I was born in Warwickshire, England in
1953, left home at 16 when I ran away to sea as a bell boy working for P&O,
and spent 4 years sailing around the world. Which was obviously where I
picked up the cruising bug that lay dormant for many years.
I came to live in Australia in 1972 and,
with the exception of [almost] 4 years that Robyn and I spent working in the
UK in the late 70's living out a desire to manage 'pubs', I have lived here
ever since. I have dual citizenship but consider myself Australian.
Robyn married me in 1975 and we have two
grown up children, Adam and Lea, of whom we are very proud and a
grandson named Sean who we adore.
We have been fortunate to live and work
in some wonderful places including London, Sydney, Darwin, Alice Springs,
and have resided in Perth, Western Australia since 1989.
View on Life ..
I had my personal epiphany several years
ago when family members passed away. I realised at that time that life has
to be about the here and now.
So it was logical that the concepts of
"putting things off" until later or "saving for our retirement" were
questioned, and rejected, and replaced with our own set of operating
criteria and values.
Yes, we have the obligatory retirement
plans in place but we don't spend too much time worrying about it. I spend
my time doing things I enjoy, with Robyn.
Current
Interests ..
Well, as you can see, I am learning how
to build a web site, intellectually challenging and as frustrating as hell.
Like every good boy, that once was
British, I lusted after a Jaguar motor car in British Racing Green, until I
bought one in October 2007. I have dedicated a page to the "Jag".
For a year or two I have been sending out
a newsletter to a group of people that we know and that we met on cruises,
called This Week @Foxland. I have no idea how many people read this but I
know there are some, and that's good enough for me.
Robyn and I take a dance class once a
week. We found ourselves on board cruise chips watching people dance
'properly' and decided that we wanted to do that. We get lot's of great
comments and the odd good natured complaint, such as 'you know you're
causing trouble for the rest of us married men".
I enjoy writing and recently completed a
journalism course. I'm now a card carrying Freelance Journalist. Who knows,
maybe I can earn a living as a cruise writer.
In 2009 we purchased the Master Franchise
rights for Jim's Car Cleaning (Western Australia), so of course I created a
new page to honour the occasion.
