Statistics

So who am I then? Well this selection will go part way to answer that...

Name:

Star Sign:

Chinese Calendar:

Marital Status:

Height:

Weight:

Here is a bit of fun - an analysis of my name

This description of me is spookily accurate, especially if compared to a description of a Libran! If you want to do an analysis of your own name go to Kalabrians. 

(The highlighting is mine - the bits that I think are true!)

The name of Philip gives you a very idealistic nature. Your desire for peace and harmony causes you to withdraw from situations where there is friction and acrimony. You are quite reserved and inclined to feel sensitive and self-conscious, even though you strive to appear poised and confident. Being rather secretive in many ways, and not liking people to pry into your affairs restrict opportunities for friendship; not until you feel you can trust others do you open up to them. The desire to help others and the generous side of your nature attract those who take advantage of you. You lack the necessary aggressiveness for business success. While you lack verbal expression and spontaneity under this name, you have a natural literary ability and writing comes easily to you. You also have a deep appreciation of nature and all the finer things in life. Weaknesses in the health arising from the use of this name affect the respiratory organs, and the nervous system.

A few of My Favourite Things

This is not exactly "raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens", but the idea is the same. There are a number of links for you to follow if you can be bothered.

(Some things are covered on the separate page of links)

Food

Fruit - during the summer there are days when I eat nothing else (raspberries and apricots are joint #1; then bananas, strawberries, nectarines, satsumas, mango, melon... ok I admit it there is hardly a fruit I don't like);
Cheese - especially French Brie with tomato and basil (hmm yum!) and Gorgonzola (which doesn't have a good web link - perhaps the smell put people off;
Potatoes (baked; roast; boiled - you name it);
Bread;
Pasta;
Fish and Chips;
Ice-cream;
Nuts - particularly Cashew.

I am also a non-meat eater - simply because I do not like meat.

Drink

Water (honest - I love water);
Fruit Juice;
Milk;
anything cold (but non-alcoholic).

Films

Truly, Madly, Deeply;
The Italian Job;
the whole (well almost all)
Carry On series;
Starwars series;
Indiana Jones series (Harrison Ford);
Austin Powers series (the humour is so 'Carry On');
almost every musical (though I draw the line at the Sound of Music!);
anything (almost) with Margaret Rutherford in it.

Books

To be honest I am addicted to reading and have a wide ranging taste in books, as the groaning shelves in my sitting room could tell you. However if I was having to select for a desert island library, here are some I would definitely have:

The Hobbit;
Lord of the Rings;
Medieval Murder Mysteries (lots);
Terry Pratchett's Disc World series;
anything by Dorothy L. Sayers;
most Dickens;
a recent development - Agatha Christie;
E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia series;
Road Maps and Atlases (strange one but I love looking through them);
Dictionaries (not much of a story - but the words!):
Biographies
Sherlock Holmes stories.

Music

Almost anything! I have a large collection of CDs (somewhere in the region of 600). However, particular favourites are:

Almost everything by Mozart and Scarlatti (playing with this page);
Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor;
Handel's Zadock the Priest;
Copeland's Fanfare for the Common Man;
Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody;
everything by Savage Garden;
almost anything from the 1930s and 1940s;
everything by Glenn Miller.

Collections

If I'm honest, I collect collections! However here are a few details:

David Winter Cottages (now discontinued);
Elephants (wood; crystal; metal; stone; any material and almost any size);
Buddhas;
Guan Yin statuettes;
West Highland Terrier figures;
Mice figures.

Places

Garden centres;
Warwickshire;
Paris;
the sea;
the Malvern Hills;
Plas Newydd on Anglesey;
Castle Howard in Yorkshire;
Le Touquet in France;
Normandy in France;
bed!

MISCELLANEOUS

Modern architecture;
red cars;
the paintings of Bruegel the Younger;
the horse paintings of Stubbs;
ties (though I haven't worn one since December 2001);
the internet;
blue objects in the garden (which you will know if you have already viewed the garden pages);
yellow flowers;
windy days;
rain (if I am lying in bed listening to it);
storms (there is something primeval about thunder and lightning)
Autumn;
sunsets.

• 
  Some Things I Dislike
  

People who blow their cigarette smoke towards me;
Curry;
loud music;
waste of any sort;
the Monarchy (I'm a definite republican);
football (well if I'm honest, sport in general);
people who drive badly (I'm not the world's best driver - but I'm safe);
Magpies (murderous brutes!);
most modern and contemporary art (particularly Damien Hirst);
barbeques;

I could go on...but enough is enough!

Well, I think that is enough about me! Thanks for sticking with it this far.