Hello. This is my blog. Thanks for visiting.
Is it raining outside? I’d probably get on the motorbike anyway.
Snowing? Let me get the board.
OK, since this should be an ‘about’ page, here we go:
“Born and raised near the sunny holiday destination* of Grimsby on the north coast of England. I left to pursue a life of accidentally being in nice places and meeting good people whilst earning money through various forms of engineering. At one point I was teaching English. Pity those students.
For a long time now I’ve been based in Japan for reasons I can’t remember and I spend as much time as I can on family, motorcycling, snowboarding, writing, photography or otherwise being outside. Most things can often be done outside if needs be.
Otherwise I’ll be indoors tinkering with technology.”
Me
As for this site, it’s been going since February 2003 across various publishing platforms though it’s now been self-hosted and using WordPress for a long time. Before this I had an old school hand crafted ‘home page‘ which I nurtured from 1996 to 2008 before putting it out to pasture and then somewhat resurrecting it for more technical and indoor activities in 2014 and which is currently built in Jekyll.
As time passes, I mark more of the older posts here as private to help keep the web less cluttered. Most early posts were somewhat throwaway from wherever I was, such as on mountains, at music festivals, in bars etc. etc..
Little Known Facts
- I’ve finished NaNoWriMo twice, first in 2011 and again in 2014. It’s unclear if I’ll ever do it again.
- The phrase ‘nani kore’ means ‘what’s this?’, and its something I still say a lot apparently.
* There’s a good chance I couldn’t defend this statement in court.
I’m looking for advice on how to unclip the fuel hose on my CB400 Superfour. I have removed the bolt, electrical connector and 2 x vent/drain hoses but can’t disconnect the fuel hose itself, the one with the blue coloured clip/coupling mechanism. Any information you can assist with would be kindly appreciated. Please reply via email. Thankyou.
Hi Graham,
I met you at the Chigasaki Farm BBQ. Could you shoot a message off to my address? I want to ask you about the best way to build a website again.
Cheers/Steve
Make that brightblack, I must be dyslexic tonight.
blackbright was the last contact I made. Wow, I just can’t get over you still being there. How long ago was that? Almost ten years?
Anyhow I am in Guangzhou. I have made the comment that even 30 years ago Japan was more advanced, in many ways, than here. And it still holds true. It’s nice to know you have stayed there and stable, I guess? IT never fully recovered after Y2K, the dotcom bubble burst and 911 and who can forget outsourcing??? So in 2008 I became an English teacher in China. I have now begun to get back into programming. The biggest thing against me at this point I believe is my age, 55. Otherwise I’m happy healthy and also entertained the idea of getting a job in Japan. What are my chances at my age? Good luck and nice to hear from you! Maybe the least I could do is visit some time.
Dude! Are you still here? I can’t believe it. I am Paul from Atlanta. Formerly from Okinawa. I had you looking for my old flame in Isehara, a Mieko Kawakami. You are still going strong, and still in Japan. I moved to China to teacher. Mieko was a teacher in an Isehara primary school I think. How would I go about finding her? Thanks!
Nice to see you are still going. Most blogs don’t last half as long.
Hi Paul, yes I remember us looking for Mieko – I wonder where she is now! I’m still in Japan, but moved out of Tokyo a few years back and closer to the beaches of Shonan in Kanagawa prefecture. How is China treating you? Where about in China are you?