My main interest is also my sport: Tai Chi Chaun, which translates as "the supreme ultimate". I have been a Tai Chi player for at least 10 years and in the autumn of 2001 progressed to advanced level by being tested by a panel of instructors. Tai Chi not only gives the body a workout with stretching the muscles and breathing correctly, it teaches the player an inner peace and confidence in themselves. All 'macho' is left at the door of the practice hall when we meet and for Tai Chi to work properly, the player must wait until he/she is attacked. The biggest defence we have is that of 'not being there', read and defuse the situation and use the skills as a last resort.

Classes are usually defined as Health & Relaxation and Full Corriculum. As the name implies, Full teaches all the martial aspects of Tai Chi as it is a combat art probably derived from Chinese Boxing. The Health & Relaxation syllabus may hide the martial aspect as it emphasises the alignment of the body, breathing, massage and the circulatory system. If you are interested in classes in the West & Central Belt of Scotland, follow these links: http://www.7stars-taichi.co.uk & http://members.lycos.co.uk/sevenstars7/ where you will find information of the location of the Seven Stars School of Tai Chi Chaun. Classes in the rest of the UK can be found on the web site of the Tai Chi Union of Great Britain, if the school is not listed there, then it is one that is not registered and could therefore be of a low standard: http://www.taichiunion.com

My other relaxation is reading, mainly Science Fiction & Science Fantasy, favourite author is Terry Pratchett and his Disk World novels. If you want a grin per page, chuckle every 2 pages and an unstoppable belly laugh at least once per chapter, then this is the required reading for you, start with The Colour of Magic, which sets the scene very nicely.

While at college one, of my subjects required that I wrote a program to allow someone to monitor a Holiday Homes Business (fictional). I called this 'Holiday Homes Scotland' and to give an edge to the program, I designed a basic web site for advertising the locations of the holiday homes. It has a general description of some of the areas of Scotland, if you have never visited the Highlands and Royal Deeside it will give you some 'taster' information.