Me...
Well this blog has been going for a long time now, close on three years, and most of you have shared the trials, the worries, the happy times that I've experienced in that time. You know much about now, so I thought I'd pursue an idea I've been considering for a while, namely, a post or two about me in my younger days. Ready? Sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin..
Early years
I was born in December 1970 in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Apparently I couldn't wait, being born a month premature, impatient as ever! Early in January I was finally taken home to my home for the next 10 years, a small farm cottage high on the Yorkshire Wolds. If you were looking for a safe place to bring up children, well you couldn't do much better than that. It had it's downsides though, in that there were no other children to play with, when you've wide open spaces to play in, you soon develop a good imagination. One of the ways I used to do this was to take a tennis ball, and a piece of wood, and play my own cricket matches against the house wall.
In 1973, my sister was born, and things changed a lot. She was completely different to me, in that she was more like my mother in temperament, where I was more like my father. This meant all kinds of escapades, usually for which it was my fault, although I can't believe or remember if that's true. In 1975, I started school in the nearest village, problem was that the previous year, the county boundaries had changed and we were just inside North Yorkshire, when the address was East Yorkshire. Neither authority could make up its mind where I should go, but in the end it was decreed I should go into North Yorkshire. Sometimes over the years I wish it had been different.
Being the outsider in everything didn't help, in a school or place I had never been to before. At least going the other way into East Yorkshire, at least I would have known where I was as the village was the one my father had grown up in. However, trying to fit in wasn't easy, but I did my best, at least I think I did.
Over the next few years, I did well academically, problem was that by 1980, I knew it as well. The following year we moved into the village to be nearer the school and to provide some interaction with kids our age. By this time I was ready to start senior school, while my sister was still in the junior school. I was sent into North Yorkshire and the nearest one was in the small town of Norton. being used to a small village school, being in a bigger one with about 900 people was a bit of a culture shock. I made a few friends and managed to settle in quite well. I almost lived for the games lessons, which for me fed my love of sports. I was never the most able of players but I loved it anyway.
I think it was in the first couple of years I reached my peak, getting good reports and exam results, but they all had an underlying comment, 'has the ability, but could try harder'. I suppose I felt that as I had the ability, I could coast along on that and not work as hard as I might. My mother was sure that I wasn't working as hard as I might because I was always thinking of sport, well that wasn't the case, not that I remember anyhow. Its something that in the present day I regret a lot. The crowning glory of my school years was when taking the old 'O' levels and CSE's (exams before the current GCSE's were brought in). I managed to turn up on the wrong day and the wrong syllabus for my Maths exam, thus ensuring no result or grade. I got into some serious trouble over that one...
Thankfully I managed to get good enough grades in the rest of the exams to be able to go to further education in the neighbouring town of Malton. Because it was only a small college, some of the subjects I wanted to take clashed and I had to change to do only Chemistry and Geography, plus the ubiquitous General Studies (which have been better described with 'Current affairs and Life Skills' I suppose). For whatever reason it was, I can't remember now, I bombed on Chemistry, which was strange cos I'd done fairly well in that subject at a lower level. I think I was OK in practical terms, but the understanding of what I was supposed to be studying never seemed to make sense. geography I was OK with and enjoyed especially when it came to the physical aspect of the subject, meteorology, seismology and vulcanology all fascinated me even then as they do now.
In the end I passed Geography and General Studies (it took real failure to mess the latter up!), so what now? In the end I was accepted into the old Polytechnic of East London, based in Stratford, to study Land Management. First time in London, indeed the furthest I had been from home - barring a two week camping holiday in the Highlands of Scotland - and I was still a typical naive country boy in many respects. How would I take to the change in lifestyle and culture? More later...
Early years
I was born in December 1970 in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Apparently I couldn't wait, being born a month premature, impatient as ever! Early in January I was finally taken home to my home for the next 10 years, a small farm cottage high on the Yorkshire Wolds. If you were looking for a safe place to bring up children, well you couldn't do much better than that. It had it's downsides though, in that there were no other children to play with, when you've wide open spaces to play in, you soon develop a good imagination. One of the ways I used to do this was to take a tennis ball, and a piece of wood, and play my own cricket matches against the house wall.
In 1973, my sister was born, and things changed a lot. She was completely different to me, in that she was more like my mother in temperament, where I was more like my father. This meant all kinds of escapades, usually for which it was my fault, although I can't believe or remember if that's true. In 1975, I started school in the nearest village, problem was that the previous year, the county boundaries had changed and we were just inside North Yorkshire, when the address was East Yorkshire. Neither authority could make up its mind where I should go, but in the end it was decreed I should go into North Yorkshire. Sometimes over the years I wish it had been different.
Being the outsider in everything didn't help, in a school or place I had never been to before. At least going the other way into East Yorkshire, at least I would have known where I was as the village was the one my father had grown up in. However, trying to fit in wasn't easy, but I did my best, at least I think I did.
Over the next few years, I did well academically, problem was that by 1980, I knew it as well. The following year we moved into the village to be nearer the school and to provide some interaction with kids our age. By this time I was ready to start senior school, while my sister was still in the junior school. I was sent into North Yorkshire and the nearest one was in the small town of Norton. being used to a small village school, being in a bigger one with about 900 people was a bit of a culture shock. I made a few friends and managed to settle in quite well. I almost lived for the games lessons, which for me fed my love of sports. I was never the most able of players but I loved it anyway.
I think it was in the first couple of years I reached my peak, getting good reports and exam results, but they all had an underlying comment, 'has the ability, but could try harder'. I suppose I felt that as I had the ability, I could coast along on that and not work as hard as I might. My mother was sure that I wasn't working as hard as I might because I was always thinking of sport, well that wasn't the case, not that I remember anyhow. Its something that in the present day I regret a lot. The crowning glory of my school years was when taking the old 'O' levels and CSE's (exams before the current GCSE's were brought in). I managed to turn up on the wrong day and the wrong syllabus for my Maths exam, thus ensuring no result or grade. I got into some serious trouble over that one...
Thankfully I managed to get good enough grades in the rest of the exams to be able to go to further education in the neighbouring town of Malton. Because it was only a small college, some of the subjects I wanted to take clashed and I had to change to do only Chemistry and Geography, plus the ubiquitous General Studies (which have been better described with 'Current affairs and Life Skills' I suppose). For whatever reason it was, I can't remember now, I bombed on Chemistry, which was strange cos I'd done fairly well in that subject at a lower level. I think I was OK in practical terms, but the understanding of what I was supposed to be studying never seemed to make sense. geography I was OK with and enjoyed especially when it came to the physical aspect of the subject, meteorology, seismology and vulcanology all fascinated me even then as they do now.
In the end I passed Geography and General Studies (it took real failure to mess the latter up!), so what now? In the end I was accepted into the old Polytechnic of East London, based in Stratford, to study Land Management. First time in London, indeed the furthest I had been from home - barring a two week camping holiday in the Highlands of Scotland - and I was still a typical naive country boy in many respects. How would I take to the change in lifestyle and culture? More later...
posted by Rob at 2:57 pm
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