I am a pike fisherman for my troubles. There is nothing like sitting on a riverbank watching the wildlife then geting a bite on your line.I have seen kingfishers, otters,foxes ,hares and owls, plus the odd fish or two

... Until the unexpected and very (welcome) birth of my third daughter Rosie. Now it's just music. 'Who knows where the time goes'.

dinosaurs.

it actually is this music lark that eats my "spare" time. Do cooking, eating, drinking and dining count, as degrees of essential? Apart from music mags, the only other "special interest" reads are food and drink related.

I play guitar, play gigs less frequently than I'd like, but can't work out why I'd ever hang up my rock & roll shoes.

I stand in front of a full length mirror wearing a beret and a false beard and read passages from the Qur'an.

but Aqua Aerobics on a sunday. Most of my mates think I am strange for wanting to participate in a 'ladies' sport but they should try it - it really is great fun and the view ain't bad either. Apart from that really just Music, Birmingham City, Restaurants and travel.

I try to make time every week for snooker, golf and chess.

I also like to play (with my) guitar and read but my main hobby is binge drinking.

Gigs, festivals, listening to music, writing and recording music, books, cinema, TV box sets....

take some photographs and also do some volunteering locally. I don't count cooking, reading or walking as hobbies but the sensible pursuits of any civilised being. I've been known to take a drink and read poetry well for the reasons you read poetry.

According to all the traffic warning signs which have recently sprung up around the place the FOS is on in a fortnight's time.

as hobbies. Anything `Word` associated. Red wine. Tai Chi. Catching up with `The Wire` on council telly. Did I say red wine.

A common response when I tell people that I fold paper for a hobby is for them to affect a dodgy Asian accent and reply: “Ah, the ancient art of origami.” I have decided that the next person who does this is going to find themselves on the receiving end of a vicious paper cut to the eyeball.

While Origami has probably existed in a basic form since the 6th or 7th century, most of the development has occurred during the last 80 years, with much of this taking place within the last two decades. If there has ever been a golden age of paper folding then we are living in it.

We owe the revival of what was for centuries a traditional folk art to one man: In the 1920s Akira Yoshizawa – a technical draftsman by profession - used Origami to teach his underlings the principles of geometry. He later designed a set of universal symbols (subsequently refined by other folders) that allowed Origami instructions to be easily understood. Yoshizawa’s crowning achievement was the technique of wet folding, where the paper is folded while slightly damp. This allows softer, less angular folds to be made, resulting in the formation of more realistic three-dimensional models. It’s hard to imagine modern Origami without this technique.

In his lifetime Yoshizawa met with visitors from America and Europe who had expressed an interest in his work. It was these meetings that introduced Origami to a wider audience and inspired people from scientific and engineering backgrounds to attempt their own designs.

Robert J Lang - a former laser physicist turned professional Origamist - is typical of this new breed of paper folder. My attempt at folding his Tree Frog can be seen above. In addition to his repertoire of animal origami, Lang has applied the principles of the art form to more practical purposes. His most notable achievement in this area is the work he did on the proposed Eyeglass space telescope, whose 100 metre lens is collapsed into a rocket for transportation, but is designed to unfold in space in a way that leaves no sharp creases that might damage the effectiveness of the device.

I first became interested in Origami in 1997. At the time I was travelling through a lot of strange countries and was looking for a way of befriending people that transcended the language barrier. I memorized a few very simple designs and taught them in cafes and bus stations. These turned out to be particularly popular in the Yemen Republic; the Bedouin I met loved John Montroll’s Dromedary. As a rule you should avoid replications of the human figure in Islamic countries.

A lot of contemporary origami is extremely complex. It is common for fish, snakes and dragons to sport scale patterns which have been folded into the model. Insects typically appear with a full compliment of legs, antennae, antlers and spurs.

The price of this realism is that Origami has lost some of its soul. The more complicated models are generally very tedious to assemble and the emphasis is very much on the end result. For me Origami is an end in itself. I like the folding sequence to flow with an unforced poetry, where even complex folds seem to fall naturally into place, as if the paper moving along the grain of the universe.

on 'World at War' on XBox. Anyone gone past Round Seven of the final stage- 'Nazi Zombies'??

at Kemble airday watching big noisy aeroplanes, having done the same last Sunday at Cosford. BUT, I didn't take a notebook for the numbers.....I'm only there to admire the technique of the wingwalkers, honest.

http://www.aerosuperbatics.com/Profiles/

Spend far more time going to gigs, watching football, reading, listening to music and dreaming of winning the lottery.

on & off road, probably 100+ miles a week. Usually followed by my other hobby which is beer so at least I stay weight neutral.

About to start training again for my 3rd Marathon

Reading this bloody blog! It takes ages.

Other than that, the usual CV fodder. Reading, playing football (not often and not well enough), watching the vast array of wildlife our small back garden seems to be encouraging, entertaining and being entertained by my offspring and thinking aboout (but never getting round to) starting my own blog. Guitar gathering dust in loft. Rumours of a uke trio at work though. . . . .