Yes I know this is an odd title, probably not good grammar, but that never was a strong suit. All I am trying to do in this series of blog posts is to talk about places where I just feel at home, totally relaxed, like I was meant to be there. The reasons for those feelings will vary wildly depending on when I was there, what else was going on in my life at the time etc. But these places all have that one thing in common - it feels 'right' to be there. They give me a great big hug. I hope you find places like these for yourself.

#3 - Middlesex

Yes of course I feel at home in Middlesex as that is where I was born and lived until I was eighteen years old. It's where I went to school, played football and cricket in the street, learned to ride a bike, learned to swim, drank beer for the first time, tried curry, and went to school, and had my first jobs. Southall was the first place I called home.

The chances are that you have never heard of Middlesex, but despite many attempts to eradicate it the county lives on in the hearts of those born there as well as great institutions such as Middlesex County Cricket Club who have their headquarters at Lords, the famous test match ground. There's also the home of English rugby at Twickenham, Middlesex, the world famous Middlesex Sevens, and there's still a Middlesex team that plays in the rugby county championship.

Middlesex is an ancient county with the name derived from the Middle Saxons. It stretched from Staines in the south west across to Limehouse and the Isles of Dogs in the east with the river Thames as its southern boundary. The northern boundary went from Harefield in the west to Enfield in the east. It included all of modern day London north of the Thames, including the city of Westminster. For any football fans that area includes Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, QPR, West Ham, Charlton, Millwall, and the great Brentford.

In 1965 most of the county was divided to form the new London Boroughs, while other areas were 'given' to neighbouring counties. If you were to go there today you'd still find roadsigns with Middlesex on them as well as people who still add it to their address. We have relatives in Laleham which is technically now part of Surrey (OMG) who still give their address as Middlesex. There's also a road sign in Uxbridge that marks the boundary between Middlesex and Buckinghamshire. It's quite often stolen by souvenir hunters but the council still replace it.

We lived in Southall because my grandfather, your great great grandfather, worked for the railways, the Great Western Railway to be precise. The station was on the main line from London (Paddington) to the west of England. He had started working for GWR in Bristol, then Swindon (where your great grandfather was born) and onwards towards London but stopped short thankfully. I wouldn't want to be confused with people who come from London would I?

When I was growing up Southall was one of the few places in England that had a lot of immigrants from the Commonwealth, particularly from the West Indies, India, and Pakistan. Some people saw these newcomers as a threat and there was some racism and trouble at first, but not at our school. By the time I left more than 50% of the school was made up of first or second generation immigrants and it worked very well. I never understood why some people disliked the newcomers, after all we are all immigrants really, either from other countries or other parts of the UK. My GGF moved from a village in Dorset to the city seeking new opportunities, and the Scott family came south from Scotland, they were no different at all to the people who moved from further afield. 

Another reason for feeling at home in Middlesex is that my mother's family, the Scotts, were from there, mostly Brentford and Isleworth. I remember going to visit my great grandfather who lived opposite Brentford FC and being able to watch the games for free. My other GGF (Henry Nowell) ran a pub in Isleworth on the river Thames, so you see the love of pubs is in the blood, there's no escape! In fact the Nowell family ran some very well known pubs in the area, The London Apprentice and the Apple Tree among them.

Unfortunately although my Mum kept in close touch with her brother, they were twins, I know very little about my maternal grandmother who died when I was five, and my grandfather who was never spoken of by the family after he apparently left home and was never seen again. I have no idea why he left his family and I guess I never will, but I would love to understand why he did what he did and what he was like as a man. It would be easy to criticise him for what he did but I have no idea why he left, so I can't. All I know is that he was a good sportsman, a single sculler who won many cups, and that he worked for the Gaslight & Coke Company as a gas fitter. Company and rowing club records would have helped but they were all destroyed in the blitz during the battle of Britain in WW2. When I was at college I was in the rowing team so I have some of him in me. 

As I was growing up I tried unsuccessfully to balance my interest in sport with my school work and ended up excelling at neither. I used to get in the first team for football and cricket at school but was never the best player, but that suited me, I got my buzz from being part of the team. My school results were pretty average, just good enough to keep my head above water followed by cramming just before an important exam. It worked OK.

