I'm quite quiet; I'll happily let other people carry the conversation. I love live music and I like to pick up new instruments and learn the basics of them to see if I like them.

I am currently in transition from male to female, but while this is a big thing in my life, I don't want it to be the sole topic of conversation.

I am cuddly, musical, and wry; I like cities and the country and I'll happily go walking or whale watching, or round interesting buildings and odd shopping districts.

I work as an environmental advisor on a large industrial site. I've more or less settled in Glasgow and I'm trying to find time to become a better musician and to write short stories and a novel.

Singing, cooking and giving back rubs

Do you know, I don't know? Nobody has said.

Favourite five books:
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Last Chance to See - Douglas Adams
Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart
Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis
Not the End of the World - Christopher Brookmyre

Favourite authors - George MacKay Brown, Alastair Reynolds, Ian McDonald, Hal Duncan, Neil Williamson, Liz Williams, China Mieville, Iain M Banks, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Tim Powers, Justina Robson, Neil Gaiman, Bill Bryson, Christopher Brookmyre, Lord Dunsany, George MacDonald Fraser, Alan Moore, Warren Ellis

Favourite music:
Roddy Woomble, Bellowhead, Karine Polwart, Amanda Palmer, Dar Williams, Thea Gilmore, Alabama 3, Pink Floyd, Eva Cassidy, Jake Thackray, Tom Waits, guitar rags

I'll listen to any kind of live music if it's performed well but I prefer rock, folk, indie or blues.

Favorite Movies:
Alien, Blade Runner, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Casablanca, Chicken Run, Dr Strangelove, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Full Monty, Grosse Pointe Blank, The Incredibles, The Lavender Hill Mob, Mars Attacks (Ack!), Monty Python's Life of Brian, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Notting Hill, The Princess Bride, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Shaun of the Dead, Star Wars, The Sting, Twelve Angry Men

Favourite food:
I like all kinds of food; I buy cook books and experiment, most lately Moroccan. In general my favourite food is meat and vegetables in season from the farmers' market, or I do very nice risottos. Going out, I'm happy to try new things, there are some good Japanese and Russian restaurants now, or go with a familiar standby, Italian or Indian.

Pens and paper
a camera
some form of music player: radio, mp3 gadget, CD player and CDs, whatever
a musical instrument to mess around with - currently learning low whistle
an internet connection
a big bookshop

Where I'm going with my life and what I want out of it. And anything and everything else I come across, like this quote from 'the Art of Kissing':

"A kiss can never be absolutely defined. Because each kiss is different form the one before and the one after. Just as no two people are alike, so are no two kisses like. For it is people who make kisses. Real, live people pulsating with life and love and extreme happiness."

Either out at a gig, in the pub with my friends or in making something nice.

Most of it's out there already. Anything that isn't, isn't going on the internet.

All right, I'm dreadfully unfit, so I've started running. Don't take that as meaning I'm in any way athletic, it's just basic maintenance.

... you'd like to start a conversation that will be interesting, involving and last a long time. Or maybe go to Madagascar tomorrow.