The story so far (Part 2)

Adolescence and the Air Force

Several years of education seemed to pass me by in an alco-pop blur.

I had lots of fights.

I experimented with the opposite sex...I still only achieved a grade C in Science.

I rode my bike and generally lived a care-free life, things were simple, Oasis and Blur, the battle for Brit-Pop supremacy. No bills, no job, no decreasing metabolism.

My lacklustre grades and inability to focus on college studies (the girls were infinitely hotter) meant that I was destined to a life of retail jobs and skank.

But all was not lost, I remember with clear definition, the meal at which my mother suggested that I join the military...not just any branch, the Royal Air Force!

I had a good relationship with my family, things became frayed on occasion, mostly my doing, but I would typically not listen to my mother. She had a habit of saying things that would totally contradict my present attitude. Yet this suggestion was not shut down with teenage grunts, no Kevin and Perry anecdotes followed. I was in agreement with mother, I would apply to join the Air Force. I would become a hero!

I nailed the testing, the physical and the interviews. I was offered a range of employment, or trades. My decision was based on the write-up of each trade, it's requirements, it's typical daily pattern, and it's prospects. I selected Trade Group 3, Eng Tech (EL), Engineering Technician (Electrical). My hands would be the tools of my trade, my sharp mind and logical though process would guide those hands into circuitry belonging to 1960s technologies.
I enjoyed this job, I made good money for a young man, but there wasn't enough permanency, there wasn't enough promotion and there seemed to be an increasing focus on the glamor-free aspect of Information Technology rather than the sexed-up world of transformers and wave-guide theory, 80A and valves as big as your head!
I did enjoy a few years of the trades' glory days. I was sent to Cyprus during the flare of troubles in Afghanistan. The base was busy but the sun was shining and I met some friends who remain in contact after all these years. 2002 was a very good year.

Prior to my Cypriot detachment I met a woman. A woman who ruled my every moment, in day-light thought or sleepy contemplation...she was there. She was the first girl I loved, and I wonder if I'll ever love the same way again.

Well the years rolled by, and there are many stories to be told throughout my RAF career, yet I am losing patience and haven't found humour once in this post. I'll cut my losses and return to this literation of life when the mood takes me.