as recorded by Rachel (age 3 1/4)
| as recorded by Rachel (age 3 1/4) |
 |
The years keep rolling by in
that ever accelerating fashion, but 2015 saw a radical
change in that on January 6th, for the first time for 40
years, I woke up without a job to go to. I had taken
advantage of an offer to part ways with IBM, where I had
worked since late '98, to give me time to do what I
wanted. I'd been a computer person for quite a long time. I was on my Cobol course when Maggie Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister; I installed my first LAN in 1984; I spent well over a decade espousing SOA and latterly I was involved in the the impact of mobile and social business. I like to list my interests
as Life, the Universe and Everything. After all - what
less is there ? Work and family were the
predominant occupiers of my time, but now with increased
time for travelling on holidays, walking, occasionally
visiting art exhibitions, cinema, local music events
etc. I am also concerned for the state of the world, a
member of CND and Amnesty, a supporter of Oxfam. Since
leaving work I have taken to volunteering at Oxfam and
stepped up my environmental campaigning. I have a number of web
locations and identities, sometimes originally to
maintain a separation between personal and professional
roles. Personally you can find me
on twitter
and facebook
and occasionally updating a wordpress blog. Professionally I have a twitter ID
and another wordpress
blog plus, of course, you can find me on LinkedIn |
| Over Christmas 2011 we had our first
ever family Christmas away, travelling in Florida. This is
a picture of Karen, Rachel, Rory and Hatty waiting to
watch the sun set in Key West on Boxing Day |
 |
For many years a nurse, worked as a
registered child minder then as a playgroup assistant before,
with her partner, setting up her own pre-school business in
Ilkley. Long standing vegetarian and environmentalist, no
interest at all in computers and wonderfully tolerant of boys
and their toys !
Karen's on line presence is low but you can find the business at
spiceygill.co.uk
Rory graduated from Lancaster
University in 2007 and subsequently qualified as a teacher.
After a few tears working in Newcastle he decided to cast his
net wider and in August 2014 moved to Tokyo to start teaching
there. Despite the distance he continues to be a supporter of
Leeds United.
He can be found on twitter
Hatty graduated with a
fashion degree from Southampton Solent University in 2011 and is
now living and working in London.
She can be found
on twitter,
has a blog
and a lookbook
presence and is also on tumblr