f4f3 | Five Questions Meme: Q's From Anthrokeight

1) What kind of bike are you riding? Does it meet your bike riding needs?

I have two bikes, both Specialized. I like the Specialized range, for build quality and general looks.

One is a hard-tailed mountain bike, a Rockhopper, and does me well for going off-road, up timber trails and down tricky descents. I don't do those things as often as a I used to, but it's a good bike to have around.

The other is a Tricross, which looks like a sturdy racing bike, with a pannier rack on the back. This is my touring bike. It's designed to be a cross-country racer, so it has skinny tyres and drop handlebars. I've added the rack for panniers, and changed the racing tyres to tougher kevlar lined ones, which are a bit heavier but a lot more puncture proof. It has two sided pedals, with clips on one side to let me use proper cycling shoes. It's a bit harder to get up hills, and won't go off road to any great extent, but it's great for road use - I went flying past my much fitter friend when we were on the flat at the weekend.

Occasionally I think of buying a racing bike (probably this one) but that way lies madness.

2) Of these three things, you must keep one, give one to a friend, and metaphorically throw one off a metaphorical cliff:

Tickets to a Steve Earle concert, standing room only, unlikely, but maybe, you can meet him, but it will be an incredible live show. Probably legendary, in fact.

A bottle of truly spectacular and sadly rare single malt.

A clear night (I know it's a fantasy story here), at Dunadd, guest/s of your choice or alone, the best aurora borealis of the past three decades.

A bit tricky. On the one hand, I want to give the whisky to

unblinkered. On the other, I've been to that legendary gig, at the Barrowlands, and I'd love someone else to have that experience, but I don't know anyone who is as big a Steve Earle fan as I am.
And I want the third for myself.

So,

unblinkeredgets the whisky (and hopefully I get some), I get the night at Dunadd, and the Steve Earle tickets go, hopefully, to someone outside the Barrowlands who couldn't get a ticket but turned up anyway because she was so desperate to get in.

3) Have you ever lit a fire without using a match or lighter? If not, some other interesting but not especially widely applicable achievement you have gained?

Yes, using a magnifying lens - one of my many Swiss Army Knives had a lens, and I was curious if it would work. I can also defend Bird's Opening against Fromm's Gambit, which is definitely a rare and not widely applicable achievement.

4) Did you have to wear a school uniform? What did your uniform look like in secondary school?

Up till 4th year at Secondary school we had to wear grey trousers, blue shirt, and a silver, blue and maroon tie. It looked awful. I never had a blazer, I may have had a maroon jumper. I campaigned against the uniform, and lost.

5) Your nominee for first prime minister of an Independent Scotland?

First prime minister would be the party leader with the biggest share of members of parliament. There's not a vacancy for president, since we'll be keeping Liz as head of state. If there was a vacancy I'd either go for Alisdair Grey or Liz Lochead, for their love of country, and the internationalism of their writing and, for want of a better word, for their wisdom. Maybe we'd need to persaude Al to stop taking his clothes of at parties. Oh, and have this Will Self introduction to a book about him.