My self-summary
I’m fascinated with the origins of life on Earth, the prehistory of
humanity, ancient philosophy, pioneers of history, the concept of time,
quantum theory, the prospect of self aware robots, the development of
artificial life, anything to do with the eventual colonising of Mars …
I’m also someone who enjoys a relaxing, peaceful existence, especially
in my appreciation of nature and I am just as happy having a laugh,
playing the fool or just gliding around with nothing in my head at all
when not discussing something fascinating, profound or mundane.
I have a euphoric appreciation of being alive and hold a youthful,
boyish outlook on life. I’m also trim and pretty fit for my age and not,
I’d claim, a typical stereotype 50 something.
I love photography, walking and angling and I live just minutes away
from one of the most spectacular places on earth. The fabulous Jurassic
Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site spanning 95 miles of breathtaking
prehistoric coastline.
Set against the fantastic ocean backdrop of Lyme Bay, the cliffs hold
strata, rocks and huge fossils recording 185 million years of Earth’s
history and some of the best parts of it lie just a ten minute cycle
ride across the fields from my West Dorset cottage.
Click,
My Journal
, to view just a hint of it.
- Prehistoric coastline? Well, actually, the area was hundreds /
thousands of miles from land 200 million years ago so read ‘prehistoric
coastline’ as meaning ancient strata, (now forming cliffs), containing
prehistoric artifacts. Spectacular cliffs, none the less 🙂
What I’m doing with my life
I run a tiny business where I dabble in computers and also offer
tuition. I call it my cottage industry because, although I’m situated in
the centre of my magical little West Dorset town, customers have to
meander down a 17th century passage and hunt me down in my 165 ft foot,
1940’s style garden when they wish to use my services.
The garden is currently bursting with potato plants, tomato plants,
legions of carrots, rows of cabbages and lines of onions, lettuce,
peppers and herbs.
There are too many flowers to list here but, suffice to say, by the
height of summer, my friends and customers will be describing my cottage
and garden as Paradise.
Populated with a jenny wren, a nesting pair of flitting robins, a noisy
blackbird family, a flock of resident sparrows, a visiting blue and
yellow tit contingent and a seagull I have named Jonathan, the garden is
often teeming with life and birdsong.
A haven. A sanctuary. My little piece of England.
I’m really good at
… inventing and am holder of regional, national and international
awards and recognition for invention, innovation and design.
INVENTING ACCOLADES
Hampshire Innovation runner up 1995
Hampshire Innovation award winner (Business) 1996
International Engineering Inventor of the Year 1997
International Community Award 1997
International Inventor of the Year 1998
BBC Tomorrow’s World Live International Innovation judge 1999
I have patents filed or granted in the UK, Europe and America.
… absorbing philosophies or belief systems, (ancient, classical or
contemporary), to explore, savour or cherry pick their nuggets of wisdom
and good bits before discarding them.
… being a Devil’s advocate and valued by my friends for being a
selfless, open book, always willing to give my time to others and always
relied upon to be candid, honest or blunt when something needs to be
addressed, said or resolved. I’ll take on any challenge or work
diligently to solve any problem if a friend is in need.
The first things people usually notice about me
The ease with which I engage others in conversation. My big feet. A UK
size 14 and no, it is not a euphemism for anything else. I really do
have big, wide feet!
Favorite books, movies, shows, music, and food
BOOKS. My favourite books include GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN by Ray
Bradbury. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Antony Burgess. JOHNATHAN LIVINGSTONE
SEAGULL by Richard Bach. FRANKENSTEIN or The Modern Prometheus by Mary
Shelly. SOPHIE’S WORLD by Jostein Gaarder. SIDDHARTHA by Hermann Hesse.
Those particular books provided me with food for thought and an
opportunity for me to see inside myself. Scroll down to ‘Additional
Information’ to view my reviews and comments relating to them.
For fun, I read or look at things like Gary Larson cartoons including
“THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE” or read, look at or view Andy Riley’s
“THE BOOK OF BUNNY SUICIDES”. Check it out then buy it!
MOVIES. Any sci-fi films. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and DONNY DARKO being two
favourites. Surreal films like WITHNAL AND I, BRAZIL or TWIN PEAKS plus
films about survival, adversary, great challenge or discovery.
I admire film director Werner Herzog, especially his ‘GRIZZLY MAN’
classic relating the tragic demise of self styled bear conservationist
Timothy Treadwell. (It is like The Blair Witch Project but is real
rather than fiction, far more disturbing and far more terrifying).
