Friday 29 December 2006

A new beginning

Hi everyone and of course my Anni if she reads this, this is my first ever blog and as everyone tells me that I'm a fountain of useless infomation, I thought I'd put my thoughts, rants and ideas online to see if anyone out there is curious about little (ahem) old me (i'm 31 on the 1/1/2007).

Firstly a little about me:

i was born Neil Frank Clarkson on the 1/1/1976 in a little town called Beverley in Humberside or East Yorkshire (depends whether your think of yourself as a Humbersidian or a Yorkshireman) I call myself a Yorkshireman but as I was born into a military family with my Dad being in the RAF (Royal Air Force, more about this later) we didnt stay in Yorkshire for long.

We (Mum, Dad and me) moved from my first home in Driffield and moved to Abingdon in Oxfordshire, here the bain of my life a.k.a my brother Andrew was born (he's truly annoying but I love him). From here we moved to Donderberg in Holland as dad was stationed at RAF Bruggen in Germany. This was the best 2 years so far, every winter was white, crime was sledge theft and I spoke flent dutch (long sice forgotten) I had a best friend called Hans de Zwart (I think De Zwart was his surname) we did keep in touch when we moved onto our next destination which was Cornwalll but I dont know whats happened to him. Anyway Cornwall, after Yorkshire the best County in England, stormy winters but hot summers, lots of beaches and sights to see (Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor is abit of a laugh but its a good climb lol).

Anyway we spent the next 10 ish years in Cornwall, firstly at Saint Eval on the North Coast near Newquay and Morgan Porth beach, and then to Kernows (Cornwalls Celtish name) Capital City of Truro, well on the outskirts at a village called threemilestone (yes there is a 3 mile stone aswell) then to our final house as a family of 4 outside my secondary school at Highertown.

After many years at school and college I decided to find my own path and applied (twice) to join the RAF as an Avionics Technician. I left home on the 16th January 1999 to start my new life at RAF Halton, where the RAF does its basic recruit training, learning to march, look after yourself, iron, clean etc etc. Then after 6 weeks I went to RAF Cosford to do my trade Training (like being back at college but being paid to be there). Then after passing out as an LAC (leading Aircraftsman) I went to my first posting at RAF waddington firstly in MSW (mission support wing) the working on 8/23sqn on the Boing 707 Awacs or Sentry as the RAF called them. i was at Waddington for 2 years before I wnt back to Cosford to do further trade training and become an SAC(T) or Senior Aircraftsman Technician. After completing this I was posted to the IRCM Bay (Infra red counter measures) at RAF Lyneham and i've been there since.

In the RAF I've had the opportunity to travel to Elmendorf in Alaska,Edmonton and Calgary in Canada, Gander inNova Scotia, Atlanta in Georgia USA, And most recently Al Udeid in Qatar.

But I hope to go to Indonesia soon and see Annisa Setiadi. She is my very good and close friend to me and I hope one day we can call this good friendship, love too.

Well thats it, right now I'm with my parents and brother, dog and cat in Wiltshire as thats where they moved to when Dad got out of the RAF.

Merry Christmas and A Happy new Year

Neil