I also had quite a few part time jobs while I was at school which interfered with both my sport and studies but were necessary as I needed money first buy a bike, then a scooter, then a car. My first job was helping the local milkman, I seemed to do most of the work and was paid a pittance, but it was fun going round in the electric milk float. At the time (age 10) I never understood why Ross spent so much time in the houses of the women who said they couldn't pay their bill that week - but now I do.

In secondary school my part time job was at Boots the Chemist on Southall High Street where I'd do a few hours after school looking after the stock room, the earnings from that helped me buy my first scooter, a Lambretta Li175. This was towards the end of the 'Mod' era but with my jet black well groomed hair, parka, multiple lights, fur on the backrest I was seriously cool. During the long summer holiday, once I was 16, I was a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. That was a great job, hard to get at the time but it helped that I used to swim there with Southall Swimming Club so got on well with a lot of the staff. A great life lesson that. I always try to get on with people, not because I want something from them. But often it turns out that being nice and not ignoring people, whatever their so called status, will result in them helping you somehow. Now I know that as Karma, but to me then it just being a good person.

Also in the evenings I worked at a local disco called the 'A Train' where I took the entrance money. It was a very popular place and had DJ's from Radio 1 the national pop radio station and usually totally full. So being on the door I was a very popular person as I could tell the bouncers whether or not to let certain people in. Other lesser people would have used that power to their advantage with the ladies too, but not me of course.

I've no idea who it was, but probably my Dad, but I was told early on in my growing up in Middlesex years that I needed to grow to love both pubs and beer. After all pubs were in the family. So I reluctantly took up the challenge and after a while realised that I loved both, in particular Fullers pubs and their extraordinary ESB beer. It's a proper 'real ale', no fizz, comes from a wooden cask, and is served just below room temperature. Try it and you'll never go back to ice cold fizzy beer that tastes of nothing.

Talking about music, I know we weren't but I'm going to anyway, it was during my last couple of years in Middlesex (A levels or year 12-13) that i first had the chance to go and experience some live music. I know these bands will be ancient history to you, and you may never have heard of them, but indulge me. Between 1968 and 1970 I went to live performances by The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Fairport Convention, The Strawbs (who included Rick Wakeman), Rod Stewart (who was in the Jeff Beck Group), Jimi Hendrix, and amazingly Led Zeppelin who played my local pub to try out the tracks on their first album. I was a very lucky young man and loved every minute of all the performances.

I have been to Scotland lots of times, and it always feels good. It can't be because of the weather which is often dreadful especially on the western side. Suppose it's a combination of things, the scenery, beautiful Edinburgh, the whisky, but probably most importantly the people. 

There are parts of Scotland that I haven't seen yet, particularly the far north, but I'll get there one day, and i have seen so many documentaries about Scotland that I already know what they look like and how it would feel to be there. When we first saw New Zealand my reaction was that it is 'like Scotland on acid' (look up LSD) and the landscapes here really are eerily similar, but on a bigger scale.

Despite the unreliable weather I really do like the western side of the country. The area around Glencoe and Fort William is glorious, and even further north the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides) such as Uist, Harris, and Lewis have a barren windswept beauty, as well as the delights of very dour Gaelic speaking locals. We made two huge mistakes on that trip, we went in summer when the west is plagued by all manner of biting flies and things, and we were camping. Oh the innocence of youth.

More recently I took your great granddad Gordon on a pilgrimage to the island of Islay, home of the finest single malt whisky. You probably don't like whisky yet (depending on when you read this) but trust me it's in your genes. Islay is reached by a 2 hours ferry ride from the mainland and small as it is (40km by 15km) is a recognised and protected whisky region. There are eight distilleries and we visited them all. Those in the north of the island are lighter in taste e.g. Caol Isla and Bruichladdich, while in the south they are much heavier and more peaty such as Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig. Do try them.

Generally speaking I am not a huge fan of cities but Edinburgh is an exception, it's small, easy to get around, and undeniably stunning. Your Grandma and I have been there many times and never tire of the view of the castle from Princes Street, the view of the city from Arthur's Seat, or just walking around the old city.