I won’t watch actual horror movies.
SHOWS. Mainly surreal offerings. Twin Peaks. The Prisoner. Green Room.
Family Guy. Black Books. Father Ted. Anything with Peter Cook or Alan
Partridge.
MUSIC. All tastes and genres from pop through progressive, alternative,
surreal and industrial and back through jazz and early blues to
classical. BEETHOVEN and VIVALDI being my two favourites although I
remain in awe of PAGANINI, the violinist equivalent of Jimmy Hendrix
when it came to playing a musical instrument.
Randy California’s FUTURE GAMES album by his band SPIRIT is my favourite
album (then 12 DREAMS OF DOCTOR SARDONICUS) and TIM BUCKLEY, son of
Jeff, is my favourite singer / song writer though I love LAMB also.
SUICIDE or THROBBING GRISTLE fill my left-field and industrial music
tastes in an emergency.
ELBOW soothes me. PINK FLOYD’S DIVISION BELL inspires and rallies me on
the occasions I need to move a mountain out of my way.
FOOD. Traditional UK fare. I catch trout, mackerel, whiting or bass and
I sometimes bake my own bread or fruitcake or make my own wine. Having
said vegetable garden, I grow stuff too.
The six things I could never do without
… hope, self belief, enthusiasm, a love of life, a sunrise and a TED
podcast or two.
I spend a lot of time thinking about
… how happy and content I am. What my next garden project will be.
Wondering if the mackerel will be shoaling down the Bay today / this
evening / tomorrow morning.
I spend a lot of time thinking about how much I enjoy walking, hiking,
ancient history, (plucking 2000 year old roman coins straight out of the
ground at an Anglo-Romano site I field walk), philosophy, psychology,
science, innovation, reading, writing, photography, gardening, angling,
computing, astronomy, science fiction, non fiction biographies and
documentaries, good conversation, occasional late nights, playing tricks
on friends or getting up to mischief! 🙂
On a typical Friday night I am
… out for the evening with friends, pottering in the garden, cycling
across the fields, catching mackerel or bass down the Bay or just
relaxing.
The most private thing I’m willing to admit
I’m scared of heights, will NEVER fly in a plane and am terrified of
swimming in deep water. (Since the shark incident). Also, I’m absolutely
convinced the annual Perseid meteor shower includes one rock with my
name on it. Yes. They are tiny, only an inch across but those suckers
travel at 130,0000 miles per hour. (This year’s UK Perseid meteor shower
event peaks around the 12th / 13th August and is best viewed about 1am
onwards while looking East).
And as if these self conscious and ridiculous fears weren’t enough to
label me a massive wuss, I am also scared of thunderstorms and being
struck by lightning.
See? The troubles of having an active imagination? – although I make up
for it by being imaginative in other ways 🙂
See ‘Further Information’, (below),for more secrets.
I’m looking for
Girls who like guys
Ages 38–48
Near me
Who are single
For long-term dating, short-term dating, activity partners
You should message me if
… you are creative, erudite and passionate about discussing the
wonders and mysteries of this life. You share some of my hobbies and
interests. You are resourceful, imaginative, strong willed or
independent.
… you are bonkers, eccentric or left-field.
… you share my own view that thin, average or curvy suggests a fit,
feminine or hour glass figure rather than meaning large build or obese.
Please don’t mail me if you are married, litter your profile with the
‘eff’ word or live thousands of miles away on an island with only Arctic
terns or Emperor penguins for company.
FIN
FURTHER INFORMATION (Optional reading).
BOOK REVIEWS
GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN by Ray Bradbury.
This book gave me my writing style and my ability to express myself via
the written word.
In ‘The Foghorn’, the first short story, in just a few strokes of his
pen, Bradbury paints the whole picture of humanity, offering a profound
perspective on time, life, love and … well … you must read it
yourself.
Each time I read The Foghorn, I feel as if I’m reading about something
inside myself. Something I can’t quite comprehend or understand
directly, save for feeling it through the lens and pen of Bradbury
himself.
Whatever I am, whatever it is, lies inside the first few pages of a Ray
Bradbury short story called The Foghorn.
UPDATE 06/06/2012 Ray Bradbury died today 🙁 Goodbye Ray. You will
always be my favourite author. Thank you for the contribution you made
to my life. x
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Antony Burgess.
