So Whats Your Story | Vital Football

So Whats Your Story

Andy The Ray

Vital Reserves Team
We all "know" each other from posting on here but what's your life story? I was born and bred in Guernsey, qualified as a mechanic, spent a few years in the army (Royal Engineers), was a gym instructor in Caldmore, Walsall, built cranes in Great Barr, moved back to Guernsey and went to college and eventually worked in the banking/accounting sector. In 2004 i moved to Florida where i had my own wheelchair/ stretcher transportation business and now i am a rural postal carrier in St Augustine, FL (basically im a postman who delivers mail in the woods in a non air conditoned van where the temps hit 120 + degrees).

I occasionally smoke cigarettes, dip (chew tobacco, disgusting to any anybody north of the Mason Dixie line) and smoke other "tropical delights, which at the moment aren't legal in FL but are in certain parts of US but im not a stoner and use it to relax and it helps my medical ailments.
I was married to Mrs Ray Mark 1 for 21 years before she realized she was gay (and married her partner) whilst i married a South African, naturalized American who got here under political assylum laws as her father was an outspoken civil rights activist in SA. If he'd gone back to Cape Town he and his family would've been in danger as they were classed as colored.
There you go, my life story in 30 seconds. What's yours?
 
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Blimey. Mine would sound so boring compared to that!!! Quite an interesting life you've led. Good for you.

I had a few friends at Uni that couldn't go back to South Africa. So glad you could help one of the activists. Such a terrible stain on our history.
 
Well.... I was in the Boys Brigade and aged 14 went camping for 2 weeks in a village called Stoke Fleming its very rural and close to the field where we camped was Deer Park a caravan - holiday park.
it was there listening to the juke box playing "Life on Mars" (our song)
I met a local Dawn............. We kept in touch and at 18 I got my first motor bike and yes you guessed it rode it down to Stoke Fleming to see her.... Well here we are August see's us celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary, 2 kids, 2 grand kids (who I fucking adore and spoil rotten)
Now living in Dartmouth same house for 35 years.

At 19 I started work in the Britannia Royal Naval College and apart from a 11 month break after redundancy I have worked here nearly 40 years.
In several roles............... currently in the Main Reception.

Now ages 60 and reasonably happy with life......

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=D...q3cAhXlBcAKHazhAHQQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1920&bih=1069

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw...mg..8.11.1271...0j0i67k1j0i30k1.0.MXXFmJyFKLM
 
Blimey. Mine would sound so boring compared to that!!! Quite an interesting life you've led. Good for you.

I had a few friends at Uni that couldn't go back to South Africa. So glad you could help one of the activists. Such a terrible stain on our history.
You'd be surprised how interesting your life is to other people Heath. What you think is boring is interesting to other people. We all move in different circles in different towns and come from different places.
 
Yeah, cool thread Ray.

Born and raised in County Carlow (southeast Ireland).
Grew up with an alcoholic father (RIP Dad) who was booted out when I was 12.
Was good at sports (GAA, football, badminton) and school until I discovered music and playing guitar and said fuck all that shit.
Went to art college and dropped out because I didn't give a shit.
Worked in a steel factory for a few years.
Moved to Dublin to join a band and smoke weed for the next 8 years.
Played in various different bands, while working odd jobs through my twenties, getting on local radio at one point.
Depression and anxiety.
Gave music a break to concentrate on other things like drinking too much and having a few disastrous relationships.
Went back to college to study computers last year, while simultaneously plotting my next musical adventure.
Just gone 35, I can't complain and don't regret a thing.
 
Born in Marlborough Wiltshire. Dad in The RAF
2-5 raised in Cyprus (forces brat yup)
5-16 bought up in the South Midlands spending alot of time between and the family centre home in Sutton Cold Field
Professional middle class child which was "all that glitters isn't necessarily gold" type. It was full of secrets, lies, violence and was strange and disturbing though I didn't know it then.
Left home at 16. Chucked away a promising career moving around The U.K alot. I worked in cheffing and could have gone alot further with it.
Met the ex when I was 22. Married and had 4 children. We lived in Yorkshire. Ran ex business (building trade) and mine in market trading and catering. Recreated childhood in adulthood with him.
I found out by a sequence of events I had 2 half brothers I didn't know about by my late father. That hangs another long story, for another time. Whilst alot older than me I have a great relationship with them since 1996 when I found out about them.
Finally left in 2000 when my eldest was 15 with all 4. We walked the fires or hell with the aftermath.
Met my 2nd husband in 2002 who was and is my husband soul mate and best friend
Travelled alot up and will continue too.
Work as a holistic service practitioner and advisor.
Developed alot or physically and mental health issues through my life story. Mentally more managed today than manage me.
My life experiences mean I can do this as many ask how I can work in this area.
4th generation Villa. Love of Greece and the islands. Speak the language reasonably and can read write and translate it. I am a Christian. Other hobbies, cooking, garden and competitioning
 
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Yeah, cool thread Ray.

