Who's That? In Byron Bay Today

1. Name, ......AKA

Graham Mathews aka Yogi

2. Where were you born?

Leicester (UK) 15/03/4

3. How do you prefer to make your living?

I do this mix of accounting work which I love and teaching yoga which balances both sides of my brain.

4. What do you do for fun when you're not surfing?

Hang out. Teach yoga. Talk D & A recovery with people in the firm.

5. What's your dream car or bike?

911 Porsche (any age) I ride a scooter on steroids (a bright red Italian Gilera 500cc, the ultimate urban transport.

6. What's your favourite surfing memory?

Standing at the car park at the point at Angourie on a Saturday morning watching a dozen guys and girls "taking turns: as lines of corduroy just rolled around the corner.

7. If you could eat whatever you want, without ever getting tubby what you indulge in?

I can and I do

8. Who's the funniest looking politician you're ever seen?

John Howard pinched my eyebrows, I have to trim them regularly to avoid looking like an old conservative wanker!

9. Everyone's got a talent for something, what's yours?

Natural comedian when I get going.

10. When's the most inappropriate moment that you've burst into laughter?

I had this bad habit of cracking up at school when I was being disciplined. I inherited it from my mother who used to laugh when I hit my head on something or fell over somewhere. Bad case of mixed up signals. Actually I was afraid of conflict.

11. What's your most embarrassing moment, that you're willing to share?

Probably some totally embarrassing sexual experience as a teenager - I'm not going there.

12. What do you listen to in the mornings?

ABC Classic FM radio (showing my age) I love rock music but I can't work to it.

13. What floats your boat, makes you happy and gives you Joy?

Being able to support, nurture, assist in some way family, friends, others in recovery.

14. What gets your goat, gets up your nose, makes your blood boil?

Injustice, ignorance (particularly on the part of public servants exercising authority mindlessly without thinking of the impact on the humans on the receiving end of their actions). I learnt this at boarding school in England where all authority seemed to be exercised mindlessly.

15. How do you feel about the world's obsession with celebrity?

When you reach a situation where O J Simpson's gardener has a "chat show" and Bono flies around the world in a Lear Jet spewing CO2 and at the same time lecturing on the environment................................................................

16. What do you think about surfing bigotry, i.e. judging people by what they ride?

No experience of it strictly a "doormat" rider. Learnt in recovery....."what other people think of me is none of my business". Having grown up in a world where everyone had a judgment about everything all the time I have had to rebel and learn not to have an opinion of anything without having ALL the facts at hand!!

17. If you had the power to change just one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I'd be more spontaneous, more willing to take a leap in the dark, less inclined to live in my comfort zone.

18. If you had the power to change just one thing about the world, what would it be?

I'd cancel all 3 o'clock licences in Byron Bay and have the police enforce a curfew at midnight! The current wave of drug and alcohol fuelled late night madness in this area is a betrayal of everything I've always believed this town stood for. It's part of an anti-culture...the anti-culture of the $$$$$$$$ and it feeds only publicans, fast food operators, and greedy property development people (many of whom, I suspect have no attachment to the town other than their Profit and Loss Account and almost certainly never witness the violence and mayhem their avarice fuels). After that disastrous New Year's Eve some years ago the community pulled together to prevent a recurrence yet nowadays, it seems, we tolerate the same behaviour every Friday and Saturday night and sometimes during the weeknights too.

19. What's the most important thing you want to achieve before you die?

Have some say in the above, even if only as a moderating voice.

20. Describe yourself in 30 words or less.

My God, I can't. You'd have to ask people who know me and have perspective. Generous, loyal, emotional, can be erratic and unpredictable, incredibly funny at times. Arrogant and dismissive to people who I can't understand. Intolerant. Rude. Opinionated.