Tagged
I got tagged by both Ruth and Colin so thought I'd better make an effort! Here's the Rules:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

These are not necessarily weird facts about me and considering they’re all kind of linked around travel stuff, they’re not necessarily random facts either, but here goes…
1. When I was 16 I travelled alone to Glasgow to stay with cousins for the weekend. This would be no big deal to most 16 year olds today but for me at the time I really thought I was something and loved the freedom of doing my own thing. This is most likely where my love of independent travel came from.
2. The Glasgow trip also gave me a love for train-travel, especially in Scotland.
3. Whenever I listen to Marc Cohn’s ‘Ghost Train’ song on his debut album I always think of the train trip from Stranraer to Glasgow and watching the Galloway hills go past the window.
4. Another great train trip was to the Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Bavaria when I was at uni in Regensburg for 4 months as part of my undergraduate degree. The German rail service was running a special weekend ticket at the time so that 5 people could share a 25DM return ticket on regional trains. So five of us got together and our 7-hour round trip to the castle cost us less than £3 each!


5. The other part of my year abroad was spent in Amiens in northern France. Its claim to fame is a huge cathedral in the same style as Notre Dame but is twice the size.
6. During my year abroad I also managed to visit Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, Colmar, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Pforzheim, Munich, Nuremburg, Pilsen, Prague, Marianske Lazne, Cesky Krumlov, and Salzburg.
7. I had one rather negative experience with the RER trains in Paris when heading to the airport with friends. I confidently stepped onto a train thinking it was the right one when the doors suddenly closed behind me leaving my two friends still on the platform and all I could hear was one of them in true Victor Meldrew fashion, “I don’t believe it!” I had gotten on to the wrong train but as all French people stare (I know this is a sweeping generalisation, but believe me it often felt like it!) I kind of acted as if nothing was wrong but got off at the next stop, then waited for the next train going back to where I’d started so I could get the right train to the airport. This was in the days before everyone had mobile phones so I’d no means of getting in touch with my friends. It took me a few hours before we finally all got caught up with each other at Charles de Gaulle and had a good giggle about it.

I'm now tagging Peter, Neil, Charlie, Erin, Dave, Cate, Emma.

Five best albums 1997-2007
In response to Mark’s post I’d like to offer up my thoughts on the five best albums of the last 10 years. Mind you this one’s tricky, not least because there are loads of good albums to choose from in that time period but also because there’s a difference between what constitutes a good album and what album I might consider a personal favourite! Plus I guess I’m limited to what’s currently in my collection! But for what it’s worth here’s my list:
1. All that you can’t leave behind – U2 – this is just a powerful album musically and lyrically and on a personal level God has spoken to me a lot through this album. It’s always in my MP3 player. Actually Bono’s voice makes me feel at home if that makes sense and if I’m in unfamiliar surroundings or feeling insecure, listening to U2 helps restore my sense of equilibrium.
2. A Rush of Blood to the Head – Coldplay – Hard to choose between this and X&Y but I think AROBTTH really took Coldplay to the next level after Parachutes and much as I love X&Y they lose a point for Speed of Sound sounding so like Clocks (tho’ I like both songs).
3. Play – Moby – I think with the way so many of these tunes were used in popular media for advertising etc just brought these alternative vibes to a wider audience, well that’s what it did for me anyway.
4. Lost Songs ’95-’98 – David Gray – Not sure if this qualifies exactly if the songs were written before ’97 but the album was released in 2001. It’s a very acoustic album so it’s actually my preference over White Ladder.
Man this is getting difficult…
5. Although I’m tempted by the likes of Feeder’s Comfort in Sound, Doves’ Lost Souls, REM’s Up, Madonna’s Ray of Light or Snow Patrol’s Final Straw, I think I’m going to have to go for another U2 album – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb – a seminal piece (I'm only saying that becasue I just felt this post had to have the word 'seminal' in it somewhere. Anyhow it's brilliance as always and it just takes me to a higher place.

Anyone else want to offer up their five best albums of the last 10 years either on their own blog or in the comments?

