up like Bernard Black, but with a lot more sex.

Drinking Russian champagne. Oh I know it's not really champagne you pedantic bastards, but it's awesome. And playing stuff. Often at the same time. Not meaning to blow my own trumpet (I don't have a trumpet), but when it's the only thing you've ever really loved doing, you tend to spend an awful lot of time doing it. My main instruments are piano and guitar, but I played double bass for a few years, drummed in a couple of bands and mess around on the accordion and the mandolin too. I'm currently the frontman and songwriter with this mob:

www.myspace.com/bats-vs-cats
www.facebook.com/BatsVsCats

What else? Um... I can cook a bit. I'm not amazing, but I enjoy it. Especially the bit where I get to have loads of little bowls with chopped herbs and things in them that I've measured out previously, so I can just chuck them in, like on a cooking show! I'm also excellent at avoiding going to the cinema (just don't like it - don't know why), being endearingly geeky, being a grammar pedant (comes with the job!) and making cheese sandwiches.

Oh, I also love University Challenge. Mainly because if I get more than 8 answers right (that's the level I've set myself, make of that what you will) I feel quite proud. My record is 17. That was a good day. :-)

I'm taller than you'd think is the first thing. Plus I'm going through a bit of a phase of dressing like a 19th century cricketer. Blazers and striped shirts, that sort of thing. Not sure why. I even had my beard shaved into mutton chops for a while. Hmm. That may have been a mistake. Also, my beard is not for fashion's sake (although I do like it!); it's there because without it, I look like a 12-year-old.

Books: The Fan Man - William Kotzwinkle; The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov; The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams; Catch-22 - Joseph Heller; anything Bill Bryson has laid a finger on; 1984 - George Orwell; Closely Observed Trains - Bohumil Hrabal; that Larsson thing was good... for the first book; The Pillars of the Earth/World Without End - Ken Follett.

Films: the Back to the Future series, Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Amelie, This is Spinal Tap, the Indiana Jones series (NOT the fourth one!), Almost Famous.

I actually like TV a lot more though. The obvious ones - QI, Buzzcocks (I liked Amstel!), Black Books, HIGNFY, Dr. Who, Sherlock... and then the (maybe) less obvious ones... Cheers, Days That Shook the World, Fawlty Towers. Okay, if you're from the UK, they're obvious.

Music: Bats vs. Cats (my band! Ha!) They Might Be Giants; the Divine Comedy; Pixies; Ben Folds Five; Weezer; the Futureheads; the Kinks; Simon and Garfunkel; Sparks; the Smiths; Idlewild; English folk/folk-rock; Kraftwerk; Julian Cope; Regina Spektor; Maximo Park; REM; the Shins; the Beatles (obviously). Also a bit of jazz (Dr. John, Thelonius Monk), classical (particularly baroque) and, actually, any World folk.

Food: English cheese; curry; svíčkova (it's a Czech thing!); Walker's salt and vinegar crisps.

Drinks: Bernard (Czech beer), Oxford Gold, Summer Lightning, any crisp white wine (chenin, preferably), White Russian ("...do you like sex, Mr. Lebowski? The physical act of love?") or Jagermeister.

1. My guitar
2. Books
3. Tea (PG Tips, although I've switched to Yorkshire recently. A good move, I think)
4. Wine.
5. A pen and paper (technically two things, but hey. Well, not just technically, but actually. Never mind).
6. ...work. I really like my job.

So... 7 things.

I did have my MP3 player on there, but had it nicked and realised I didn't miss it that much. The only time I used it was on the tram, and now I read instead. Music is my life, but I find that I like looking clever on public transport too, hehehe!

Songwriting. I write songs. Silly pop songs, but I like them... which is probably a good thing. I also think about why Coventry City football club are rubbish (I actually know, but I try to think of solutions). I also think about what I could/should be doing with myself, although I try not too. And surnames. I love surnames - studying the history of them, the meanings and things. I actually have a surnames dictionary!

I should probably start thinking about why I'm quite the nerd, having just read that back to myself. Ah well, sod it.

Oh, and never trust anyone who tells you they don't like a single Beatles song. There's something intrinsically wrong with them.

At home, with some wine and a DVD. I'm not a big one for 'big nights out', to be honest; also, I'm more of a pub person than a clubber. I like talking to people. Plus, the best nights are always the spontaneous ones where you finish up gatecrashing a houseparty for some Finnish medical students, drinking all their wine and being chased by an angry man with a dog. Okay, that was one time. And not so great.

I'm actually sad about onions. A lot of people think I'm just reacting, but I'm not. It's just that the plight of onions makes me sad.

Oh, and, well... that I'm constantly stupidly horny and that I have rather a kinky side. Just to let you know. But shh, no-one really knows about that...

...you've actually got through the rambling blurb above and are still interested. Good for you! ;-)