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Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category


New Year’s Resolutions – I think most of us make them in the guilty aftermath of Christmas excess; though we may keep the detail to ourselves, ensuring that there is only one person to admonish us when we sink into a pit of drinking, eating and smoking on 5th January.

I’ll confess that I always make them – most of the usual suspects such as losing weight, getting/keeping fit, drinking less and being nicer to people.  Sadly, the last one is always the most difficult because it is so rarely reciprocated in this country. Quit smoking?  I accomplished that one thirty seven years ago.

So here’s a brief report on my performance so far, with my personal rating (1-5) of how I’m doing – which I think is rather well.

Lose weight – almost eight pounds in the three weeks since I adopted the latest Weight Watchers diet.  I hoped to lose at least a stone before our holiday in March, so I am comfortably on course to exceed that goal.  4

Keep fit – been to gym three times a week, which has had the added benefit of making our membership better value for money that it has sometimes been.  Plenty of walking too, not just everyday but regular countryside rambles at the weekend.  The latter have been thwarted so far by the weather but we plan to tread the fields and woods on Sunday this week.  Doubtless, it will finish miraculously adjacent to a warm , inviting pub, which will place unbearable pressure on the first resolution above.  But still, doing well.  4   

Write, write, write – the first objective was to setup the blog and then to post on it regularly, which has been achieved.  The specific aim of launching the San Francisco related series is also coming along well.  Much work to do on the quality, and preparations for the vacation diary need to be stepped up, but otherwise, quite pleasing.  4

So all three (principal) resolutions firmly intact after the first, crucial, month.   

And finally, in the immortal words of Joey, the Matt LeBlanc character in Friends, “how you doin”?.

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I have presumed that anyone visiting this blog might wish to know a bit about its author.  Although the following can also be found under”About” at the top of this page I thought I would post it here too as part of the initial scene setting.

I was born in October 1952 on the day tea rationing ended in Britain (good timing, that) and, as an only child,  enjoyed a happy childhood, revolving mainly around football and cricket.  I had the good fortune of growing up during the sixties, the music of which provided a thrilling soundtrack to my childhood.  I attained a BA (Honours) in English and European Literature at Essex University, writing my dissertation on the novel “At Swim-Two-Birds” by Irish novelist and journalist Flann O’Brien.  This was followed by studying towards an MA in Anglo-Irish Literature at Leeds, majoring on Joyce, Beckett and Yeats and producing a paper on the novels of Patrick Kavanagh (“The Green Fool” and “Tarry Flynn”).

Eventually, I exchanged academia for the last refuge of the modern scoundrel and joined the UK civil service in March 1980.  I subsequently spent 29 years in the Department for Work and Pensions and its many antecedents, latterly in human resources and diversity before securing early retirement in March 2009. 

My interest in travel led me to undertake a Level 3 BTEC Advanced Certificate in Travel and Tourism via home learning.  I completed the course in December 2010, achieving a Distinction in all three elements – understanding the travel and tourism industry, tourist destinations and tour operations).  My ambition now is to concentrate on writing, for which I believe I have some aptitude, and, of course, to publish on a regular basis.  I expect to focus on travel in particular, though I suppose it is the nature of the writing experience, especially for a novice such as I that I may be drawn into other directions. That is part of the excitement of this journey. 

Aside from reading and writing my passions are walking, skiing, cricket (as a member of Kent County Cricket Club), baseball (a fan from afar of the San Francisco Giants), association football (a life long fan of Gillingham), music (principally folk, blues, country and West Coast rock), theatre and eating out.

And, of course, my wonderful wife Janet whom I married in Vegas on Halloween 2009 after 27 years together.  I am grateful for her support and encouragement.

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