A book about a thug? Hardly. Clockwork Orange does examine the mind of a
lawless ‘Droog’ but it also explores ‘the power, responsibilities and
morals of the state and society’ … and the concept of free will.
It also highlights the concept of karma and the fact that we should
treat others as we would expect to be treated ourselves … of face the
consequences of ignoring that maxim.
JOHNATHAN LIVINGSTONE SEAGULL. (J.S.L) by Richard Bach
Why just merely exist, chasing shoals of fish or being like every other
seagull in the flock … when you can fly to the limits of your own
potential?
“Why accept something because its just the way things are when, by
applying a diligence and passion to whatever you do, you can first know
the satisfaction of improving, later know what it is to excel and
finally soar in the very highest thermals where few, if any of your
kind, have ever been?
I have kept this book close to my heart since I was a boy and I have
been enjoying the gift of Richard Bach’s simple advice all my adult
life.
FRANKENSTEIN or The Modern Prometheus
Frankenstein is not ‘merely’ a book. Published by the 21 yr old Mary
Shelley in 1818, this work has become a metaphor to represent the danger
of man’s dabbling with science, technology and the unknown and the
saying, “To create a monster” has been absorbed into everyday language.
As a very young girl, Mary Shelley had known heartbreak, tragedy and
serial bereavement, (Stillborn children). That unfortunate insight, set
against the backdrop and drama of the profound changes of the relentless
industrial revolution, set the scene for Shelly to upstage her own
husband, (poet Byron), to write this classic, ground breaking tale.
Sharing what could now be described as a prophecy, via the proxy of The
Creature, Mary Shelley was able to warn about the way advancing
technology was changing mankind in ways few would understand. She
understood though … and so did I.
As an inventor, I witnessed the passion for my own creation destroy my
perfect, 20 year love story of a marriage.
SOPHIE’S WORLD by Jostein Gaarder
Owning or reading this book is like having your own personal guide to
introduce you to philosophy throughout the ages, from the ancient past
right through to our current time.
This book also has something few would foresee before reading it. I
can’t and won’t spoil it for you but it is a fabulous romp through
history with an oh so clever twist in the tail.
SIDDHARTHA by Hermann Hesse.
Wisdom. What is it? Read Siddhartha. You might discover something you
never imagined you would find in the way you view your world … and
more importantly, the way you view yourself.
I think this book is one that delivers different messages, depending on
who is reading it.
I related to the initial quest involved, the challenges and delights
revealed on route. So similar to my own personal journey, particularly
in regard to ‘pursuing my vision for my technology’.
Later though, as life and success changed me, I realised that there is
nothing material on this earth that could ever match or compare with the
love and happiness I squandered in pursuing my selfish dream.
Though later still, with the luxury of experience, a little hindsight
and just a dash of wisdom, like Siddhartha, I learned that all I ever
thought I was seeking out in the big, wide world had been with me and
inside me from the beginning all the time.
MY THOUGHTS ON INTERNET DATING
“That’s life for you”, said McDunn. “Someone always waiting for someone
who never comes home. Always someone loving some thing more than that
thing loves them …”
Extract from Ray Bradbury’s short story – The Foghorn.
A bit like internet dating, with many of us chasing our tails when it
comes to finding a person to fall for – while we ourselves ignore those
chasing their tails trying to find us!
FURTHER SECRETS
Mentally, I’m attracted to scientists, teachers, archaeologists or any
female archetype depicting a bright, quizzical, probing or creative
mind.
Physically, I’m attracted to pleasing curves often depicted by a UK size
size 10 bottom / size 12 top or size 12 bottom / size 14 top, etc. A
bust being the fascination rather than legs or bum!
Character wise, I’m drawn to spiritual souls pursuing either a ‘green’
philosophy or a Pagan / Wiccan lifestyle connected with a respect or
love of Mother Earth, history or nature. Geeky or a bit eccentric is
fine also.
Emotionally, I’m attracted to stoical, strong, independent characters
who have had adventures or challenges they enjoy relating or sharing
through their own honesty, wisdom or humour.
Any one of those four descriptive ‘types’ of person might captivate me
and any one of those qualities could act as a catalyst to form the basis
of a new relationship.
Or maybe some new element would come into play.
Oh, and I’ve never had a relationship with anyone over 40. That could be
because of personal choice, fate or chance or because I’ve just not
dated for ages. Mail me and find out 😉
About the Author