Well Mark has tagged me, so here's 5 things you may or may not know about me:

1. I once made it onto the front cover of the Farming Life – I think I was about 5 years old, my brother was farming at the time and one of his sheep lambed extremely early, so they took a picture of me holding these two wee lambs one under each arm. High cute factor!
2. I got my tonsils out when I was 17 and came out of the anaesthetic talking to a nurse about a German textbook.
3. My first ever album (an LP – yep, one of those big black round shiny things) was A-Ha’s Hunting High and Low. Morten Harket was my pin-up in my early teens.
4. My other pin-ups in my teens were Philip Schofield and Tom Cruise, oh and I quite liked Michael J Fox too (yes, those were the days of Gordon the Gopher in the Broom Cupboard, Top Gun and Back to the Future!)
   
5. My first ever CD was U2’s Achtung Baby album. When I got stressed out practising the piano I used to play tracks 2, 5, 7 & 8 to get the rage out of my system then moved onto the more mellow tracks before finishing up with ‘One’ and ended up perfectly calm and serene!

Ok, let's spread the love and see if Peter, Pointy, Will, Emma & Dave will divulge some personal trivia!

The tagging thing
Ok, I was zooming round the blogosphere the other night and came across someone who had been tagged with some music questions. So I thought I would share the love and emailed a few fellow soul adventurers (no offence if I didn’t email you, probably just means I don’t have your email address!) to get them in on the action. With hindsight I probably should have answered the questions myself on my blog to get the ball rolling…I’m not very good at this! Anyway here’s my answers to the questions…(feel free to join in on your blog…and if you don’t have a blog…why not?! Yes Mr Allan Grier, what do you have to say for yourself?!)

01. Total volume of music files on my computer?
Zilch actually! Yes I may be the owner of a palm, I may be at ease with computers and blog regularly etc but actually I really haven’t gotten into the whole technological music revolution. I don’t think I could even give a coherent definition for what MP3 files are! I’m quite happy with sticking my CD’s into the CD player or my computer, and I like having tangible CD sleeves to look at. Actually I don’t think my computer could keep up anyway, it’s slow enough as it is.

02. The last CD I bought was?
Athlete’s ‘Vehicles & Animals’, their debut album before the current ‘Tourist’, it was going cheap in Woolies. Haven’t listened to it enough yet to really get a feel for it, but so far it’s a pretty good listen.

03. Song playing right now:
Marc Cohn’s ‘The Rainy Season’ – one of my all-time favourite albums, I love his song-writing.

04. Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me:
Man it’s hard to narrow it down to 5! But here goes (in no particular order)…

Walk on – U2 – blogged about this last year as it became meaningful at a time when I felt like I wanted to give up and walk away from what God was asking me to do. This song helped me to keep going even when it hurt like hell.

Rest for the Weary – Marc Cohn –This song is really mellow, perfect for going to sleep to, or chilling out with a wee glass of wine in a candle-lit room. I’m not wanting to over-spiritualise but it reminds me of Jesus when he said "Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

It’s Ok – Delirious – Love their Mezzamorphis album, there are so many great lines in it that echo my heart’s cries to God. It’s kind of depressing but I think depressing songs are sometimes the best. It’s the line in this song – ‘it’s ok, you know I’ll live to find another way" that reaches me. Sometimes you just need to hear something that recognises something of the pain and struggle in your own heart.

Wires – Athlete – this is an awesome track. I love the way it tells a story – you can see it all playing out in your head and you’re running down the corridors with the guy, you feel the emotions of fear, despair, anxiety…and then suddenly there’s hope, there’s that glorious moment when you know everything’s going to be ok. The string arrangement is brilliant, it’s a really well-produced track, yet beautiful in its simplicity too.

Bittersweet Melody – The Verve – This is has got to be one of the best anthemic tracks of the last few years. It really gets you going and I love it turned right up!

05. Which 5 people are you passing this baton to, and why?
Erm aye well I kind of did that already albeit in a rather technophobic fashion via email!