Welcome to delightful Dapto a suburb of Wollongong just 95 km south of Sydney. I have lived here for nearly 30
years since I transferred from Sydney's Pyrmont
Power Station to work at Tallawarra Power Station on Lake Illawarra. Alas the Power
Station closed in 1989 and has since been demolished but I am still here. (Come to think
of it all the power stations I have worked in have closed - are they trying to tell me
something?)
Wollongong is the best kept secret, beautiful countryside, surf, sand, the lake, the
escarpment, affordable housing. Heaven on a stick... Shhh! don't tell those Sydneysiders
or they will want to come down here too - keep feeding them the story about the steelworks
and the heavy industry.
I was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in the UK where my father was a teacher.
We lived in a bungalow on Undercliffe Avenue at the base of Leckhampton Hill but when I
was about five years old my father obtained a headship at the village Primary School in Wrotham
(pronounced 'root'em'), Kent. For a couple of years we lived in a council house on
Tollgate Estate in Borough Green until my Dad was appointed Headmaster of St Mary's
Primary School in Folkestone
on the Kent Coast. Folkestone in the 1950s and 1960s was a great place to grow up;
tobogganing down Sugar Loaf Hill in winter, swimming in summer, exploring The Warren and
investigating the area's innumerable wartime tunnels and relics - it was just so much fun.
Of course there was a downside, I had to go to school, I attended Christ Church Primary
School and the Harvey Grammar School. I can't say I ever enjoyed school and it was a great
relief to be able to leave just after turning 16 having taken my GCE 'O' levels to take up
an apprenticeship with Post Office Telephones. What a difference, I loved just about every
minute of this job and ended up as a technician at Tolsford Hill Radio Station.
In 1966, I immigrated to Australia on an assisted passage (thanks). I spent a wonderful
couple of years alternating between living in Sydney and travelling the east coast of
Australia from Cooktown to Melbourne (the days of full employment). What fun life was (and
still is), wouldn't be dead for quids.
At the end of 1968 I returned to
England on the P & O ship SS Himalaya, the trouble with the oceans are that they look
exactly the same in the middle as they do at the edge anyway the trip cured me of any
inclination to roam the seven seas. Back in England I worked for a few years as a
Technical Officer on microwave radio transmission at the Post Office
Tower in London before again leaving in 1972 to spend a year travelling through Europe
and Asia. Since then I have lived in Sydney, Canberra (briefly) and even spent about a
year back in London but after 1976 have rarely left Australia.
My hobbies are based around cycling and computers. My first computer was a Dick Smith
System 80 bought in 1980, since then I have graduated via a Commodore 64 and a much loved
128D to the various incarnations of IBM clones. For ten years I ran a public access
Bulletin Board called Powerhouse BBS.
I have been cycling on and off all my working life, though there have been long periods
of "off". However it is only in the last few years that I have bought a halfway
decent bike but even then they all cost well short of $1000. My bikes are nothing special,
after a back operation I bought a Shogun Metro SE, a hybrid,
because I was unable to cope with the higher gearing of my racing style road bikes. I
needed something more comfortable and the Metro seems to have been the right buy. See My Bikes page for more details of my other bikes.
As well as cycling I enjoy reading, listening to music (ranging from rock to opera),
attempting the cryptic crossword in the Sydney Morning Herald (OK, the Sudoku and Unisol
as well), listening to ABC radio, watching a bit of TV (usually ABC or SBS though less of the latter since they put adverts in the programs)
and as a season ticket holder I occasionally attend the odd theatrical or musical performance at the Illawarra
Performing Arts Centre.
Over the years I have become totally disillusioned with the main political parties,
especially the ALP (Another Liberal Party)
who forced the real Liberal Party even further to the right and speeded up our
transformation from a society to an economy. To be honest apart from not voting for either
of them and writing the odd letter to the local MPs I have done little about it until the
Liberal Government's mean spirited castration in 1996 of our national broadcaster moved me
to join the Friends of the ABC
(big deal eh?). About the only thing that the appalling Pauline Hanson got right was putting the sitting member last because
only marginal seats get any attention from politicians. Especially the time servers, seat
warmers and party hacks installed in safe seats these days.
