Biography
[Written at about 0530am so expect plenty of spelling mistakes! I'll correct them later]
Well, let's start at the beginning. Always seems like a logical place to start! Friday 30th May 1986 20:31 approx. lol I was born at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital - the old one. Goodness knows what it is now but as my fellow Norfolkeans will know, it's moved now and has become the "Norfolk and Norwich University Trust Hospital". Personally I think anyone who has to say that more than 3 times a day will need to be hospitalised!
At the time, my parents were living in the city centre - West Pottergate to be more precise lol. Obviously I don't remember anything of this time. I was only a baby! My brother was born there, at home, on 13th April 1988.
Hang on - I'm getting my order muddled already - The Great Storms of 1987. The hurricane that swept through ...well I was going to say Norwich, which yes it did, but it pretty much swiped across the whole of the south of the UK! Anyway, I slept right through it But hey! I was a baby wasn't I!
The next thing I know, is that some time, no idea when (I was still very young) we moved to a house in Desmond Drive, Old Catton, Norwich. I actually really liked that house. I remember my bedroom was the biggest (wooo!) and I had Thomas the Tank wallpaper with... wait for it.. matching curtains! Wooo yeh I rocked even then!
Hrm, memory has never been my strong point, so remembering stuff from when I was this young is tricky! I remember the garden had a lovely huuuuge tree right at the bottom. Hrm, what else? Oh yeh and down the side of our shed - a small gap between the shed and the fence was like sooooo scary! Neither my brother nor I dared venture there! Actually, I'm 20 now (while writing this) and I think if I were to go back there - I still wouldn't. The spiders in that shed were huge!
We had two rabbits there, that lived in a hutch down the side of the house. I can't honestly remember their names now, but I do remember that I couldn't really play with them. Actually I was scared of them because the bastards used to scratch me to bits if I went near them! I remember that distinctive smell of rabbit piss and straw though, from clearing their hutch out! lmao
We also had two birds in a cage in the lounge. Again I really don't remember them very well but I do know that they died when Mum and Dad forgot to feed them one night! Oooops!
Playgroup: I remember my ...what do you call them? Teacher? Well they don't exactly teach anything. Anyway, Mrs Martin ran the playgroup, and I remember her getting really pissed if you called it 'play school'. "It's not school" she'd say! lol Silly ol' bat. One year, my father was dressed up as Santa Clause to dish out the pressies to me and my fellow... students? Nah, well, whatever you call the other kids at playgroup. Needless to say, I had no idea that 'Santa' was actually my father. I was scared shitless and screamed the place down! I wonder what pressie I actually got in the end? Hrm
Anyways, onwards and upwards - Lodge Lane First School. What an awesome school. At least it was then. The headteacher - Mr Patients (Rev. Patients now) what a guy! "I can't say spaghetti, I have to say spa-hetti" ...former Lodge Lane pupils will know what I'm talking about. We used to have a cardboard cake in assembly if it was one of the pupils' birthdays! How funny, same old cardboard cake every time!
While my brother and I were there, the school had a wildlife area installed. My brother was one of the few pupils selected to help the fire brigade fill the pond. Took an engine-ful I think lol. I remember it being in the newspaper. Knowing my grandmother, she probably still has the clipping!
At this age I was always such a loner. I remember spending every break and lunch time, sitting on my own near the school gates, with my back to the rest of the playground. The other kids were all running around - I never have liked running around, nor see the point in it. I guess, looking back those were lonely times, but I was happy. I was comfortable being on my own. I like it. Looking back now, maybe if I had a bit of a kick up the arse to gel with the other pupils, I wouldn't have found it so hard later in school life.
I remember I was always very good at science. In-fact, I still have my first ever school report in my room somewhere, and I remember my teacher Ms Goodling (now Mrs Locklin - but it might have been the other way round) saying how I excelled at most things but in particular science. I remember one experiment we did in which the teacher buried several items in a bucket of soil and left them for a few weeks. "Now children, which of these will have rotten, and which do you think will still be there?" I really didn't see the point in this - to me it was blinding obvious! And I remember how frustrated I was with my peers who had no idea! I guess I still do get frustrated when I see people getting simple stuff so incredibly wrong. In-fact, my number one pet hate, is full grown adults who struggle with the most simple rules of grammar - there/their/they're etc! Grrr it's so simple - get it right!
Another thing I remember around this time, which I find terribly amusing , was having an argument with my fellow class-mates, saying (which I honestly believed at the time) that boys can marry boys if they want to. They argued that no, boys have to marry girls. But I said I wanted to marry Paul. lmao!
I remember my last year at Lodge Lane was probably my happiest. Class 3 had three teachers. One pretty strict one - thought she was ace. She did all the hardcore stuff like spelling lol. The other was a really friendly, soft, mumsey type person. She was a musician and used to play her guitar and we'd have a sing-song hehe! I'm smiling just thinking about her hehe.
September 1994 I moved up to White Woman Lane Middle School. This was just down the end of my road and took no more than a minute to walk to! I had a real hard time here. I guess it was the first time I had to deal with 'new people' because the schools catchment comprised of more than just Lodge Lane First School. I don't think I ever used to fit in there. Because I lived so close, I was allowed to walk home for lunch. I used to sit on the sofa watching Sesame Street while mum made me lunch. Practically every day I had to be carried back to school, crying my eyes out because I really didn't want to be there!
