Motorcycling
I am the proud owner of a
Ducati 748 BP, most definitely one of my
favorite things. My Ducati lives in Manchester and I tend to just
ride it for fun & and in fair weather. I can be occasionally
spotted zipping around the Lancashire country roads usually following a carbon-fibred MV
Augusta SPS (the pic on the left is me by the way). Thoroughly bitten
by the biking-bug, I have also got myself a Honda CBR600 as a runabout
around Surrey - I'm looking forwards to getting between meetings a lot faster this summer!
Much as I love my 748, I have been unfaithful and recently ordered
what I believe to be the last
Ducati Desmosedici RR
to be sold in the UK. The 250BPH, 175KG, 213MPH monster is, quite simply, the best motorbike on the road.
I shall have to graduate to the MV first before mounting the beast though!
Flying
I am very fortunate in that I have a Private Pilot's Licence for Helicopters and am able to fly Bell 47s and
Bell 206 Jetrangers.
Sadly I do not get to do as much flying as I would like but I hope to be able to carry on trundling around the skies now and then! I am also interested in light aircraft aviation as a whole.
SCUBA
SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Aparatus) diving is one of my favorite activities!
I am a qualified PADI Rescue Diver and adore underwater digital photography (some examples here).
There is something very "zen" about stalking one's prey with a camera underwater; slowly, stealthily sneaking up on the local fauna and then scaring them half to death with a flash. ;)
I am a bit of a chicken though and only tend to dive in warm climbs. I have dived in and around the Red Sea, Turks & Caicos islands, St. Lucia., Jamaica and the Bahamas, and I hope to visit the Great Barrier reef within a few years.
Skiing
As well as being a fairly new but very enthusiastic Alpine (downhill) skiier I am also a fairly acomplished cross-country skiier, and have spent quite a bit of time pootling around the Swiss, Italian and French mountains (some pics). My favorite location for downhill is Whistler Blackcomb in British Columia, Canada (some pics from there).
Last time I was there though I actually tried a bit of snow boarding. I broke my wrist on the first day, concussed myself and broke a rib on the third day, but refused to give in until my 'boarding partner broke his arm properly on the 4th day at which point I went back to join the sane people on skiis - Goodness what a relief that was! To those considering snow boarding I say this; It Hurts!
Water sports
I rather enjoy a bit of sailing (especially hobie cats), water-skiing and wind-surfing but I am fairly rubbish at all of them.
Science
I've always been a bit of a science-nerd and try to keen up to date with the latest developments in a rather strange set of fields; General medicine, Neuroscience, Immunology, Information & communications technology (ICT), and the Physics of the very large (eg. Astrophysics), the very small (eg. Quantum electrodynamics) and the theories that might bring the two into harmony (eg. Loop quantum gravity).
Movies / TV Sci-Fi
Who isn't?! I do try to know a little more than the average cinema-goer about which directors, producers & actors are hot, and keep an eye on some of the less visited genres, but in truth I mainly just like an excuse to sit on my bum and be passively entertained for a couple of hours! I'm also a big fan of a number of Sci-Fi series, including Dr. Who
(yes, that's me hugging a Dalek on the right), Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1.
Online gaming
I am a reformed MMORPG addict, and spent a truly staggering amount of time battling Evil (or sometimes battling Good!) in realms such as City of Heroes and World of Warcraft (some pics). I kicked the habit a couple of years ago now, but occasionally get twitchy fingers and have to go and blow things up with a quick blast on Counterstrike or Unreal Tournament.