Apart from the hollow men (and women) with cash register hearts who currently run this
country I also dislike tidying up, house painting and mowing grass... Um, perhaps I should
rent a flat.
What Next?
After 18 years working for BlueScope Steel (formerly BHP) at the Port
Kembla steelworks and despite the Howard government's policy of working until you drop I
realised that, with an impending third back operation,
retirement seemed to be my best option. In fact I actually stopped work at the beginning
of August 2007 and used up my six months annual and long service leave before finally
severing links with the company at the end of February 2008.
Since then I have been
spending money like it is going out of fashion. I suddenly realised that most of my home
equipment such as mower, edger, BBQ etc are over 20 years old and frankly they are
knackered. Am replacing them in the hope that the new ones will last as long; I suspect
that at 80 mowing the lawn will become a purely academic exercise.
Another thing my impending retirement made me realise was how daft it was
driving around, usually by myself, in the 8 seater people mover that I bought when the
kids were little. To cut a long story short I bought myself a relatively cheap, ugly,
small car with a tiny 1.5 litre engine which has the added bonus that it will help me cope
with the higher petrol prices. It has all the things the Luddite in me tried to avoid in
the past - auto gearbox, power steering, central locking, air conditioning, electric
windows etc. Oh well, I guess I will get used to them. I must admit I love the way the
wing mirrors fold up against the body when you park it, I am sure I have nearly run the
battery flat demonstrating this feature to people (simple things?).
My Kids
My wife decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and buggered off
several years ago allowing me to divorce her and fulfil a life long ambition to be a
grumpy old man. As it happened not all my children agreed with her and the two eldest soon
returned while the youngest remained with her until a few years ago when he too came to
live with me. This was the state of affairs until fairly recently but now they have all
gone their separate ways and only visit me on the weekends.
Katie finished Year 12 at Dapto High School at
the end of 2004 and after working as a shift manager at Pizza Hut became a store manager
for Subway. In February 2009 she moved with her boyfriend to live in Canberra. After a
short period managing a Subway store followed by a period as an Assistant
Manager for a well known bookshop in Queanbeyan she now works processing
visas and passports.
She and Geoff have just bought their own
house.
Christopher has finally left school where he was
wasting his (and everybody else's) time. He plays the drums and is mad keen on body
boarding. Actually he enjoys most things as long as they don't involve any reading or
writing. He seems to have found a niche working as a barman for the time being. Oh... car
salesman... Telemarketer... Chef... I can't keep up.
He settled down for a while as a bar tender and cocktail waiter at Hostage X in
Wollongong.
Finally he found the need for a more permanent career and he has followed Andrew into
the Royal Australian Navy. He graduated on the 13th August 2010 and seems to be enjoying
the life immensely.
Andrew used to live with his mother but a few years
ago came to live with me, his brother and sister (June '05). Last year (2007) finished
Year 12 at St Joseph's High School in Albion Park. He has the best looking wavy, brown
hair which, unfortunately, is kept cropped short and plastered with hair gel - he hates it
so much!
After several years working for Pizza Hut after school he now has a part time
job as a checkout chick(?) at Coles to provide the necessities of teenage life - essential
items such as an Ipod and a mobile phone with a camera.
Andrew is now stationed at HMAS Waterhen after joining the Royal Australian Navy as a
CSOMW. The life seems to agree with him.
Recently he bought a motorbike (madness) and keeps it here while he becomes a more
skilled rider.
Welcome to delightful 
At the end of 1968 I returned to
England on the P & O ship SS Himalaya, the trouble with the oceans are that they look
exactly the same in the middle as they do at the edge anyway the trip cured me of any
inclination to roam the seven seas. Back in England I worked for a few years as a
Technical Officer on microwave radio transmission at the 
