Where are you from originally and what situation took you to where you are now ?

[ebikeerwidnes]

First 19 years, lived on Merseyside, Prescot, with family. My dad worked for BICC, as I did for a year, then my dad was transferred to the Erith site in Kent, so we all moved south.

My wife grew up there
her first job was in the cable factory

apparently they made the longest cables in the world at one point

funnily enough the rope makers on the Liverpool docks made the longest ropes in the world as well!!

 

[richardfm]

I was born in Sidmouth, South East Devon, but moved to Bassingborn, a village on the border of Herts and Cambs when I was very young as my Dad got a job managing the local Coop. We lived in a flat above the shop.
That didn't last long, Dad got a job at Borg Warner in Letchworth, making automatic gear boxes and we moved to Royston a few miles south in North Herts. When I was about 14 we moved to Baldock, a few miles west, nearer to Letchworth.
I left school at 17 and joined the Merchant Navy, working for BP. That lasted just over four years, mostly at college in Poplar, East London, but about a year at sea, all over the world.
Then a year in London working as a heating technician before going to Portsmouth in 1984 aged 23 to do a BEng in Mechanical Engineering.
I met my now wife when I was in London and she got a nursing job in Portsmouth, which influenced my choice of where to study.
After graduating I got a job in the steel industry in Cardiff so we moved there and have been here ever since.
Along the way we have had three children, I got and MSc in Computer Science and moved from Engineering to IT.
I'm now 64, working 20 hours a week as a school minibus driver, enjoying life and looking forward to getting my state pension at 67.

 

[postman]

Leeds born and bred.Born Feb 1950.Mum and dad lived in a second floor flat in Harehills.Dad was a painter and decorator,he was working on a 'big' house in Alwoodley very posh then,still is.So he is passing the rent office of a new Council estate.On his way home he goes in and tells a member of staff,we have a three week old baby boy.We live in a flat,i need a house or i will put him up for adoption.They gave him some keys go take a look.they did and lived there till 2000.I got married in 1978 got divorced in 1987.Went back home for eighteen months,then i got a flat on the same estate,i met Mrs P at a local church.From first date to asking for her hand and other bits was only six weeks.Got married June 1990 and moved to Meanwood to live in the house she was buying.I am only a twenty min walk from where i grew up.After three awful jobs i joined Royal Mail in Jan 1972 a year or so after the Postal strike the year before.I was there thirty four years and made some great mates twenty yeas coming up retired early voluntary at fifty six,and we meet up once a month for a meal and drinks.This Christmas will be our twentieth i sort things out and lay a Christmas table with the great help of Wetherspoons.

 

[oxoman]

Born in burton upon trent then moved to a village called blackfordby till i was around 15 when parents moved to where i live now on the border of midway/newhall
Bought my 1st house in burton then moved back to where i still live when i got married as we both wanted to stay near parents as they aged and its close enough to work .

Small world you can only be about a mile from me. Lived in Blackfordby for 2yrs and still got family there.

 

[Beebo]

He used to earn a huge amount of money leading an emergency response team. One year when I was 14/15 so 1970/71 he earned over £30k which was an awful lot of money then.

Google says that is £500k in 2026!

 

[Alex321]

Born in Peterborough, but then my dad joined the RAF, and we moved around a lot - I had 7 different primary schools, two grammar schools. The second of those was from 2nd form to upper 6th, in Grantham, so if there is any town I would regard as my "home town" it would be Grantham.

Then went to Swansea for university, met the woman who is now my wife in the holidays before my final year, and settled in South Wales with her. I now regard myself as naturalised Welsh, having lived here for48 years, 45 of those married to the same Welsh woman.

We have moved around a bit in South Wales - a couple of years in Birchgrove just outside Swansea, then 20 years across two properties in Pontypridd, then another 20 years just North of Merthyr Tydfil, then since June 2020 in a village in the Vale of Glamorgan.

 

[Sharky]

My wife grew up there
her first job was in the cable factory

apparently they made the longest cables in the world at one point

funnily enough the rope makers on the Liverpool docks made the longest ropes in the world as well!!

The BI was a good place to work, for a first job. Very much like the "It Crowd". The sports club was just across the road, for crown green and table tennis during the lunch break. I was also lucky enough to be there when the had their bi-annual staff trip to Blackpool, with all food and booze paid for.

 

[marzjennings]

Born in Leamington Spa, parents moved to Down Hatherley, Gloucestershire when I was 2 and we spent 13 years there. Parents get divorced and so mum takes us all to St Day, Cornwall. After 3 years I head to Pontypridd for Uni, back to St. Day after I finish Uni. Then from St. Day to Reading for work, work then takes me to the Hague, and then back to Reading after 2 years trying to learn dutch. From Reading, a move to Wareham, then to Dublin, all for work in about 3 years. Met my wife in London while I'm in Dublin, she's get a promotion in the US, so we get married and move to Houston, Texas. Have a kid, just the one daughter, spent 2 years in Trinidad (country of my wife's birth) before heading back to Houston where we've been for almost 20 years. I'm starting the move back to the UK with a flat in Bath, then hopefully a house soon so we can move back to be close my family St Day, Bristol, and Gloucester. Might be the last move, but we're only in our late 50's so we've been thinking of a place in Barbados for a few years where my wife's parents are thinking of wrapping things up.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I’m from Birmingham. I met my future wife whilst watching the Tour de France in 1993. She was from Edinburgh so the following year I moved up here. Been here ever since.