Another favourite is the Southern Uplands, the border country, the area where Clan Scott comes from. When we drove to Edinburgh or further north we used to head off the motorway and take the road through delightful small towns like Moffat. We almost bought a house there!

Back to the Scottish people. There is a sense of the rebel about them. I just love the way that Scotland has different ways of doing things to the rest of the UK. When it comes to education and health they have got it right. They care, and they want everyone to have the same opportunities regardless of their circumstances. No fees for higher education is correct. They also look after their old people, something the rest of the UK seems to have decided is not important.

It's that Scottish 'difference' that I like but it does not mean that I think Scotland should be independent. The UK is all the better for the diversity that each member state brings and I hope that it stays that way. Yes they should have more power over certain things like education, social care, hospitals, local taxation, but then so should England, Wales and N Ireland.

These local democracy questions are huge and I'm sure that they will still be high on the agenda when you are able to vote, as will other big constitutional questions such as the monarchy. Now there's something I must return to in a future blog!

There's a general election in the UK this year. The news coverage seems to be saying that it is going to be a very close result, and a strong possibility of a 'hung' parliament, one when no party has an overall majority and has to rely on other parties for support and to pass legislation. This got me thinking about democracy. 

Do we live in a democratic society? Do the people in power operate in a democratic way? Here's five questions that Tony Benn said we should ask anyone in power. Think about them - they are perfect. If the 5th question cannot be answered then you do not live in a truly democratic society, and that should make you wonder why not.

To anyone in power:
1. "What power have you got?
2. "Where did you get it from?
3. "In whose interests do you use it?
4. "To whom are you accountable?
5. "How do we get rid of you?"

Our ancestors fought very hard to build a democratic country and a fair society, and I believe we are slowly but surely letting people take them away from us. We cannot take democracy for granted  - we have to fight to keep it. It's not somebody else's job to protect it, every citizen shares that responsibility. We all have the vote, that is where the power lies. In the UK it is not compulsory to vote, that's insane of course. If people do not vote then no elected government can be seen as truly representative.

In the 1800's in the UK, when only the privileged few were allowed to vote, and only men at that, a movement grew up called the 'Chartists'. Their aims were simple (as below) but sadly not all of them have been realised, even now. They wanted:

1. a fair economy
2. more and better jobs
3. decent homes for all
4. to save and improve public services
5. a fair and just Britain
6. a future without war

I'm sure there is mention of job creation, building more homes, improving public services in the manifesto of every party fighting the 2015 election, but where they will differ is in how to achieve those goals and how they will be funded. 

The Chartists used the word 'fair' and that's where I believe we should start thinking about what sort of society we want, who makes the decisions, who holds the power, how they are accountable for their actions, and how we pay for things. If people do not exercise their right to vote then surely they cannot complain when the elected government starts doing things that they object to. Often people say that their vote does not count so what's the point. Cynicism with the electoral system is destroying democracy. If people thought that their vote counted then they would be more inclined to vote. The system badly needs an overhaul.

The system in the UK is still 'first past the post' i.e. the candidate who wins the most votes in a constituency is the winner. Superficially that looks fair, but it is not. What about when a candidate wins with less than 50% of the total votes, or if two or even three parties receive 30% or more. What is the value of the votes cast by people for the other candidates? Zero. Why are they not counted somehow? The system is just unfair, but there are other ways of counting votes that are far more democratic.

Where we currently live in New Zealand the system is much more democratic. Effectively you each get two votes, one for a local candidate where you live, and another for a national party. The local vote is first past the post, but for the national election seats are distributed based on the total percentage of votes for each party. So you could have the situation where you could cast a vote for a good local MP who you know serves the community the way you like, regardless of their party, but still give another party your other vote.

Now the supporters of 'first past the post' will argue that such a system is likely to result in no one party having overall control and therefore not able to pass all the legislation they want i.e no chance of 'strong government'. I say hooray to that. In the past in the UK the government often swung between two parties, one to the left and one to the right. Usually they had an overall majority and could do what they wanted. But when they lost the next election the new government spent ages undoing the changes that had been made. Next election they swapped over and did the same thing. To me that's no way to run a country.