Then the day came where literally, my life totally changed.
February 9th 1995: We moved house, to where I live now, in the small, rural village of Horstead in Norfolk - in the national park of Broadland. Only 4 miles down the B1150 (the main road out of the city) but wow what a difference. Back in Old Catton, the area was an absolute nightmare - a council estate, riddled with all its stereotypical problems. Horstead, small, rural, quiet - bliss.
I don't want to sound big headed but I really am lucky to be living in such a beautiful part of the world here.
Hours after moving in, I remember watching my Mum making her bed, and I couldn't help it - I just burst out crying. What a shock - how different it was here and the knowing that I'd left my old life behind - all my friends, everything. Well, when I say all my friends, I mean the select few I had!
I very quickly settled in school here. This was more me. My primary school then, Coltishall Primary School is largely a middle-class school. This area is a very middle-class area, and I soon grew up to be a middle class kid like the rest in my class. Being the new boy in the school, I was actually pretty popular. Wow! The first time I'd ever been popular.
The school was fantastic. It had been built not more than a year when I began there. Everything was new and fresh. My time at Coltishall Primary - years 4, 5 and 6 was a very happy time. This is about the age I first began to get very computer literate. By year six - ten to eleven years old, other teachers used to pull me out of their class to take a look at their computer! The good ol' Acorn Archimedes.
In September 1997 I started at Broadland High School. Again, I took a little longer than the other pupils to settle in, but once I did, I found myself mainly hanging around with the other pupils from Rackheath Primary. No idea why, but my best friend turned out to be an ex-Rackheath Primary pupil - Rowan Diaper.
High school was also the time when I started noticing that I was like others - I had feelings, attractions to other guys! Woah what was going on there! I was pretty scared. Having said that, I do remember having a massive crush on Aaron Carter when I was about 10/11! Still today I think he is mega H-O-T! lol
It was clear to the others that I was different. I didn't chase the girls around the playground, and I was, the number one thing not to be at high school.... camp! Because of this, everyone deduced I was gay. Now it wasn't that long I went to high school. 5-10 years ago. But I remember feeling like I was the only gay guy in the school! I was certainly 'famous' for it - everybody new. Looking back, the 750 strong school, at least 74 other students must have been gay too - assuming the stats are right!
Needless to say I was bullied pretty much my entire time at Broadland. The staff did very very little to help the situation. Looking back, I guess to an extent they were scared to do anything. Remember, at this time, Section 28 was still in existence.
A few month before the end of my time at Broadland in 2002, I was more comfortable with myself, and confident about my sexuality. When people yelled "gay" at me in the corridor, I likened it to me yelling "straight" at them. Hardly offensive. I rose above it. It was at this time, that I began to get pretty popular. Everyone in the school knew who I was - I was 'the gay one'! And now I was take more the "Yeh I'm gay get over it" attitude, people actually started respecting me for it. It was cool. All the lads thought it was a right laugh and used to joke around - it was pretty funny actually, and it felt pretty good, because I felt accepted by them.
Then, September 2002 I started what would be three very happy years as a student at Paston Sixth form College. Problem is, I was becoming more and more tired, more and more easily. My memory was getting pretty dodgy too.
Eventually, I went to see my GP. I had several visits and several blood tests - all coming back fine, but clearly something wasn't. Talking to other people around me about how I was feeling, it was suggested to me that it sounds like Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) also known as CFS in some countries.
The symptoms matched exactly. I wont go into details now because it's really long and complicated - but click the link above if you're interested. I suggested this to my GP and he agreed. Or did he? See that's something that has bothered me ever since. He said to me, "What would you like me to say?" I replied "To be honest, after all this time, I would be relieved. It would mean I would know what was wrong with me and hence what can be done about it". He agreed, and referred me to the ME clinic at the James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth who confirmed the diagnoses.
Since then, life's pretty much slumped and been put on hold. At GCSE time, before I got ill and when I was working at my full potential, I scored all A and B grades. Then, when I got ill, during my A-Levels, my grades slumped and I was getting Ds and Es. Not what you'd expect for somebody who has always been above average, in KS2 and KS3 SATs, and GCSEs. That really made me feel low. My ambition to go to university, to study to become a teacher was sucked out of me.
I stayed at Paston as a member of staff for just over a year where I did all sorts. Network Support (because the Network Support staff there were hopeless!), I developed the Management Information System, Learner Support Assistant for a profoundly deaf student. Lots of stuff. The part I enjoyed most was stuffing envelopes! lol What?! I got really fast wooo lol
Mid July I had to finish working at Paston, when my annual contract was due for renewal. It wasn't viable for Paston to renew my contract, so they had to let me go.
I then started working for an old friend at mine, helping him to run his business, Norfolk Design. But after just one month, my condition, which has been gradually worsening, got to the point where I wasn't well enough to work.
So that brings me to now. 0734 on Thursday 4th January 2007. Boy does it feel crap! I feel like I haven't achieved anything of the things I wanted to. But then I guess life's just 'on-hold' until when (or if) I am well again, and so able to pick up where I left off. But I really can't see me redoing my A-Levels to give me a proper chance at university. Who knows where I'll end up. Only time will tell...
