The early days
I was born in Southport in 1971 and lived at Formby for a short while before moving to a small village in Buckinghamshire, when Milton Keynes was still a twinkle in a planner's eyes. It wasn't long before the family (that's Mum & Dad and lil' sis, Dawn) shipped off to the United Arab Emirates, following Dad on business. Ex-pat life is fun as a 7-9 year old - swimming, school between 7:30am and 1pm - there was even the time when I mined for oil in the floods, until Mum twigged what I was doing and informed me that it was sewage...
Then we were back - and I was a year ahead of the school system. So roll on private school and all that brought... short shorts as a uniform and the risk the school would be snow-bound in winter! It wasn't long before the rest of the family decamped again, this time leaving me in boarding school and shipping off to Sudan for two years.
I remained at the same school for the rest of my school career, although as a day boy - though it was the type of school that referred to non-boarders as 'gay boys'. O and A-level study was supervised by Mum who decided I'd do better if she returned... Dad meanwhile was out and about all over the world, mainly in the Far East.
Various people looked after me while the 'rents were abroad - especial appreciation must go to James and Betty who were my legal guardians and are still sort of surrogate parents to me.
Then it was all too suddenly the hiatus between school and Uni... I'd had the interviews to follow the life course, apparently chosen at 5 - how could I argue, of a career in medicine.
Most people see their life course change at Uni... Mine was no exception. I found myself confident in myself for the first time in my life, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Holiday work had broadened my shoulders, and the banter broadened my vocabulary!
Uni also taught me a thing or two about failure... given that I barely scraped through the first two years. Once I hit clinical work, there was no problem and most of the learning was through osmosis. They allowed me to do an intercalated BSc year, which Dad kindly funded, and I claimed my first degree - a First in Molecular Biology!
The clinical years saw placements across several hospitals and three counties - and finals. None of these could have been achieved without the support of my new wife, Denise - we married in June 1993.
I also started going to Robert Hall Memorial Baptist Church at the beginning of my Uni life - and have been there ever since. Baptised there on my 20th birthday, married there, on TV there (21st April 1996), and developed many good and lasting friendships through the student group and music group.
And what happens just as we finish decorating the house? After 5 years, we completed the last room, and. bingo, time to move...
A legacy and a bridging loan, as well as the other vendors in the chain buying our little two up two down terrace helped us move in record time, up the road and two rungs up the housing ladder.
I still live in the same house that we moved to - I have persuaded Denise we really didn't need to move after I finished decorating the final room - our ensuite bathroom in the style of a ruined Graeco-Roman temple. And we'd only just had a double-height conservatory fitted too - really must get them back to fix the leaky bit...