Seems like I should have introduced myself. How rude of me not to do so. Where do I start? “It’s a boy,” the doctor announced. No one seemed all that impressed. That set the benchmark for my entire life: up to this point at least. I don’t recall much of the first 10 years or so. No one else does either. Mixed in with 8 other siblings doesn’t lend itself to recognition of mediocre qualities. Teens passed by without any significant contribution to my character. “Got your IQ results here, Tommy. Not looking good”, grumbled the careers advisor. “Plumber might suit you. Something manual. Do you know how to dig holes?” He added with some trepidation. “I want to be a teacher,” I demanded. I left the councillors room while he was still laughing. He seemed to be choking on something. I didn’t like the chances of giving him mouth to mouth resus. Teachers college was a sexual blur. I had no idea girls liked that sort of thing. “ Welcome Tommy. Your our new physics teacher, right?” The principal of my first school posed the question as a statement of fact. Who was I to argue. The money was good, holidays extensive and hours worthy of a drinking man. Keeping ahead of the students kept me awake at nights. I discovered they would more enjoy a good story than a lesson on Newtons Laws. Fifty years later I have quite a collection of stories and made little advancement of my understanding of physics, the adolescent mind and the cultural concept of working for a living. To break the monotony of existence I engaged in any activity that seems to require by soft tissue body colliding with objects of tenacity and immobility. Staring at the lights in surgical theatre became common place. Survival appeared to be second nature. “ you should be dead,” was something I heard often from the man in white leaning over me in ICU to look at my vitals. In between crashes and falls, I learned a bit. Just for my own interest really. 4 degrees, 40 years of photography, 30 years of writing, a life time of annoying my relatives and friends, I find myself idle once again. the relatives now ignore me, my friends are a distant memory and my lovely wife, Christine, allows me some slack to do as I wish. She figures the world is relatively safe from my escapades now that I’m house bound to the greater extent. She lets me out for shopping and my daily routine of cycling, which probably isn’t a good idea. I’ve found reference to my existence and sightings on FB along with warnings of my approach to varying neighbourhoods and intersections. Christine gave me an iPad for my writing and photos. Bad decision. Now I have contact with the world again. Surely I can’t do too much harm here.