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The Reeley Web
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I was born near to Birmingham England in 1955. Consideration of a career in surveying and architecture was abandoned when the length of time required to study was realised. Several years at college and university seemed to a teenager like a lifetime before I would be able to practice and thus earn some money. A review of my options took place and the lure of the local College of Further Education proved too great. Unsure of what career my future would hold I chose Business Studies and was educated to National Diploma level before embarking on a career in the then (1970's!) relatively new and exiting field of computers. In the early days of Computers much time was spent filling in crosswords in daily papers as the computer valves took about 30 minutes to warm up before any programs could be loaded. Small metal boxes holding hundreds of small cards with oblong holes in would arrive - these were the programs. Strips of white paper tape with round holes in provided the data. It was not unknown on a Friday evening shift to nip to the local pub as the computer could take several hours on a simple data sort. Life and career moved on and I found myself in the position of managing the installation of computer cabling in a fleet of Nuclear Power Stations. That was a surprisingly interesting position, and the intricacies of threading bundles of fibre optic cable through the bowels of a Nuclear Power Station are almost worthy of a book of their own. And as is often the case in large organisations, a company reorganisations and a career change left me managing an eclectic mix of Internet Access and Telecommunications Billing. Travel has become my passion, after all the world is such a big place and there can be no substitute to actually going and looking for your self. Travel programs do not show me how hot the sea is, or how spicy the food, nor let me sample the heady scents of a fish market on a hot Caribbean day. I decided that I had to get out there and travel. In my travelling experience the hottest sea ever I have swum in was the Persian Gulf in July, hotter than most people have their bath water. And despite all the travelling I consider the best Balti is probably to be found in Birmingham. I also think that the world is so big that locations or countries rarely should be visited twice. There is beauty and wonder all around - I say, 'go, explore and enjoy.' On my travels I prefer the beach to the city and, perhaps sadly, have yet to taste breakfast at Tiffany’s or partake of a Sling in Singapore’s Raffles. But then my memory is full of other exiting trips and moments such as the wonderfully friendly people of Gambia and the stunning beauty of the islands of the Indian Ocean. Travel. In the slow wind down after a particularly memorable Caribbean holiday, I sat at my desk in front of a computer screen, and realisation dawned that a telephone bill seemed little more than a masterful blend of fact and fiction. In the early morning light of that chilly Autumn's day a sip of coffee was taken and a decision was made. I realised that I could write something more interesting than a telephone bill report. Edward and Geraldine, I decided, were about to meet the world.
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