Profile

1965: Arrived late, complained a bit, got taken home. Lived in Caterham, Surrey.

1970-73(?): Junior school,
1973-78: Marden Lodge Middle school.
1973: Discovered that the only thing I can draw properly is a dalek. So I drew lots of 'em! =:o}
Dec 1974: Got given first tape recorder; Got seriously hooked on Doctor Who, recording all the soundtracks and playing them over and over... Experiments with tapes and sounds and electronics followed.
1977: Discovered the meaning of those three little words: "BBC Radiophonic Workshop".
1978-83: Warlingham County Secondary School. Did 2 school plays, "The Birthday Party" and "Salad Days" (the only two produced during my time there...). Finished my time by picking up the school drama prize.
1979-83: Piano lessons. Learning a real instrument was kinda necessary for a music O-level...

1980-90: Sent various story ideas to the Doctor Who office. Got various degrees of polite rejection from various script editors... (Douglas N. who? =:o? )
1983-87: University (Guildford), BSc Physics with Modern Acoustics. Not much time for music or writing, but did lots of radio. I interviewed Cliff Richard, Doc Cox and Esther Rantzen (for my sins... =:o} )
1987: Started working for the Sinistry of Magiculture, Fishiness and Greed (MAFF), in the grade of Exploitable Officer (EO), in their Information Technology Directorate (ITD), and stayed there for over 9 years. Yep, I supported the machines that counted the mad cows... =:o\
1989-96: Some music, some hospital radio, some acting classes, some am.dram, lots of stress.

1994: VIbraphone - My first filkcon! =:o} Followed by a brief but intense flurry of creativity, and then a fairly continuous drip-drip of songwriting that seems to be still ongoing... (I always think "ongoing" should rhyme with "boing"! =:o} )
1995/6: Read that the Radiophonic Workshop had finally been closed down. Reflected that even if I had achieved my ultimate dream job, I would now be out of it... Also, that life goes by really fast when you're not looking!
1997: Left MAFF; Learned to drive, and wear contact lenses, and spent lots of money really fast;
1997-2002: Working for Nortel Networks, first in New Southgate (doing "Software Tools Support") and then in Harlow (more of the same, then moving into "Loadbuild Support" and on to being a "ClearCase Infrastructure Engineer". Moved house 5 times in 4 years - which was Not Fun (TM) - and survived several phases of redundancies (so far!). Phew!! =:o}

Lessons learned:
1. Enough space for what you have is worth far more than enough money for what you want.
2. One good friend is worth far more than either.

- - - - -

UPDATE 2005: Well, I finally *didn't* survive one of those rounds of redundancies. An entire project team got canned, along with 2/3rds of our support team. C'est la vie. Oh, and I moved house again. (And then again.)

UPDATE 2008: I work in a shop! And I love it, mostly.
(Sucks to be you, Rose Tyler! Threw away a promising career in retail, and for what? =:o} )

UPDATE 2009: ...And now I don't. =:o{ Such is life. Such is the economy.

UPDATE DEC 2009: ... And now I do again! Yay!!! =:o> (Not full time yet, but hopefully...)

UPDATE 2013: Still part-time. =:o{ Very glad to have a job, though. =:o}

UPDATE 2019: On the cusp between part- and full-time (4 days a week), which seems to be the best balance for me, work/health wise, but given it's at minimum wage can sometimes be difficult to make ends meet if I don't average *at least* 28 paid hours over those 4 days.




If you're feeling generous/sympathetic, you can drop some dosh in my hat!   =:o}
(These rates revised: 14 Sept 2019)

Pick an option for how you'd like to help out (updated 2023):

Buy me a beer: £1.50 GBP Feed me for a day: £3.00 GBP Food and bus fares for a work day: £7.00 GBP Light, heat, food, *everything* for one (average) day: £14.00 GBP Weekly bus ticket: £16.00 GBP (I think? I usually get dailies anyway, £$ each.) Weekly heating costs (Winter): £50.00 GBP