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I was born in Derby (England) in 1969
and spent the first 18 years of my life there, moving to
Leeds in 1987 to study communication engineering at Leeds
Polytechnic (now Leeds Metropolitan University). I lived
in Helsinki (Finland) for about 12 years, up until early
2002 when I relocated back to the UK with my company.
I'm a happily married man (cliche, I know, but true all the same), with no children and none planned just yet. I am a firm believer that refraining from smoking, drinking and food that is remotely enjoyable, does not necessarily make you live longer, but will certainly seem like it. Personally, I'd rather enjoy the finer things in life even if it means I might have a shorter time in which to enjoy them. This attitude no doubt shows in the size of my belly! |
During the course of my studies I had the opportunity to spend a year out at Helsinki University of Technology (Finland) on the Linkage Program in pulp and paper technology. I was lucky enough to be selected for this expedition and spent fourteen months in 1989/1990 studying and working in Finland. After completing my degree back at Leeds in 1991 I immediately returned to Finland and was there right up until February 2002.
I am currently working designing automation, robotics and machine-vision software systems for an international company, before that I was designing development tools for PLC programming in a small automation company.
I speak fairly fluent Finnish although that's probably not of any interest to anyone, unless you happen to be one of the five million other people who do. I have heard people in England make comments like, "bloody foreigners, they come and live here and can't even speak our language", and I didn't want Finnish people saying that about me. So, I made a determined effort to learn Finnish in order to appear less ignorant than I actually am!
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In the summer of 1994 I was fortunate
enough to meet a lovely wee Scottish lassie, Lynne (photo
opposite), in a Helsinki department store cafe - small
world! We quickly got engaged and were married in the
summer of 1999 in Derby. Lynne was living in Finland almost as long as me and was working as a teacher in an English kindergarten. I think one of the reasons we make such a good couple is that she know's exactly how to handle children and I'm just a big kid! |
I have a large music collection ranging from folk and jazz through to progressive rock and heavy metal. I tend to listen to music wherever I go as I have a mid to high-end system at home, the Jaguar premium system in the car and a great little Denon and B&W system in my lab at work and a Sony and Stax headphone system at my desk in the main office. In an average day, I'll probably listen to about ten hours of music, hence the need for my ever expanding CD collection.
When I was very young I played violin in a couple of orchesteras but gave it up when I was in my teens. Now that I hear the likes of Jean-Luc Ponty and the Dixie Dregs I wish I'd kept playing it. Anyway, I took up the bass in 1989, a different instrument but still has four strings so not completely alien to me. I have been playing in various local bands ever since, most recently with Kaleidoskooppi, a funky progressive rock four-piece. Unfortunately since our move back to the UK, it's a little too far to travel for rehearsals, so I no longer play with them. A great band and a good bunch of guys, I miss them.
At some point, I will make a determined effort to find a band in the Manchester area. So, if you're a progressive rock band, writing your own material and in need of a bassist, let me know!
When you get to my age, memory starts to fail and I need a back up plan. I've been using various Psion palmtop computers for several years to organise my life. Being a professional software designer, I have also written various programs for the machines, the ones that may be useful to others are available as freeware for download from my Psion pages. For an idea of what can be done with these machines, take a look at what I use my Psion for, you might well be surprised.
I have now moved away from Psion machines in favour of the Nokia 9210i communicator, which I find extremely useful and as it's a phone too, means I always have it in my pocket rather than being lazy and leaving it on my desk like I often did with my Psions. I tend to make more used of the communicator for just this reason.
I've wanted a Jaguar for about as long as I can remember and at last became the proud owner of my first one in 2000 and I am now on my second - check my Jaguar page for a peek. I am a member of the Jaguar Enthusiast's Club and a participant on the JagTalk message board. If you own a modern Jaguar, I encourage you to check out JagTalk, it's become a nice little home for many of us. Unfortunately, due to pressure of work, I don't have time to visit much these days.
I have been a licenced radio amateur since 1987. I was quite active in the hobby for a couple of years, being secretary of my polytechnic amateur radio club. However, when I moved to Finland I left the hobby behind me as my move was only intended to be a temporary one and it didn't seem worthwhile organising a reciprocal licence at the time.
Since my return to the UK, I have taken up radio once again. I am mainly active on UK FM Group Western repeaters during my work journeys, but am using the radio more and more from home. I feel privelidged to have made some good friends via amateur radio and the radio bug has bitten me once again!
I've been enjoying hand made cigars (mainly Havanas) for a few years now and it's become quite a hobby of mine. I have a modest collection of two or three hundred cigars which I carefully age for at least a year before I smoke them. A good cigar is definitely one of finer things in life. If you're interested in cigars, check my (hopelessly undermaintained) cigar page.
I've long been a fan of good whisky but even more so these days. My wife hails from Scotland and whenever we visit it's always fun to sample the local produce. I've visited the Glenturret and Edradour distilleries recently and would highly recommend them. I think our bar has more bottles of whisky than anything else, I counted 17 the other day. Having said that, I'm not a big drinker, which probably explains why this many bottles have managed to survive for so long.
Obviously having lived in a foreign country suggests that I enjoy travelling and I do. Unfortunately most of our holiday allocation was spent back in the UK visiting friends and family. We did get to visit other places though, and being in Finland was a perfect base for exploring Scandanavia and the Baltic countries. Since returning to the UK, we hope to be travelling a bit more.
This page was last updated 19-01-2004