Picking blueberries in Coticule-country the year before last:
I'm from The Netherlands and in the past 15 years or so I've been - to name just a few things to stimulate your imagination - in no particular order: foreign student (eg. in Japan and the UK), coordinator custom training at the country's oldest language institute, unemployed for two separate years (self-chosen and waiving social benefits), chair of a district council, operating room cleaner at a military hospital, designer of my parents' new German garden, state auditor of decentralized welfare and unemployment benefit services, founder of a >1000 residents' committee, polling station president, hotel manager, singer in a symphony choir, voluntary Dutch language and culture teacher for exchange students, management information officer at a university, appointed governmental advisor for estate renovation and preservation, bin man.
Preferred pastimes: cycling, hiking, dining with friends, reading and gardening
Actual pastime: reading internet fora
Favourite musical style: baroque
Attitude towards organized sports: amazement at all the pointless fuzz
Marital status: bachelor
Religious affiliation: Restored Reformed Church
Car: 1998 Rover 618 Si
Bike: 2002 Shimano XT fitted Koga Miyata RoadRunner 'Pike'
Cherished poem: Los Justos (Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) in La Cifra (1981))
Likes to quote: "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people who think they're superior. It makes it so much harder for people like
us, who
are" (Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances)
Envies: old-fashioned craftsmen, honest and sustainable creators of the useful, handsome and lasting
Now reading: Hammerstein oder der Eigensinn. Eine deutsche Geschichte. (Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Suhrkamp 2008)
Spends money on: food, drink, cigars, books, high end tools and cutlery, bespoke clothing - and natural hones