Yes, the fairer, proportional voting systems will result in coalitions, but that's a good thing. In those cases the largest party will need to gain the support of smaller ones in order to pass legislation. To get that support they will often need to compromise, to tone down what they'd really like to do. And often they will need to adopt some proposals by the smaller parties in order to keep their support.

Anyway - back to the 2015 election in the UK. It will be fascinating because the usual three party (Labour, Tory, Lib Dem) system has been disrupted by the SNP (Scottish National Party) and UKIP (UK Independence party) both of whom have championed causes that were 'uncomfortable' for the other parties. The SNP has been on the rise since the Scottish referendum vote was narrowly against independence. UKIP has made membership of the EU (European Union) an issue and alongside it the old debate around immigration. All these topics raise very strong feelings amongst voters, and even if these two parties do not have enough seats to hold the balance of power in the new parliament they have caused the main parties to be clearer about where they stand. That's good for democracy.

I'll end with some personal views, so fire up your comments  Jamie and any other of Thatcher's children out there. No, only joking, I'm not going to be too controversial. But I do hope that after the election some sanity will return as well as changes that will make the UK a better and fairer place to live. I hope that the NHS will be protected, that there is no more privatisation of state (i.e. our) assets, that private schools lose their charitable status and there are no more 'charter schools', that fees to enter higher education are reduced, tax havens are closed down, and everyone pays the share of tax they should based on what they earn.

I will end with an extract from a speech by Michael Sheen the actor (Frost vs Nixon etc) who was commenting on how British society had changed since the heady days after WW2 when Britain had to rebuild and created the NHS (National Health Service), the welfare system, and provided free education for all. Since then, very sadly, much of what was achieved has been dismantled. Britain has in many ways become an 'I'm alright' society where those who have the money can 'buy' healthcare and education, and at the same time starve the NHS and state schools of the funds they need in order to provide excellent care and education opportunities to those who cannot pay. Sheen said:

"Or do we want to be a society where each person is recognised? Where all are equal in worth and value. And where that value is not purely a monetary one. A society that is supportive, that is inclusive and compassionate. Where it is acknowledged that not all can prosper. Where those who are most vulnerable, most in need of help, are not seen as lazy, or scrounging, or robbing the rest of us for whatever they can get. Where we do not turn our backs on those facing hard times. We do not abandon them or exploit their weakness."

That precious vote that democracy gives us all really can be used to change things for the better. 

Yes I know this is an odd title, probably not good grammar, but that never was a strong suit. All I am trying to do in this occasional series of blog posts is to talk about places where I just feel at home, totally relaxed, at peace, like I was meant to be there. Five places immediately come to mind and I will write about them in reverse order. Some of you will be able to guess the places, and probably the order they are placed in, but hopefully there will be the odd surprise along the way. (Just thought of one thing - there are six places so I guess number 1 will have to be 1A and 1B)

The reasons for those feelings about places will vary wildly depending on when I was there, what else was going on in my life at the time etc. But these places all have that one thing in common - it feels 'right' to be there. They give me a great big hug. I know you will find places like these for yourself, trust me, it's well worth the effort.

#5 - The Isles of Scilly

28 miles off the coast of Cornwall at the very SW tip of England lie the Isles of Scilly. Small, remote, with a small population, and unique. There are 140 islands in total and 5 of which are occupied. The main island of St Mary's has 1700 people out of the total population of 2100 and is 6.2 sq km in area. The islands have the mildest and warmest climate in the UK. During the summer months the population of the islands more than doubles with tourists.

How I came to be living on the islands is a long story and one I will save for another time, but during my time there I was commuting by air. Sounds very grand doesn't it. As you may know my most favourite thing is flying, so it was wonderful. I would work on the mainland during the week, 'arrange' to be conveniently near Newquay Airport on a Thursday afternoon, fly to St Mary's and spend the weekend there, returning Monday morning. The Skybus planes were superb, usually the six seater and the pilot would often let me sit next to them. They'd also ask me which way I wanted to go, via the north or south Cornish coast. It was how flying should be, personal, and above all fun. They would fly so low that you'd get a wonderful view of St Michael's Mount and often basking sharks  just off the mainland. Then when you approached the islands there would be the stunning colours of the beaches and shallow sea between them.

