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Almost immediately, I had a sense that a voice had
spoken to me inside my head, or as if a thought had been inserted
in my consciousness. This was "Whatever happens, Stephen, I
will always be with you." That was all. It did not answer my
prayer in the terms that I had wanted, but it stood out from my
general flow of consciouness like a sore thumb. I have never
experienced anything positive like this ever again. Somehow, I
don't need to. The promise was so absolute and uncompromising that
it has always been enough for me to fall back on in all my later
troubles.
Later that night my mother was taken - much too
late for it to be any good at all - into hospital with a massive
untreated stroke. A day or so later, she was dead. Her funeral was
an incredible affair. She was so well respected and loved in the
neighbourhood that the Methodist Chappel was packed to the doors
with friends and neighbours as well as the normal congregation. I
found it surprisingly easy to accept my mum's death, as I never
doubted but that she was in God's good hands. The only real sorrow
I felt, was as a result of my own untimely loss. Although I had
always taken Christianity fairly seriously, it was the jolt of my
Mother's death that elicited a personal response from me.
I
still remember walking into my C-of-E School Assembly one morning
thinking "right, well if you're going to be a Christian, it's
about time that you started taking it seriously". I started
to attend evening service at Chapel regularly and did some
teaching in Sunday School. I resolved to become a member of the
Methodist Church. I discovered C.S. Lewis, and from that moment I
have never had any lasting doubts about God, Jesus and His care
for me. I took Old Testament Religious Studies at O-level, and
because of this developed a life-long interest in the history and
traditions of the Hebrew People .
My mother's death brought my Father and I closer
together. It was now more or less the two of us against the world,
and we either had to pull together or sink.
At about this time, I came into the possession of
a strange little book called "The Testament of Light".
This is described by its compiler as "an anthology of the
religious spirit". More accurately, I have come to realize,
it is an anthology of thinly camouflaged NeoPlatonism. It is from
this anthology that many of the quotes distributed through my
Web-Site have been abstracted. When I first acquired this book, I
did not realize the influence that it would have on me. While it
was having that influence, I did not recognize it. I do not agree
with all the sentiments expressed in it, and certainly not with
the self description it contains "Religion without God".
Nevertheless, in the last few years have I realized that many of
my attitudes can be traced back to my first reading of this little
book. It was my first meeting with Plato, Whichcote, Glanville,
Mill, Blake, Chesterton, Julian of Norwich, Marcus Aurelius,
Nietzche and The Cloud of Unknowing.
It was about this time that I first came into
contact with Catholicism - though of a suspect variety - in the
writings of Teillard de Chardin. I read his two books: the Hymn
and Prayer of the Universe, and though I found them obscure, I was
impressed with their spirituality. I particular the emphasis on
the transcendent in his Cosmology and Eucharistic devotion. As a
Methodist, I had received no instruction whatsoever as to the
nature of "The Lord's Supper": it was something that one
simply went through the motions of doing, without comment!
When I moved on to Sixth Form College, I became
very interested in the Ecumenical Movement. I persisted in
maintaining an involvement with the Evangelical "Christian
Society" that existed there, even though the doctrine of the
"Substitutionary Atonement" was offensive to my sense of
justice. At this time my theological outlook could definitely be
characterized as "liberal". I continued to develop my
involvement with High Church Anglicanism. The local
Anglocatholic parish was on good terms with the Methodist Chapel
that I was then attending, and I enjoyed attending Midnight Mass
and the annual Corpus Christi service. I also got into the habit
of attending their eight o'clock Communion service.
It was about this time that my Father re-married.
It was not a successful venture. I suppose that I resented it to a
degree: certainly my step-mother misled my Father over a number of
matters and begrudged any sign of affection that he bestowed on
me. These were very unhappy years for me at home.
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Cambridge University
 I
was fortunate to be accepted to read Physics at Trinity College
Cambridge in 1976. Apart from academic matters, my first year was
spent getting to know some of the people who would remain my
friends for the next quarter of a century and "getting over"
my first unrequited (and not then properly recognized) love
affair, with my then best friend, Adrian Shingler. The
picture below shows Adrian (looking typically embarrassed!) with
his mother and their pet poodle.
