Sixty Second Interview

I’m in Brighton this week. And, what, with 24hr electricity, TV and enough cafés and restaurants with a view of the seafront, I’ve had time to relax my mind.

Well, since some have said that my blog is a bit on the heavy side, and because I’ve been reading proper, I mean, proper newspapers and broadsheets all week, I once again came across the Sixty Second Interview and so I thought I’d try one on Ms TheArtofLivingRuka:

What do you know for sure? That God is.

Favorite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Nobody should live and die without reading that book.

On a desert island who or what would you want with you: The Holy Spirit and my BlackBerry

Where and when you recently knew complete happiness: Lagos, November 2008 – an old friend, now based in Dubai and who I had not seen for a decade, visited. We had lunch with two other mutual friends at Piccolo Mondo – hugging, crying, chatting, laughing, and reminiscing. It was delightful. Those were three hours of my life that I would repeat over and over and over again.

Favorite place: Honestly? I’d have to say Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, both in Tanzania. Dar is for me the location of bliss, delight and pure comfort. The seafront eating places, the quaint buildings in town, the easy going generally quiet pace, and of course my ‘family’ in Dar (friends from University days). And Zanzibar? My goodness. What words? Un-spoilt, beautiful and traditional almost to a fault, and yes, very quaint.

The peculiarity you most dislike in yourself? Gosh, so many! The most? What about being excessively guarded and deliberative?

The trait you most dislike in others? Arrogance and self-importance

What do you most guard? My peace and joy

If wishes were horses, next leisure destination? The Mount Nelson, Cape Town, South Africa – preferably during the next Cape Town Jazz festival

Favorite restaurant: Sky Bar and Restaurant, Lagos; La Taverna Tropicana, Accra on a Friday or Saturday night; La Chaumiere, Accra; and the New Federal Palace Hotel, on the terrace, on a lazy Sunday afternoon

What gets up your skin? Social injustice

What draws you to a person? Sincerity, warmth, kindness, honesty and intellectual depth.

Motto: fight the good fight of faith

Who would you pay to spend an hour with: but you know I spend every second of every hour with my Father, right? So long as that's understood! Besides Him, at this moment, only Jimmy Dludlu comes to mind. He doing his stuff on the guitar, me listening and thanking God for the moment. But then of course there’s Bishop Desmond Tutu, Oprah Winfrey, Bishop T D Jakes……

What is your latest trivial worry: I am exercising harder than I've ever done (well, to my mind I am) and yet it takes like forever to lose one kilo...