Saturday 21 January 2012

Ginger liberal; who I am

Before you start reading please open this in another tab/window and hit play, it adds a certain ambiance to my meandering!!!

The more I tweets I read from my contemporaries locally and nationally the more I wonder about my Twitter feed- not just what I reply too but the stuff I tweet as well - Often irrelevant gumpf or about my family.

It suddenly occurred to me I'd not really introduced myself or my family to give some context, after all I'm more than just the Ginger Liberal,  it also it gives me a more human dimension. So many people on line seem to be sleek political and spin machines and lack any kind of realness about them, I think this people get vexed when they follow the likes of me and wonder;
What do I care that he's watching Empire Strikes back?

But there is more to life than politics, and here's mine.

D.O.B:  25-11-1980, Canada House Gillingham.
Siblings: 1 Sister, Gemma (8-1-83) who is more successful than me!

I grew up in the village of Marden, was educated in the local primary school, Cornwallis school and finally King Alfred's College to study History and Post graduate Social History.
I've studied Japanese History, British Politics 1900-90, Medieval and Pre-industrial society, Aethfred the Great and Nazi Germany writing my FYP on "The Rise and fall of the Luftwaffe 1935-45"

Favourite music: 90's mostly indie; Sleeper, Ecobelly, Garbage, Pulp.
                          Random one hit wonders; Joshua Kadison, Babylon Zoo, Crash test Dummies
                          Other music: Evanescence, Florence and the machine,

Favourite Song; Ohne Dich (Rammstein) Run Away train (Soul Asylum) Secretly (Skunk Annansie) Broken (Seether feat Amy Lee)
           
Favourite Movies: Star Wars... Any of them, especially Empire Strikes Back, Enemy at the Gates, We were Soldiers, The Battle of Britain, Nottinghill, Four Weddings, 50 first dates and disaster movies like Independence Day, Day after tomorrow, 2012, Volcano...

Favourite TV: Big Bang theory, PMQS, How I met your mother, Inbetweeners, Firefly.

Favourite Books; The sorrows of Young Werther, All's quiet on the Western Front, Star Wars Darksabre, the Darth Bane books, Heir to the Empire, Thrawn Duology, Guards Guards Guards! Going Postal, Brothers in arms (by Chris Goss) Game of Thrones,

Favourite Characters; Admiral Natasi Daala, Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Starkiller & Juno, Werther,

My Wife and I got together in 2004 and we were married in April 2009, her name is Sam - Yes we're both aware her name is now Sam Sams and she's cool with that. My wife isn't a Liberal Democrat, she's liberal but not Liberal but is very understanding of my rants and mumblings... not so much of me wanting to name a future son Nick though.

We have a daughter together, Sophie born 12th May 2010. She's the most important thing in my life. Sophie is clever - I mean really clever for just under two - she's not to hot on the walking (why bother dadda? i can crawl faster...) but she's got a really good vocabulary with words like Dragon - she can identify animals, people by name, ask for things and thank you as well. She's going to go really far - You watch.

I have Six best friends in the real world; Dave, Caroline Bell, Caroline Wright, Toni, Jonny and Haaaaaaaavvvvvveeee you met Matt? I also have a really good friend and Twitterwife - Rachael
All of whom I adore and will do anything for.

I've got varied interests in good fiction, marine biology, model making, X-box Games, foot ball - by the way I support Gillingham FC the town in which I was born and have family from - my great great Grandfather has his name on the Royal Engineers memorial in Brompton barracks for fallen R.E's in the Boer War and my nan went to Barnsole Road School, and also the German National Team- I do not support nor can never support England, it has always been Germany and always will - through bad times (England 5 Germany 1) and good times (Germany 4 England 1). I'm also interested in Marine Biology (a field I should have taken up rather than History), The German Air force (I'm doing a talk on the Luftwaffe in Afrika for the work History group in June if anyone wants to come??? No - didn't think so) and Model making/painting usually Warhammer and Airfix 1/72 scale soldiers and aircraft but since baby Sophie burst onto the scene my expensive and fragile models have fallen by the wayside. I'm also in the process of writing a Sci-fi novel - ask me about it some time and I'll tell all! Or you can check out my other blog for snippets.

My Hero's and people I look up to include my Grandparents - my Granddad Sams "Pop" was my surrogate father and my best friend, he was my Obi-wan and I miss him everyday, Colonel Werner Molders, of course I'm inspired by Nick Clegg too - sounds contrite but I really believe he is doing a good job in the toughest circumstances.
I work at a Museum in London that has a lot to do with War but not in a section you'd find interesting but I do get to work on a few things, mainly staring dewy eyed at our Focke Wulf 190 or arming the Pak 38 gun and wishing I could fire her...

I have a tendency to chat rubbish at times, often crazy sounding stuff and moan about work and the trains. Politics is a part of my life, something I'm interested in and I have convictions about how I think we should conduct ourselves and what representatives should and shouldn't do for their voters.

BUT as you can see it isn't my whole life. Nor will it ever be - Yes I am a Lib Dem, yes I am the Medway group's secretary and I will be helping the group and even Councillor's Juby, Smith and Kearney but my life is not geared to the complete destruction of the Tory, Labour or Independent Groups as part of a vicious coup that will see Medway turn Gold, I don't see the other parties as enemies or a force to be opposed with every fibre of my being, agree to disagree - compromise - when you're right, fight and fight well for your cause (i.e. Nelson Court or Boundary reform or Against City Status) especially if you don't think the electorate is being served well but lets face it - we're not at war.
So if you see me following you on Twitter - I am a real person and I have other hobbies so I won't always be chatting politics - likewise my opinions have been shaped by my experiences so No I'm not buying into anyone's "Spin" or doctrines - It's all me. Also, and I can't stress this enough, I'm not a Moron, niave yes but stupid no. If I don't understand something I will ask you and please do ask, sarcasm is wasted on Twitter so my questions will be real.

Also, I do have a life outside of Politics and it isn't the be all and end all of my existence, (that's my family) and nor should it be yours.

A wise person once said to me;

"hey we all go thru that. all you need to worry about is providing for wife & beautiful kid. The rest is extra-curricula." - How very true.

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