The airport at St Mary's is small, very small. But that's why I like it. There's one check in, where you and your bags get weighed (they are small planes after all), a small cafe, a waiting area, and your bags arrive on a trailer outside and you just grab them. For most visitors it is then a short taxi or courtesy bus down to Hugh Town, the main centre on the island. That's where you find most of the accommodation, restaurants, and the pubs. Yes the pubs. Your grandma probably thinks it was the pubs that I liked most about living on the islands, she's not totally wrong. Along the main street (the only street really) there are three great pubs, The Bishop & Wolf, The Atlantic Inn, and the Mermaid. Plus there is the Scillonian Club that you can join and which then can offer cheaper beer and food, as well as the (sort of) famous quiz nights. We were brilliant the first time we joined in, but we tried to not be too brilliant and win or we'd have been banished from the club and islands I think.


It would be inaccurate to suggest that I lived in any great luxury on the islands. I bought the only thing I could afford which was a tiny one bedroom flat in an old building called 'The Wrasse' which had a delightful view of the pub backyard despite being only a few metres from the beach. The walls were so thin that I could hear every word of every TV soap being watched by the delightful but very deaf old lady downstairs. As there are no furniture shops on the island I had to furnish it by mail order from Argos in Penzance. Once my order was all there it was then shipped across to St Mary's on the Scillonian. Interesting times.

Yes the pubs were great, always the place to get to know the locals and to become acceptable and one of them. There's nothing nicer than to walk into a pub and have the landlord greet you by name and start pouring your favourite beer - well to me anyway. My family have always been keen pub regulars, I guess it's because of where they grew up, either in Dorset or Middlesex, and I faithfully and happily continued the family tradition. In the small Dorset villages the pub was the meeting place after a day in the fields, and in Middlesex where people gathered after a hard day in the local factory. Different environment, same purpose.

There's also a pub on each of the other inhabited islands and I made sure that I visited each of them regularly - it seemed the right thing to do and of course I wanted to be fair. To get to them is one of the other great things about Scilly, you have to go by boat. Those trips were wonderful, I just love to be on the water, and you get to see a huge variety of sea and birdlife. Our friend John once famously shouted 'shag' (him meaning the bird of course) at the top of his voice on a boat crowded with visitors which got some interesting reactions. To see the seals and puffins was always worth the fare, as well as getting closer to Bishop Rock lighthouse. The lighthouse stands on a small rock ledge and is 49m tall and just dramatically rises straight out of the sea, an awesome sight.

Each of the other islands has its own unique character. They are small but offer some great walks with the sometimes wild sea an ever changing backdrop. St Martin's is the largest and has miles of beaches that you can have to yourself even in the height of summer. Tresco has become famous for its tropical gardens where you can see plants that will not survive anywhere else in the UK. It was wonderful to see the palm trees, I love exotic plants, maybe that's why if I could live anywhere it would be somewhere in Polynesia.

Life on the islands is all about the sea, let's face it they are surrounded by the stuff. So it's no surprise that messing about on the water is the number one leisure activity, and also the basis for its biggest sporting event - The Pilot Gig World Championships. I will forgive you all for probably not knowing anything about Pilot Gig racing, it's not shown live on ESPN, Sky or the BBC, but it is spectacular, exhausting, and smothered in history. Once seen, never forgotten.

The seas around the islands are treacherous and hundreds of ships have been wrecked over the centuries. Local knowledge was therefore vital and 'pilots' could be hired to help guide ships safely into port, or around the islands to the mainland. It was skilled and lucrative work so there was lots of competition amongst local people. Essentially the first pilot to get to the ship needing help got the job. So they would race in their 'gigs' (large rowing boats) to get out to the ship and these gig crews became very good at getting through the often very rough seas. Over time as ship navigation aids became more precise the pilots and their gig crews were no longer needed - but they continued the tradition as a sport.

Each year boats and crews, men and women, from the islands, Cornwall, Devon, southern England, and as far away as Australia descend on Scilly to compete for the World Championship. For a week or two the islands come alive to teams of super fit, super charged athletes and their glorious boats. I was fortunate to be the finish line judge one year, and Jamie too. Considering that they race several miles it is amazing how many races ended with five or six boats crossing the line together so trying to decide who won and the places was very difficult. Heaven knows what horrible fate we faced if we got it wrong!


