Family introductions

I have a pretty amazing family. And it's about time you heard about them, simply because it's not really possible to explain anything about myself without referring to them in some way.

Firstly, my local, immediate, nuclear family...

My wife Annette is a remarkable and strong woman, - she's a bit older than me and full of wisdom and practical common sense. She's not too geeky, but she is intelligent (even if she doesn't think she is.) When I first met her, she was a single mother - who managed to bring up 4 (count them: Ben, Jason, Adam & Jodie) - yes four children and somehow still managed to do all sorts of other things too. I'm sure I really don't credit her enough, but she is immensely supportive and for some reason really believes in me.

So, when we got married, I found myself with four step-children (aged 10-15 at the time) and since then we've had two more sons: Josh and Will. Over the past few years all of the older ones have left home so we're (a bit) more like a normal-sized household.

So, next I'll mention the older four in (a tiny bit) more detail.

Ben - (who, as I write this is living with us again for a short while) is a bit of a geek like me, and into gaming, gadgetry, computers, android-phones and can turn his hand to all-sorts of things.

Jason - who is married to the lovely Jo and lives in Newport. They have 2 sons themselves and most recently a daughter. Jason is an electrician.

Adam - who lives in Birmingham with Bexx. He runs a music promotion business he started last year.

Jodie (my only step-daughter) - who lives in Cardiff and works on a voluntary basis for a local charity. She is very arty and creative. She's also a great organiser and loves spending time with children.

Next Josh & Will...

Josh is our resident rock-god. He's only small for a 14 year-old, but since he picked up a guitar 3 years ago he has scarcely put it down again. He loves a variety of musical forms (notably Prog-rock, Punk, Metal, Folk etc...) Other than that he's very much like me - he has a geeky nature and a great sense of humour. Josh and I have a special bond - so we always understand each other.

If I love Josh for being just like me, I love William because he's different. William is a great artist - he draws every day. He's also immensely empathic - with a talent for picking up on other people's feelings. He is more mature and sociable and sensitive than almost anyone I know.

Incidentally, both Josh and Will were home-educated until high-school age. Annette stayed at home to teach them and hasn't gone back to work since. So the next episode of our great adventure in family-life is to do some fostering. So far we've only done a little respite-fostering; but this week we're due to have a 2-year old come to live with us for a year or so...


Of course, I also have other family... back home in Hampshire - my Father and his wife Jeanie (my Mum died when I was 30) - my brother Tim and his wife and 2 children. And many more friends and relations of more distant sorts scattered across the globe. I should say that there are quite a few people that we count as "family" - simply because Annette's hospitable nature means that some friends become "attached" to our household on an ongoing basis. Some have even lived with us for a while - that's what it's like here. We are family - we do community - it's an important expression of who we are.

I might add, that for a geek, all of this has been a learning process. It hasn't come naturally - I'm really a bit of an introvert and I like my own company and my own space. But I do really get a kick out of all this busy-ness around me.

Anyway, I hope this is useful background to understanding what I do with the rest of my time.

Nos Da!

But Man Loved Darkness Rather Than Light

When I was a kid (shortly after the last ice-age) we used to have power-cuts. They were frequent enough for us to have an splendid looking oil-lamp, with a mantle, which would be brought out whenever we were suddenly plunged into darkness. And of course, we'd use candles or torches if we needed to go to the bathroom. I remember these power-cuts as being pretty good fun.

So, now I'm all grown up (allegedly) we have instituted "Power Cut Nights". We don't have them that often, and mostly in the Winter. We turn off the telly. We turn out the lights. We light candles and have a real fire - which is another thing I grew up with. And it feels good to do home-made family entertainment.

Sometimes we play games. Or just talk perhaps? We toast marshmallows over the candles, or teacakes over the fire. And I'm no musician, but I might try squeezing a tune or two from my Melodeon. (The boys are far better at music than me these days... so they really have something to contribute now.) And sometimes we could tell stories - either reading aloud from a book or maybe extemporised.

Anyway. This weekend is, apparently "Earth Hour", during which we are encouraged to turn off the lights for 1 hour from 8:30pm on Saturday 28th March. And I'd encourage you to do a powercut night too. Of course there's a serious point to all this, as described at EarthHour.org; but please, don't forget to have fun.