Meme 9

I’ve been tagged by the Neurophilosopher to post nine things about myself.

1. I don’t like explicitly posting about myself. I do do it, but I tend to be thinking of myself in relation to a problem rather than me qua me. It has been noted by people with clipboards that I’m rather unreflective when I’m thinking purely about myself. Which means nine might be a bit of struggle.

2. I’m a republican. In the UK that tends to be interpreted as someone who’s an Irish terrorist or at least wants to put the Queen’s head on a spike. I’m happy to let the Queen live out her life without the guillotine hanging over her, but I’m not keen on Charles becoming king. He’s let it be known he’d want to be King George and there’s a fairly good demonstration of why letting someone called George become Head of State – simply because they had a parent who was – is a Bad Idea. I’m thinking King George III obviously.

3. I’m a democrat. I’d also abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a second elected chamber rather than Government appointees. I’m a reluctant democrat. For instance I think there should be a referendum on the adoption of the Euro, but I doubt many people will be in a position to make an intelligent and informed judgement. I certainly won’t. While it’s therefore often a bad idea to put things to the popular vote the alternatives are worse.

4. I’m green. On demand. I visited Peru and came back with a superpower. I can Vomit at Will, or if Will’s not there anyone one else. As with all good superpowers I got it by being bitten by something nasty. I’d have prefered X-Ray vision, as it makes finding car keys easier. Contrary to popular belief it wouldn’t be useful for looking at girls. With X-Ray vision all you’d see is a lot of bones. It’d be rather like every woman in the world turning into Kate Moss. Not a pleasant experience.

5. My favourite place is a field outside small forest in Luxembourg. The forest was where I went on my first archaeological dig and it’s a nice place but after a day sweating in it it’s nice to get out lie back and look at the stars. The dig coincided with the Perseid meteor shower.

6. The most fearful face I’ve ever seen was in an army tent in Luxembourg. I had my own tent, but I moved into the big one because of the threat of storms. That night I awoke and sure enough I could hear the water gushing like a torrent. I wasn’t damp, but the rain was thundering down onto the groundsheet. But curiously not at all onto the canvas of the tent. Someone found the torch and shone it around to see if they could find what was causing this veritable cascade. It came to Marco’s face on the opposite side of the tent to me and his face bore the terror of a man who knows he was sleeping next to young man who, as everyone could hear, had rather a lot to drink. This one reason why I take my own tents if I’m camping.

7. I don’t drink alcohol. I gave up at eighteen when the element of challenge had gone. I can’t drink enough to get drunk as I’m usually terribly sick first.

8. I only know how to make three alcoholic drinks. The Headache (Asti Spumante and Pernod), the Eviscerated Mary (like a Bloody Mary but more so) and the Northern Gin and Tonic which is like what a southerner would call Gin and Tonic but with considerably less tonic. I’m the teetotal equivalent of someone who drinks for the effect.

9. I bet but don’t gamble. I haven’t placed a bet for a year because I haven’t seen anything suitable to hit. I hedge bets, so while I’ll lose on most of them I still come out with a net profit on the ones that pay out. I cannot see the attraction of putting money down as a stake and losing.

I’m not tagging anyone else, but if anyone want to pick it up an run with it they’re welcome.