Another unique sporting event that happens every year is an invitational rugby game - the Isles of Scilly vs The Rest of the World. The islanders (including me one year) take on people of all nationalities who are either working on the islands or just happen to be there on holiday at the time. Remarkably for such a small population the island team had some great players and never lost the game, and even beat teams visiting from Cornwall.


Here's one for the pub trivia quiz - who has the smallest football league in the world? You guessed it. Yes they have two teams (Red and Blue) who play each other every week, and they even have two cup competitions. Each season they draw lots to see which team they will be in. I was in Red.

The Isles of Scilly are a magical place, small, quiet, friendly, remote, and with a real feeling of community. I felt very much at home there.

This is the name of a track off the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I listened to this when it came out in 1967 - I was 16 years old then - this year I am 64.

At the time I remember thinking that 64 was really really old and I could not imagine myself getting to that age. How could anyone be that old? After all two of my grandparents had died before they were 64, and they were very old, or so it seemed to me at the time. 

When I was young I did not think about getting old and what it would be like, and I am sure you will be no different. One thing I do remember though is being told off by my Mum for 'wishing my life away'. Why was that you may ask, well, I was young and impatient, I wanted to grow up and do all the things the older kids were doing. I wanted to drive a scooter (like a motorbike but very cool in the 60's, search 'Mods') but I had to be 16 to get a license to drive one. When I had my license then I wanted to drive a car, but for that you had to be 17. Then I wanted to be able to drink, well legally anyway, and for that you had to be 18.

You get the idea. There was always something else but to get it you had to be older. My very wise Mum said I should be patient, I should enjoy the age I was and that before I knew it I would be old and regretting my lost years. As a teenager I did of course ignore her advice, that's what being a teenager is all about. We have to follow our own path. While we can learn from the experiences of others, and maybe prepare ourselves for things that will happen, in the end we have to do it ourselves. You will do that, you will experience the highs and the lows, the good decisions and the poor ones, you will be much better people for it and ready to make your mark on the world.

I was 16 and listening to Sgt. Pepper's, this was the time when I felt I was no longer a child. I had lived all my life so far in Southall, Middlesex just to the west of London. A place with a very mixed population and lots of new immigrants from the West Indies and India. Among random memories from those years I remember being allowed to walk to primary school on my own at age 6, it took about 30 minutes and some days I could hardly see my hand in front of my face due to the 'peasouper' fogs of the early 1950's. There's no way children would be allowed to walk that far to school now. Those were times before anyone worried about pollution so houses, factories poured out as much smoke and fumes as they wanted. One day we were told to quickly leave school, we had no idea why, but soon after a plane crashed into houses nearby. Another time there were clouds of smoke approaching the school and we later found out that a factory that made asbestos sheeting was ablaze, only now do we know just how dangerous that was.

Outside of primary school I spent a lot of time either at swimming club or kicking a ball around in the park with my mates. My Mum was an excellent swimmer so made sure that we learned very young, and then we stayed on as members of the Southall Swimming Club. One thing you may find strange is that we were allowed to walk to the local park to play football (remember we were under 11 years of age) and we would be there until dark.

In those days you had to take an exam at the end of primary school to see which secondary school you could go to, either the Secondary Modern or the Grammar. The secondary moderns were set up to prepare children for more clerical or manual jobs, while the grammars were meant to prepare kids for the professions. Looking back this was a terrible system as it labelled children at a very young age and restricted the type of jobs that were open to them. I passed the so called '11 plus' but my sister didn't, so I went to one school and Pam to another, this happened to lots of families. Three of my cousins passed and three didn't. A truly 'comprehensive' system where all children from an area attend the same school is much fairer, but will never work while private schools exist. More on that in another letter no doubt.

Anyway - back to Sgt. Pepper's. When I was listening at age 16 I was at Southall Grammar Technical School and it was the year we would all take the national exams called O levels. The number of passes and grades decided if you would stay on at school for two more years to take A levels. Those A levels were what you needed to get into university, and the grades you achieved were also important.