Born and raised in County Carlow (southeast Ireland).
Grew up with an alcoholic father (RIP Dad) who was booted out when I was 12.
Was good at sports (GAA, football, badminton) and school until I discovered music and playing guitar and said fuck all that shit.
Went to art college and dropped out because I didn't give a shit.
Worked in a steel factory for a few years.
Moved to Dublin to join a band and smoke weed for the next 8 years.
Played in various different bands, while working odd jobs through my twenties, getting on local radio at one point.
Depression and anxiety.
Gave music a break to concentrate on other things like drinking too much and having a few disastrous relationships.
Went back to college to study computers last year, while simultaneously plotting my next musical adventure.
Just gone 35, I can't complain and don't regret a thing.

You can never regret anything. As long as you learn from your mistakes you're on the right track.
 
Born in Marlborough Wiltshire. Dad in The RAF
2-5 raised in Cyprus (forces brat yup)
5-16 bought up in the South Midlands spending alot of time between and the family centre home in Sutton Cold Field
Professional middle class child which was "all that glitters isn't necessarily gold" type. It was full of secrets, lies, violence and was strange and disturbing though I didn't know it then.
Left home at 16. Chucked away a promising career moving around The U.K alot. I worked in cheffing and could have gone alot further with it.
Met the ex when I was 22. Married and had 4 children. We lived in Yorkshire. Ran ex business (building trade) and mine in market trading and catering. Recreated childhood in adulthood with him.
Finally left in 2000 when my eldest was 15 with all 4. We walked the fires or hell with the aftermath.
Met my 2nd husband in 2000 who was and is my husband soul mate and best friend
Travelled alot up and will continue too.
Work as a holistic service practitioner and advisor.
Developed alot or physically and mental health issues through my life story. Mentally more managed today than manage me.
My life experiences mean I can do this as many ask how I can work in this area.
4th generation Villa. Love of Greece and the islands. Speak the language reasonably and can read write and translate it. I am a Christian. Other hobbies, cooking, garden and competitioning

A load of ups and downs KK. You ended up with a good guy and he was taken far too early but on the plus side you had some good times with him and he enriched your life. I'm first generation Villa as I didn't have any ties until I moved to Streetly (I was a WBA fan at the time but all my mates in Streetly were Villa fans however my great grandad born on 30 Dec 1899 was a Villa fan. Carry on travelling girl. I've probably seen more of USA than a lot of Americans. (I've seen a lot of Europe too) but I love travelling. Thanks for your story.
 
You'd be surprised how interesting your life is to other people Heath. What you think is boring is interesting to other people. We all move in different circles in different towns and come from different places.

LOl. Reading some here, I'm not sure.

Raised on farms in Shropshire and Staffordshire, I was the first in my family to get to University. I studied Maths, Statistics and Computer Science at Sussex. Then did a Masters in statistical analysis at the same Uni. I fully intended to "come home" after my studies, but never quite made it.

Went into the Finance sector straight out of Uni working for two of the big firms, before realising I needed to work for myself. Started my own Pensions and investment business, with a friend, which lasted 15 years before I had to sell my half to him through ill health.

Essentially retired at 46, but have been dragged back in to work through a new IT support business. It seems that I'm not allowed to just do nothing!!!

That's it right up today, three weeks short of my 50th birthday. All pretty standard stuff.
 
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LOl. Reading some here, I'm not sure.

Raised on farms in Shropshire and Staffordshire, I was the first in my family to get to University. I studied Maths, Statistics and Computer Science at Sussex. Then did a Masters in statistical analysis at the same Uni. I fully intended to "come home" after my studies, but never quite made it.

Went into the Finance sector straight out of Uni working for two of the big firms, before realising I needed to work for myself. Started my own Pensions and investment business, with a friend, which lasted 15 years before I had to sell my half to him through ill health.

Essentially retired at 46, but have been dragged back in to work through a new IT support business. It seems that I'm not allowed to just do nothing!!!

That's it right up today, three weeks short of my 50th birthday. All pretty standard stuff.

It's interesting to know more about you Heath. Box standard stuff? Be grateful Heath. LOL. Believe me I wouldn't have chosen my life story. It's no wonder I didn't want to be born, however that's another story!

I was interested anyway to read about your life. It is different for everyone and helps others see what makes others tick.

