A Life More Ordinary

Running backwards, forwards and sideways in time.

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Writer. 52 years old with a tendency to overthink and overshare. Likes to create worlds and people. Dad. Survivor. Rubbish at writing bio entries.

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  • Rotterdam (or Anywhere)

    It’s June 1990 and the torment of the whole GCSE ‘situation’ was coming to an end. Not only had I had to contend with my own shortcomings in the revision/retaining of information/examination processes, but some clown had also decided to schedule the beginning of the World Cup in the middle of the most important exams…

  • Sweet Molly Malone

    Whisper it quietly, but when I first discovered football, I became a Manchester United fan (I suspect to my father’s disappointment, he would have loved nothing more than for me to follow in his Sunderland-supporting footsteps). I have no idea why I followed the Red Devils and perhaps that’s part of the reason why, on…

  • Real Gone Kid

    Needless to say, at an all-boys school, opportunities to engage with girls were limited. At the time, the premises on which Devonport High School was situated were shared with a mixed school, Tamar High School, which was attended by a few of the students from Pennycross and, of course, the much-maligned apple of my eye,…

  • Things Can Only Get Better

    While my early days at DHS were a bit of a mixed bag in terms of discovering who I was and ultimately who I wanted to be, an unpleasant memory surfaced recently that I’m hesitant about sharing…but this is supposed to be a look back on all that I remember, warts and all, so to…

  • Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)

    My first year at Devonport High School (where all first-year students were affectionately and more often than not less-than-affectionately known as ‘scruffs’) was arguably my most productive in terms of output and behaviour. I was keen to get on and experience what would be my first taste of prolonged stability in an educational establishment. I…

  • I’ve Come for My Award

    I’ve been trying to collect my thoughts before moving on to the next part of my story. Walking through my early years has left me feeling bruised as I have uncovered more memories than I expected and reliving the times when I was on the receiving end of violence or worse has saddled me with…

  • I Don’t Like Cricket…

    For as long as I can remember, cricket has been a massive part of my life. Watching, playing and finally moving into coaching the game has presented me with many memorable opportunities that I look back on with fondness, pride and occasionally, a little regret. And now, as my cricketing journey begins to come to…

  • A Good Day is Hard to Find

    Well, then. We’re now into what was Chapter Two of the book before it became a blog. So far, so good. Now we come to one of the things that I’m most afraid to share. So, why share it on a public blog, you may well ask? Justifiably too, because I’m not sure that I…

  • Strange Glue

    Football at Bishopsteignton was a big thing for me. I suppose that I was a bit unusual in that I could use both feet, so would often be employed at left-back in the absence of anyone else who was genuinely left-footed. I was stronger with my right, but was comfortable enough with the ball at…

  • There is Always Something There to Remind Me

    School days, we are often told, are the happiest days of our lives. I hope you’ll forgive me if I disagree! Primary school, to me, was an endless stream of navigating mini-popularity contests while trying to work out what the fuck was going on with myself and the world in general, a harsh lesson on…