Born, bred and educated in Liverpool, I left the city in the late 70s as an economic refugee because the profession I had just spent three years training for disappeared from my home town. So, unable to follow the rest of the men of my family into the Merchant Marine, I drifted into computing.
I started as an engineer but soon discovered I was better at describing systems than I was at building them, so I became a technical writer. It was an inspired move. It was a job I quickly learned to enjoy. One that released me from England and enabled me to live and work across Europe, the USA and East Asia. It was also a job that demanded you were always prepared to learn, gain new skills, and network.
From a job, it became a career that allowed me to work with some cutting-edge hardware and software teams in the fields of medical robotics, pharmaceutical sciences, aerospace technology,virtual reality, and information processing & presentation. It enabled me to take an active part in organizing the Third World Wide Web Conference in Darmstadt and so be present at the birth of the Web.
In the early days of the new millennium family matters drew me home. I landed a contract in Dublin, which introduced me to a network of SMEs that provided me with a range of interesting projects; first in the Fair city and then in Belfast.
I learned some more new tools, acquired a couple of new skills and made many new friends, but when I was given the opportunity to get involved in a new project in the Netherlands, my first mainland European home, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. So I first moved to Nijmegen on the banks of the Waal and then to the capital of Friesland, Leeuwarden.
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Leeuwarden Links
Aqua Zoo Friesland, a natural animal park devoted to water-dwelling animals.
Friesland Holland, Tourist Information & Travel Service.
i Friesland, a portal for information on Frisian genealogy, history and language. .
Mata Hari, the Leeuwarden-born spy mistress.
NS Home, the English website of the Netherlands Railways.
Step Where, Running & Walking Routes in Leeuwarden
Other Homes
Liverpool, England
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Ivrea, Italy
Paris, France
Grenoble, France
Darmstadt, Germany
Chang Mai, Thailand
Cupertino, USA
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nijmegen, Netherlands