 From
early days, I knew and benefited from the perspective of
evangelical christians. While at Trinity, I played a full part in
the College "Christian Union" and also CICCU: the
"Cambridge Intercollegiate Christian Union". I still
remember my friends David Nussbaum and Anthony Jacombe-Hood with
particular affection. However, it became increasingly obvious to
me that the core of their belief system (Lutheranism and/or
Calvinism) was misguided. In effect, with the best possible of
intentions I am sure, it made God into a vindictive and arbitrary
tyrant. I had been convinced that God was in fact loving, kind,
compassionate, just and reasonable from my earliest memories, so I
was entirely unable to empathize with this point of view.
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 It
was at Cambridge that I met my best friend, John (grinning, with a
beard); who has been a main-stay of my life ever since.
My main involvement with other Christians while at
Cambridge was via the Methodist inspired "Ecumenical
Fellowship Group" movement. I took part in three E.F.G. based
missions, to Winterbourne (near Bristol), Warrington (near
Liverpool) and Theydon Bois (near London). I was further exposed
to Anglo Catholicism in the person of the esoteric Allison Legge,
who I briefly encountered. It was at Cambridge that I first
encountered the beautiful Russian Orthodox liturgy. I also met the
controversial Dr John A.T. Robinson, who was Dean of Trinity
College Chapel and heard him preach on a number of occasions. He
always struck me as a good and kind man, and pretty sensible in
his views, if only one paid attention to what he actually said
rather than what others represented him as saying.
I discovered J.H. Cardinal Newman, and the
Apostolic Fathers (Ignatious of Antioch, Clement of Rome) and then
the Fathers of the Fourth Century, Athanasius, John Chrysostom,
Leo, Cyril and Basil, and was received into the Catholic Church by
the Chaplain at Cambridge University: Maurice Couve de Murville,
who later became Archbishop of Birmingham. I got somewhat involved
with the "charismatic movement" through Nick Lloyd. The
picture on the right shows me (the one without the beard) with
three Catholic friends at the Trinity College May Ball. My first
encounter with the Tridentine Mass took place at Cambridge, when
Mgr Gilbey (a previous chaplain) celebrated it in the Chaplaincy
Day Chapel.
From my first days as a Catholic , I have always
adopted a more "traditional " theology , liturgy and
ecclesiology than is currently fashionable. It has always been
centrally important to me, as a Christian who is also a Scientist
, to focus on what is TRUE, rather than approved or popular or
convenient. As Jesus said: "For this I came into the world,
to bear witness to the truth."
On returning from a holiday in Rome, where I'd
gone with some University friends, I found that my father had died
and that my "mad Aunt Nancy" (my Father's sister) had
set light to the front bedroom of my home! I coped, as always. My
step mother did not attend the funeral: she had just filed divorce
papers!
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The Hirst Research Centre
 For
about ten years I worked in the electronics industry, working in
Wembley North-West London at the G.E.C. "Hirst Research
Centre", at first on "Charge Coupled Devices" and
then "Semiconductor Device Physics". During this period
I served on the national committee of the Latin Mass Society. I
also considered the Apostolic Ministry, both as an Oratorian and a
secular priest, but was rejected as "unsuitable". The
late Cardinal Hulme told me that I had a personality such that
no-one would be able to "live with" or "get on"
with me. The absurdity of this judgement is revealed by the facts
that I had been sharing a flat with one friend, Peter Polkinghorne
(an Anglican), for about four years at that time and have now been
living with a partner (a Catholic) for over ten years. What the
Cardinal meant was that I wasn't sufficiently malleable of thought
for his purposes.
A few years later Aunt Nancy died, and I was left
without any family to speak of except for my Mother's elder
sister, my Aunt May, of whom I was very fond. She had in effect,
become my mother substitute and had provided a very necessary
refuge from a home that was often little better than a war zone.
The next picture shows me with my Aunt, at the door to her home in
Fenton.
 I
founded and played a leading part in running an
inter-denominational Christian Fellowship, "H.C.F." at
my place of work and made many friends there. It was a wonderful
experience to be able to discuss the varied view-points of those
who came along, to share our mutual faith in Jesus and to
cooperate in witnessing to the Gospel in the place where we
worked.