I got O levels in Maths, English Language, English Literature, French, History, Geography, Art, Economics, and my best grade was in English Lit, the rest were rubbish but at least I passed. The story wasn't so good for Physics and Chemistry which I failed in spectacular fashion. It was touch and go if the school would accept me for the A level course but as I was in the football and swimming teams I got through. My A level subjects were English Lit, History, Economics. Unlike some of my friends I chose the subjects not because they would help me in my chosen career, as I didn't really know what I wanted to do at that time, but because I thought I could get reasonable grades without too much hard work. Not a great example for you I'm afraid.

At that time of my life my education grades, exam grades were never wonderful, I was too busy trying to grow up. Outside school I played lots of sport and had a growing interest in girls. Don't worry though I won't be going into any great detail on that topic. At certain times one thing was more important than the others and it was hard to keep a balance. Great practice I now know for the rest of my life. Little did I know in those wonderful days of (almost) innocence that adult life would be a constant battle to balance all sorts of demands on my time and energy. You have that to look forward to. [more on that later]

Am I sad to be reaching the ripe old age of 64? 
Not at all. 
Of course there are days when I wish I was younger, usually when I watch people playing rugby or football in a local park. At times like that I think to myself 'I could still be out there', 'I could still play a full game'. But I know deep down that the days when I could run around for 80 or 90 minutes and take all the hard knocks are in the past. They were great days but there are other great days to come. My Dad is 90 this year and still fit, driving a car, and with a twinkle in his eye. 

What I will do after 64 is anyone's guess. Maybe a career change, or retirement, or becoming obsessed with a new hobby. Who knows? But what I do know is that there is still a lot I want to do, and there is a lot of time to do it. Just need to work out what it is, but hey, isn't that where the excitement, the magic lies, the not knowing what is around the next corner? I've always been a 'glass half full' kind of person so whatever it is I know it will be good.

Life has surprised me many times so far and will again. It will surprise you too. I suppose what I have learned (often the hard way) is that whatever happens it is not the end of the world. Things have a habit of working out for the best in the end. In your personal and business life try not to worry about things that you can do nothing about, and focus on those that you can. That doesn't mean that big things cannot change, just that like minded people have to work together to make those things happen. If you think something is wrong then you can guarantee there are many others who feel the same way you do, but it takes courage to do something about it.

Just because things seem to have always been that way doesn't mean they can't change. At the height of the British Empire or the Roman Empire it must have seemed that they would go on for ever, they would never fall, but they did. In recent times a company called Nokia dominated the telephone business, now they are a very small player. Blackberry (sorry you Canadians) were the top company for smartphones in business, but no more. Even the once mighty Microsoft is not the dominant force it once was. As I write in 2015 the most valuable company in the world is Apple, not bad for a company that started in 1977 with the goal to produce computers 'for the rest of us'.

To our grandchildren

I've been meaning to write a blog, to capture my thoughts and observations, for more years than I care to remember. Not because I have anything earth shattering to say, or even anything vaguely original, or have lived anything but a very normal life. Just because sometimes it seems that all that experience we gain over the years, the insights from trying new things, bad judgment calls, is just going to waste. This blog is an attempt to capture some of those things. It may be titled 'letters to our grandchildren', and I do hope that in time you may find some of this interesting. But it will also have some things that annoy, irritate or surprise your parents, brothers and sisters, as I will say what I see and feel. 

For example, my views on education, politics, religion, may cause problems for some of your parents, but hopefully not you. Those views have not changed over the years, just strengthened. As I grow older things just seem clearer to me, what matters, and what doesn't matter. Right and wrong, justice and injustice, fair and unfair, individualism or the common good. Your grandma certainly doesn't agree with all my beliefs, but that's the point isn't it. Even those closest to you do not have to share your view of the world, and we are much richer for that.

To say that I have been fortunate is a serious understatement. People say you make your own luck, which I do agree with to a certain extent, but there is so much else that has happened or not happened to me that it does feel, well - lucky. Yes I have worked hard at certain times in my life, but not all the time, yet more often than not things have fallen into place quite nicely. There have been great times and not so great times, and I have learned so much from both.

