Select Page

Thirty four years ago, in response to an ad in the broadcast press, I sent a demo tape to Metro Radio. I was invited for an interview, so headed for Swalwell, Newcastle upon Tyne. The interview was conducted by Mic Johnson and the late John Coulson, after which I was taken to meet the MD Neil Robinson, Neil has also now passed away. I got the job and I moved to the North East in July 1980, I’ve been there ever since.

But the time has come for me to go, and I have, in fact, gone. Not totally for good, not quite yet, but the first large step has been taken.

Nick has gone to Leeds. Having been offered a place on the course that he most wanted, he’s now studying for a B.A. degree in Music Production at Leeds College of Music. He’ll be there for three years and as he’s not at home anymore, we don’t need to be either.

Nearly eight years ago, we bought an apartment in Spain, it’s near Marbella, but actually up the hill from the village of Elviria. We have been renting it out, to help pay the extensive running costs, and have used it ourselves for holidays. The holidays are now over, and our life has taken a dramatic, but long planned, change.

Helen is here too. She will have to return to the UK periodically for work, but we live here now. We live in Spain until mid December, when we return to the North East and Nick will return from Leeds. We’ll have a family Christmas and post our usual Christmas day family photo on Facebook.

Nick then goes back in Leeds in early January, and we return to Spain a few weeks later. We love it, and are pleased to be there, but it’s a little strange, it still feels a little like I’m on holiday, when I’m not. It’s also an odd feeling not to have a return ticket booked or to know exactly when I will be returning to Northumberland.

Normally when you move house you put your house on the market with an estate agent, wait until you sell it and then find somewhere else. We have not done that. We still have the house in Northumberland, but not for long, it will have to go.

This is a blog post I wrote some time ago, but for some reason, I don’t know why, I didn’t complete it and post it on my blog. I will do so now as it is part of our story, part of our life, and the next chapter of that story is fast developing, developing into a nightmare actually.

More on that soon!