I still have fond memories of Stephen Shepherd
(secret squirrel), Graham Townsend, Keith Verhayden, Katherine,
Angella, Les Cooper, Fuschia, Paul Doree and Derek Abbott. Many of
the attitudes I now have were forged at this time. In particular,
I owe Derek a great deal. He never gave up, trying to open my eyes
to a wider vista than my innate conservatism and puritanism was
wont to allow. I wonder if my attempts to impress on him the
importance of truth and tradition were anywhere nearly so
successful.
For a time, I was somewhat involved with Opus Dei,
a secretive Catholic organization much in favour at the Vatican. I
found one or two of their priests very impressive in terms of
their wisdom, orthodoxy, piety and sensitivity. I went on
pilgrimage to Rome with Opus Dei twice (via a "front
organization" UNIV). On the second occasion I suppose that I
almost lost my faith. This is because I heard one of the Opus Dei
priests almost gleefully proclaiming at length to a little group
of fans that those folk who haven't had the chance to hear the
gospel can't possibly "be saved". When I challenged him
that the Church teaches that everyone receives sufficient grace
from God to be saved, he replied along the lines that it all
depends what you mean by "sufficient". I was scandalized
and suffered a three day depression, wandering about Rome by
myself in abject misery. It seemed to me that I was a better,
kinder person than the "god" that this priest, whom I
respected, believed in. If he'd been just any old Catholic priest,
I'd have dismissed his words as typical nonsense, but because I
respected him as a member of an orthodox organization, his words
hit at the heart of my image of God as Love. Eventually, I got
over this and moreover he apologized for speaking out of turn and
ill advisedly; but that was the end of my involvement with Opus
Dei.
 I've
also been involved with the "Faith" movement, a strange
group: quite orthodox (but eccentric in their theology); rather
obsessed with their founder's ill conceived attempt at reconciling
Catholic Theology with Science; and fixated on a narrow minded
application of the Church's official teaching on sexual morality.
As someone who generally prefers to stand on the sidelines, rather
than conforming too closely to the norms of any group, I
eventually drifted away from this group. Its obsessions were not
mine, and in any case they were deeply suspicious of the
Traditional Liturgy.
It was at this time that I met Paul May (in the
white "Presto" RUSH tee-shirt), Simon Robinson, Daniel
Doll-Steinburg, Joel Crisp and Paul Miller, through playing
"Dungeons and Dragons". It was at this time that my
alter ego Pharsea was first conceived: as a Lawful Good Cleric to
compliment Paul Miller's Chaotic Good Bard.
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Bristol University
 Then
my Aunt May died, and I was made redundant. I moved to live in
Leigh-on-Sea, Southend so that I could work in Basildon with STC,
as it then was. After a year or so, I got fed up with the job and
decided to return to academic studies for a while. I resigned, and
with the encouragement of Paul May, went to Bristol University,
where I did a Ph.D. in relativistic quantum mechanics and
computational condensed matter physics. I thought this would make
me unemployable, but in fact it helped me to get my next job!
During my first two years at Bristol, I supervised
a student residence: 121 Redland Rd. which is featured in my next
picture.
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Out of the Closet
E ventually,
this position became utterly impossible to support. This was
because I fell deeply in love with a young man, Paul J Hammond,
see next picture: he's wearing a red tee-shirt. I met PJH while
working, as a mature student, for my Ph.D. in theoretical
solid-state physics at Bristol University in 1990. We had met as
Committee members of the newly formed Heavy Metal and Rock Music
Student Society, and I had been privileged to have a role in
drawing him towards a faith in Jesus and His Church. He wrote to
me a tearful letter so full respect for my poor self (after I'd
given him an stern "ticking off" about a very minor
lapse of personal integrity), that my heart was quite overcome.
For another six months I successfully fought
against telling him of my feelings, comforting myself that "Jesus
must become greater for him, and I must become less". In the
end, I found that I simply could not continue the pretence with
any personal integrity, and I told him. He was very good about the
matter, and though he told me that he had no romantic or sexual
feelings toward me he was more than willing to remain close
friends and to continue learning about God and Jesus. The next few
years were very difficult for me. I was "held together"
by a number of friends. In particular, John Sackett and Paul
Miller (see next picture, he's wearing red shorts and grappling
with a punt pole.)