Observing others and connection through it is good. Life is about connection. Thank you for sharing
 
A load of ups and downs KK. You ended up with a good guy and he was taken far too early but on the plus side you had some good times with him and he enriched your life. I'm first generation Villa as I didn't have any ties until I moved to Streetly (I was a WBA fan at the time but all my mates in Streetly were Villa fans however my great grandad born on 30 Dec 1899 was a Villa fan. Carry on travelling girl. I've probably seen more of USA than a lot of Americans. (I've seen a lot of Europe too) but I love travelling. Thanks for your story.

Thank you Andy and yes I will re travelling. It's always been the one thing I love. More and more are lone travelling today and I have plenty of female friends to go with where I don't want to go alone.

I will still go to Kef, Canada (my daughter) New Zealand (my youngest) and France where my sponsor now lives lone traveling. Other places I have plenty to go with as I said
 
I 'm a babyboomer, born in Belfast and may be the oldest active Vital Villan. (Maybe I should be appointed Honorary Life President?) I am the oldest child in a pretty dysfunctional family. Much of that was caused by the alcoholism of one of my parents.
When I was ten, my Dad moved to Birmingham for work and two years later Mum and my only sister, then seven, went over as well. (This accounts for Margaret's broad Brummie accent.) The Birmingham connection also accounts for my being a Villan.
Three of my brothers were put into care and I did not see two of them for over thirty years. I discovered that they'd been taken out of a bad situation and ended up somewhere far worse. One of them still gets flashbacks. The third brother was adopted and lives in Australia so I've not seen him for over 60 years although we're in sporadic touch.
I was brought up after that by my maternal grandmother as was my brother, Patrick (RIP) whilst Hugh lived with our paternal grandparents. It would be hard to gauge the debt that we owe to the three of them.
I did my "O" levels but although I was (am?) very bright (and of course modest) could not afford to go to college as the money wasn't there.
I ended up in London for five years where I met my future wife. If she doesn't boot me out before then, we'll celebrate our 50th anniversary this October. We have six children, all grown up, all married, with seventeen living children between them. We're proud of them all.
In 1970, we both had a rush of blood to the head and changed our faith. We had both been Catholics (I've a great-uncle who was the Bishop of Johannesburg for many years.) We became Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) which didn't exactly go down very well with our families! However, it's a decision we've never regretted.
The best thing I ever did was to marry a truly special person and to have a wonderful family with her. Next to that was to join the Church. (Alas, being a Villa supporter only comes third!)
I worked for many years in sales and marketing in what we'd now call the IT business. Then, in the mid 1990s, totally burnt out after a really messy redundancy and somewhat down (I'm prone to depression from time to time), I went back to college as a mature student.
We lived on faith and fresh air for those years (which were great) and I graduated in 1999 with a first class honours degree. I was also student of the year. I then worked in financial administration for a communiy development company until 2011 when we both retired from paid employment.
I should say here that as well as living in London for five years, we also spent seven in Redditch where three of our children were born. (Obviously, we lived in less opulent accommodations than our great leader.) We moved to Dublin in 1979.
Immediately after our retirements, we spent a few years back in Blighty, this time in Lancashire, where we accepted an invitation from our Church leaders to work on a voluntary basis in the Preston Temple (which, a bit like Ryanair airports) is actually elsewhere, in Chorley. We were there till late 2015. That was an extraordinary chapter in our lives.
We're now home again in Dublin but are probably away nine or ten weeks every year now, a few of them back at the temple where we still help out and the rest elsewhere, including Denmark where one of our daughters lives. Earlier this year, for example, we were able to spend a few days in Versailles and we're not long back from a short visit to friends in Scotland.
I try not to have regrets although I sometimes squirm when I think of all the stupid things I've done. But when it's all boiled down, I wish I'd learned the lesson that it's better to be kind than to be right.
 
Wow BBJ what an amazing story! You have certainly had your share of ups and downs. Whilst your childhood was certainly troubled you had the blessing of wonderful Grandparents to bring you up.

It again proves that we can have good happy lives even through troubles. I have seen all of mine grow and develop to have good strong stable happy lives and with our eldest (meaning Mr KK and I as I will always refer to mine as both of ours as he was and is the dad he didn't have to be) very happily married and a very good stable career. I know I/we have played our part in that though too.

I can imagine the change of faith didn't go down well in your family. The ex was catholic and I am classed as protestant and when we met in 1984 the ex deceased MiL made my life very difficult. Mind you she would have anyway whatever her faith. Those I know now were her survival instincts. Like you she was one of 11 and bought up in an alcoholic home in S.I and her temperament pre-disposed her to being very difficult as addiction does affect everyone around the person.

Thank you for sharing with us BBJ. I enjoyed reading and getting to know whom you are a little more