30 Days Planned Blogging

Day 01 – Write 30 facts about yourself:

1. X-Wide P is pronounced Ex Wide Pee
2. I am a single parent and father of three teenage or nearly teenage daughters
3. I am obsessive but not as in OCD more like as in passionate about something until the next something comes along and then I am passionate about that instead and/or as well
4. I drew my cartoon avatar and it kinda does look like me
5. Music is my greatest pleasure, listening, discovering, making and sharing is something I just love to do – it has been my near constant obsession
6. I like all styles and genres of music apart from Country & Western and chart Rave; although I do like a little bit of Country but never Western
7. I manage a business and a charity that are both based in a former Bishop’s Palace in Surrey with a ruined 12th Century Norman Castle in the garden.
8. All of the cats I’ve ever had are rescue cats from the Cats Protection League, apart from my most recent addition which was a ginger tom kitten who was found sleeping in my chicken coop (unfortunately no longer with us due to an incident with a motor vehicle)
9. I cut my own hair (which is why it looks like that, I guess!)
10. My daughters all have different surnames – my eldest has my surname (and her Mum’s surname as a middle name), my middle daughter has her Mum’s surname (and a version of my Mum’s name as her middle name) and my youngest daughter has a double barrelled surname (but no middle name) which is mine and her Mum’s surname.
11. Heritage & Culture is my other near constant obsession, I am fortunate that it has been at the core of my career for a long time
12. I live in a house that is converted from the village post office, general store (which has also been a cafe and a brass shop) and four mews cottages all knocked into one big house
13. I am a realistic optimist, I recognise all the ridiculousness and negativity that is part of the daily struggle that we call living and love every single minute of it. There is so much wonder and beauty that surrounds us, all you have to do is look a little closer and it makes the awfulness less awful. This may explain why I smile a lot, laugh a lot and can often be caught smiling or giggling to myself
14. I smoke a pipe (occasionally) because the price of my favourite cigars has risen to such an extent that it is unjustifiable except for special occasions
15. I have been a Minnesota Vikings fan since I was about 10 years old, thanks to a lovely person who was on an exchange trip to the UK from Minneapolis and stayed with my family when I was a boy
16. I also support Leicester City (The Foxes) and the Leicester Tigers who are the Football (Soccer) and Rugby Football teams for the city in which I was born – Leicester
17. I have managed hundreds of heritage sites across England including, castles, abbeys, palaces, priories, stately homes, follies, churches, chapels, statues, bridges, ancient monuments, stone circles, pre historic sites, mines, bridges, protected landscapes, woodlands, formal gardens, deer parks, public parks, world heritage sites, roman remains and archaeological sites
18. I buy art works and objects for the local museums using money donated by the public due to my position as the Chair of the City of Leicester Museums Trust a voluntary position I have held for nearly ten years
19. I have taken all my family holidays in the UK for the last 12 years because there is so much I have yet to see
20. I travel abroad for my work and I both love it and hate it, love to travel to see new places but hate travelling, so boring and uncomfortable (mentally and physically)
21. I don’t have a middle name
22. My band Relevant Elephant are semi retired. Work and family commitments of the band members has meant we have not produced anything new for a couple of years – understandable but regrettable
23. I love toasted bread products for breakfast; toast, crumpets, muffins, bagels, scotch pancakes, croissants, pain au chocolat, etc. etc. I don’t really like cereal apart from Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and my home made muesli (since writing this I have been diagnosed gluten and dairy intolerant, so now I don’t eat these breakfast items (very often) any more) I like a bowl of gluten free porridge with some dried cranberries thrown in
24. I like to go roller skating
25. I produce music mixes and the odd radio show so that I can share my music tastes as much as possible
26. I don’t really have any fears or phobias
27. I don’t really have any celebrity crushes or popular icons
28. I don’t know if these two things are related
29. Sometimes I see things so clearly and in absolute focus that I am blind to what is really happening
30. I am a culture vulture which is just another name for a geek but a geek with multiple areas of interest, maybe I am just a renaissance man