So my blog will be a series of sometimes random comments on life in general, my ramblings, observations, moans, highs and lows. Things I have learned so far. They are not meant as lessons for you our wonderful grandchildren, or guidance, what to do or not do. You will find your own way, make your own mistakes, experience the great highs and sometimes lows of life. Most of all you will do it your way, and I could not hope for more.

You have wonderful parents who are preparing you for all that life can throw at you. Be yourself. You can achieve anything you desire, be anything you want to be, go anywhere you want to go. So please never settle for just OK. Just OK is never good enough. Always look over that next hill, what's over there may be just what you are looking for, and if it isn't - well, there's always another hill isn't there!

As you get older you may watch, if it is still running, a TV programme called 'Who Do You Think You Are?' In that programme they look into the family history of some well known people, often unearthing some fascinating stories. The people in those stories often lived very ordinary lives, as farm labourers, textile workers, clerks, just like our ancestors did. They often lived in small villages or in very poor parts of towns, with very little money, few possessions, and very little chance that things were ever going to change. These days we are much more fortunate.

You have four grandparents, I'm going to write briefly here about one of those family lines or trees, my ancestors. Even in very recent times they grew up in a world very different to mine or yours. For example when your great great great great grandfather Jonas Baker was born in 1831 only 2% of the UK population could vote, and Stephenson's Rocket had not yet launched the age of railways. When your great great great grandfather Harry Baker was born in 1860 there were no telephones in use. When your great great grandmother Ellen Parfett was born in 1887 women did not have the vote and no aircraft had ever left the surface of the earth. When your great grandparents were born there was no television, and even when your grandfather (that's me!) was born computers were not in general use and the internet had not been developed.

My family came from two very different parts of England, the Baker family from Dorset in the south west, and the Scott family from Middlesex to the west of London. But despite that if we go back just 100 years they lived very similar lives. I have been researching my family since 1975, not continuously, there have been many years when I did nothing. I know a lot more about the Dorset family, mainly because I decided early on just to follow the Baker name back in time, and also because they stayed in the same villages for many generations so were easier to find out about.

If you ever start to look at your ancestry one of the things you realise very early on is that however much you try to stick to one family as soon as they marry you have yet another family name to search too. For example, my research into the Baker line takes me back to Daniell born 1689, that's 326 years ago. Now that is pretty impressive, but your 5G grandfather Benson married Honour Phillips and she was descended from Robert Burte who was born in 1601. He is your 10G grandfather and I can go back two more generations with the Burte family to John who would have been born around 1540. That's a very long time ago so I'd better add some more recent information too.

The things I am going to mention now are things that interest me, and hopefully you, but there is lots more, and don't forget this is only from one of your four grandparent lines.

You may not have heard of the Tolpuddle Martyrs but we are related to them, some people like your Grandma say it's where I get my 'leftie' views from. I do hope so. The martyrs were farm labourers like most of our ancestors and they formed a union to protect themselves against the landowners who could turn them out of their homes or cut their (already very low) wages whenever they wanted. At that time, the 1830's, it was illegal to form a union and they were arrested, tried, convicted, and transported to Australia. This caused a huge public outcry and eventually they returned to England. These events were the birth of the trade union movement and there is a celebration rally every year in Tolpuddle, which we have been to. At that event I heard Tony Benn speak, his views on democracy have always been an inspiration to me.

Another thing about my family that makes me very proud is that in 1911 your great great great grandfather Harry refused to complete the census, this was a protest in support of the Suffragettes, the people trying to get the vote for women. To us now it seems ridiculous that just one hundred years ago women did not have the vote, but to get it they had to fight very hard to get it.

On the Nowell part of my Scott family they ran pubs (very proud of that of course) and also one branch emigrated to Canada, both Montreal and BC. In the meantime members of the Lunn family emigrated to New Zealand, very interesting as we currently live there. People in my family have left England to live in many parts of the world, always because they were looking for a better life. Some of you were not born in England for this reason. But wherever you live now, or wherever you move on to there is a large part of you that was forged in England.

This has just been a glimpse of some of your ancestors, I hope that some of you will continue the research. This is real history, the people who made us what we are, and they can bring history alive. In future blog posts I will tell you more.