where i'm from |
As you've probably guessed, my name is Nick, I'm 35 and I live in London in the UK. Although I originally come from a place called Bournville (yes that is the place where the Cadbury's chocolate factory is), near Birmingham, I have actually been living and working in London (give or take some travelling) since 1987. I had a pretty good time growing up and had some good friends. I actually enjoy living in London now though, even if at times it can be a bit stressful. London is a pretty cool city and I've had a good time here. Having said that, having experienced many different and wonderful places around the world, there are a lot of places where I would like to get the chance to live. I would equally enjoy living somewhere hot, next to a beach. I can see myself moving somewhere different sometime in the near future. |
me ( a few years ago, mind!) |
So, here's a bit of background. I went to Kings Norton Boys' School in Birmingham. Had a pretty cool time there and had some good friends although, looking back, don't think I'd actually come 'out of my shell' then, so I guess wasn't exactly the most outgoing of people. Still didn't have a bad time there so it had to count for somehing. I left school in '84 and went on to do Business Studies at Lanchester Poly from '84 - '87. Moved down to London to work pretty much straight from uni - got a job as account manager in an ad agency, started playing rugby and pretty much had a cool time doing that for a few years. Went off to Africa to do a bit of travelling in 1990, came back and started a design consultancy with a work colleague which we ran for about 2 1/2 years before we both decided to wind it down and get back into the big game (something to do with recession, not making enough money, the stress of running your own set-up and a bit of a change of philosophy on life !!) Got into the whole new media/internet thing around 1994, which was when it had just started to hit the UK, so was a pretty exciting time - I was lucky enough to work for a big US agency as Account Director, responsible for developing websites for big blue-chips like British Airways and then for a couple of other companies with other pretty big clients, before moving on and heading up the marketing for a European digital music site. Great time and brilliant to be involved from the beginning in an industry that was evolving so quickly and shaping the way we all live and work , but to be honest, way too stressful sometimes. Now living in Balham, London with my partner, having a fine old time and heading Marketing and Web Content Development for a large property company. The Birmingham thing is kind of strange because I don't really have any major desire to go back there. Don't get me wrong, I still have mates and some family there (My Dad is still there although my mum now lives down in Devon so I go there a lot as well) and I do go back occasionally, but I just don't see myself ever going back there to live. I just remember from a pretty early age having a deep yearning to 'go out' and experience more of the world and knowing that I was going to leave Birmingham. I remember coming back home from University during the holidays, going to the pub that I always used to go to when I was at school (oops, when i was 18, obviously!) and seeing the same people in there, the same guys from school who weren't stupid but had just stayed and got jobs locally. It just made me feel as though I had to make sure I didn't end up like that and made me more determined to get out there and see life for myself. I wanted to know and experience different places, different countries, different cultures. I didn't want to find myself at 30, still going out to the same places with the same people, doing the same things. When I do go back I still see some of the same people and it still sends shivers down my spine thinking about it. I don't think I'm having a go at the decisions these people made, after all i strongly believe everyone should have the right to do what makes them happiest. i just knew it wasn't for me. |