Ice breaking

I thought by way of an ice breaker, I would start by providing a small insight into my character by providing a series of Q&As, much like in the style of a teen magazine interview with some boy band hunk or girl band babe. I promise that the journalistic content of my blog will be a little more high brow from here on in, but just for starters, here's me in the comfy chair.

Name
Joe Ashdown

Age
30

Birthday
1 August

Star sign
Leo

Place of birth
Brighton

Place of residence
Brighton

Occupation
Business Support Officer for a charity/housing association in Croydon

Marital status
Unmarried but dating

Education
Second class degree in Business Studies at Brighton University. 9 GCSEs back in the days including a spectacular grade E for German, which unfortunately didn't stand for excellent!

First job
Vocational work placement when I was about 17-18, working in the Social Services Training department's office in Hove. Basically was an office hand.

First car
I haven't had a first car on account of the fact that even now at the age of 30, I've never taken lessons. What's surprising is that I know a few people the same age as me who haven't either.

Best/worst subjects at school/college
English was definitely my best subject throughout school. I wasn't too bad at Maths except my brain never quite got the hang of Pythagoras' Theorem. I enjoyed History and although I was never much good at PE, I usually enjoyed giving it a go. Worst subjects would have been anything that remotely required co-ordination, Home Economics, CDT, that sort of thing.

Favourite colour
Green

Favourite pets
I don't have any pets, but if I had a dog, I think I'd go for a Labrador or a Golden Retriever. Always found cats a bit quirky.

Proudest moment
Hmm, I'd have to say graduating. Hopefully one day when I get married, have children, that sort of thing, I can rewrite the answer to this question.

First holiday abroad
It took me until I was 24 to leave the country when I went to Ireland. A lovely place, which I have been back to a couple of times since.

Best thing about home town
I'm a born and bred Brightonian. I keep being told there's not many of us about, although I think that is not entirely true. The best thing about Brighton, I'd say the Lanes, they really encapsulate the character of the place.

Worst thing about home town
With my sincerest apologies to anyone that is attached to them, seagulls. Not the local football team, but the overweight feathered creatures that like nothing more than to empty the contents of your rubbish for a tasty early morning snack.

Worst hangover
You will have to ask one of my oldest friends for the full details of this but it basically involved me getting rather worse for wear on his stag weekend in Madrid earlier this year. I didn't get up very early the next morning and spent most of the day with a hammering in my head, being reminded of things I did the night before which I couldn't remember.

Favourite alcoholic beverage
I'm most likely to order Guinness if I'm in the pub. Not a great fan of lager, but if I'm somewhere that serves Staropramen, I might give it a go. Czech lager is much better than most of the gassy stuff you normally get. I tend to save wine for meals and special occasions, but I prefer red to white and particularly enjoy the fruity flavoured ones from South America. When I go clubbing (hardly ever these days then) I tend to move on to vodka and cokes when I'm too full for beer.

Favourite non-alcoholic beverage
When I'm at work, I tend to drink a lot of coffee during the course of the week, as my colleagues will testify to. Don't really drink much caffeine at home, but tend to drink water or orange juice. If I'm going round to friends/family, I'll mainly drink tea. Haven't really answered the question, have I? Oh well, coffee just shades it.

Favourite food/meals
Again, I like different food at different times but I would say that anything that involves chicken and pasta will feature quite high on meals I enjoy.

Irrational food intolerances
I suppose the main one would be apples. I've hated them ever since someone handed me one in the reception class at school when I was only about 4 and it tasted horrible. I've never eaten one since.

Musical/artistic talents
Sadly, none. I was in the school recorder class and nearly got slung out for being out of tune! I think artistic talent is something you either have or you don't, and it bypassed me. I would love to learn to play the piano one day, although it is obviously a difficult instrument to master, there is something quite graceful about it which appeals to me.

Foreign languages spoken
Again, none too well. I haven't dabbled in French since I gave it up at 14 years old and my aforementioned grade E in German has not stood me in good stead since! I know a few useful phrases in Czech, Spanish and Swedish, but that's about the height of it.

Favourite musical genres/pleasures
My musical taste is reasonably diverse. I suppose I have particular leanings towards indie/rock type music and there is a reasonable chance that anything from that kind of genre that was released between 1994 and 2001 will be residing on my iTunes. I would count Oasis, Coldplay, Razorlight and The Killers among the bands I like from recent times. I do like older music as well though, both rock and more smoother sounds. I like a lot of U2's back catalogue and have got into the Rolling Stones quite a bit in the last year or two.

Favourite song
Narrowing this down to the choice of one song is hard as there are about 5 or 6 that I could name which have long been among my favourites. If I had to pick one though it would be 'Whole Of The Moon' by The Waterboys. I saw them live about 5 or 6 years ago and when they played that song it brought the house down. A brilliantly written and constructed song which still sounds fresh when it comes on the radio.

Favourite actor/actress
I'd have no hesitation in choosing Robert De Niro as my favourite actor, although Jack Nicholson and Denzel Washington both get honourable mentions. Favourite actress is trickier and without going down the route of picking an actress who I find attractive but whose acting I find consistently good that means a choice of two, Cate Blanchett or Jodie Foster. Blanchett just edges it for me.

Favourite movies
I'd find it harder to name one film that stands out above the crowd, so I will give you a shortlist. Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, Raging Bull, The Hurricane, 48 Hours.

Favourite TV
Not really a great watcher of soaps any more. I tend to enjoy comedy and documentary style programmes the most. Stuff like Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week, Dragons' Den, travelog style programmes with Paul Merton/Stephen Fry/Michael Palin, Coast, those are the programmes I'll make an effort to watch. I enjoy watching quiz programmes to test that my grey matter is still intact. And I shamelessly admit that I enjoy watching Top Gear.

Newspapers read
Mainly the Metro on the train to work, as it is free! The Times on a Monday is good for the sports section and for much the same reason I enjoy The Independent on a Saturday. Both have comprehensive news sections and as they are compact, they don't take up the whole table when you read them.

Favourite sports
I don't really play much sport other than the occasional game of badminton. To watch, football is my first love and I'm a lifelong supporter of Manchester United. Other than football, I also enjoy most mainstream sports, but particularly cricket, tennis, F1, athletics and snooker.

Favourite comedians
Any of the following usually raise a laugh - Frankie Boyle, Russell Howard, Dara O' Briain, Jack Dee, Steve Coogan (when he's playing Alan Partridge), Bill Bailey, Lucy Porter, Jasper Carrott.

Places to visit
So many places to go to that I haven't been to already. Within Europe, would like to check out Germany and Italy. Further afield, would particularly like to visit Japan, Cuba and Australia. Those are just for starters though, there are plenty of other places I would really relish visiting one day.

Hidden talents
I think they may be hidden to me too! I do a line in pretty bad impressions of people which occasionally come to the fore after a few drinks.

Things to do before I'm 40
This is basically an extension of the places to visit response, plenty of travelling. I'd quite like to write a book as well as the more obvious settle down, have a family etc.


So, this is just a short insight into who I am and what I am about. If anyone reading this blog has anything else they wish to ask about my likes/dislikes/ways of being, feel free to ask away and I will do my best to respond as honestly and as humourously as I can.