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 When
I was being instructed at Cambridge by Fr Maurice Coeve de
Murville, I remember blithely agreeing with him in passing that
homosexuality was some kind of unfortunate malaise. At the time, I
had a protestant girl-friend (who I'd got to know during the
E.F.G. mission to Warrington, near Liverpool) and was somewhat in
love with her. Over the years it became more and more forcefully
apparent to me, that I was myself "not exactly heterosexual"
and that I had been pressured by society into playing out an
external role or "script" that had no truth in it, but
was a lie about myself. Still, as a traditionally minded Catholic,
I soldiered on; somehow finding it possible to maintain a
conviction that the Church's official teachings on love, marriage,
procreation and sexuality were coherent. For years I was a
vociferous advocate of these matters in my social circle of mostly
protestant or non-believing friends.
One thing that helped me through my own "coming
to terms" with the truth about myself and the Church's
attitude to gay and lesbian people was the fact that I had already
experienced condemnation and rejection by the hierarchy by virtue
of my commitment to unfashionable traditional theology and forms
of worship. Thank God, the first things that I found myself
condemned for were things that I chose to believe and adopt, for
reasons that I could easily defend intellectually, and for which
there was an enormous weight of evidence on my side! The issue of
sexuality is so much more difficult, because it calls into
question not what one thinks or does, but who one is. It seems to
me that it is difficult to judge which group Rome detests and
condemns the more: homosexuals or adherents of the Old Latin Mass.
As yet, no-one has been excommunicated for being gay. For my sins,
I am both!
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 I
had decided that contemporary church authorities were not
generally to be trusted years before I found myself directly and
personally in the firing line. Even so, for a few days I seriously
played with the argument: "If I am intrinsically evil, and if
all that God created is good, then I must be a child of Satan, so
I should worship the Devil!" Thank God that some good
Christian friends renewed within me the certainty of God's love
for ALL that He made, and that he made ALL things, visible and
invisible, and that ALL that he made is good. I lost many friends
at this time, mostly because they couldn't deal with the emotional
anguish that I was going through. Some because they rejected my
homosexuality. Some because they thought associating with me would
be bad for their children. I was helped a lot during this period
by friends made through involvement with the Bristol branch of the
Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, LGCM.
Then followed about four years of blood, sweat and
tears. Paul Hammond could be a stubborn fellow. Most of my
Christian friends, even Paul Miller, thought I was wasting my time
and energies and that he'd never have the "bottle" to
commit himself to Jesus. I never believed this, though I always
recognized his flaws. From our first meetings, I had detected a
core of gentleness and decency in his heart that I believed would,
given the waterings of God's grace, flower into charity and
justice. We both behaved very badly towards each other in various
ways on various occasions. We both forgave each other our
failings. We also had some wonderfully happy times. I think that
often PJH found me quite frightening, because I was able to
challenge his comfortable certainties with the radical wisdom of
the Gospel. He once said that I could argue such that anything I
wanted to convince him of could be made to seem to be right. Of
course, this wasn't true!
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At
the start of this same period, I met and settled down with my long
term partner David. The picture shows him in a red polo shirt at
the top of the Avon Gorge, near Bristol. The centre of our life
together is not sex, but abiding friendship, practical commitment
and personal loyalty in times of trouble based on our shared
adherence to Catholic Christianity. Our relationship has survived
me being made redundant three times, and David's contracting
lymphatic cancer. "By their fruits shall ye know them".
David and I made a number of wonderful friends while in Bristol,
the next two photos shows some of them playing "silly games"
at a birthday party I hosted.
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 Back
To Essex
When I graduated with a Ph.D. from
Bristol (I hope you like my wonderful doctoral robes), David and I
moved back to Leigh-on-Sea. The next picture shows some Bristol
friends visiting us there.
I managed to get a job with Nortel in
Harlow, and David started a long and varied career with what was
then Midland Bank: it subsequently became H5BC and then IPSL. We
got quite involved in the local Catholic church. I was on the
parish council for a couple of years. The priest was quite a
dynamic and theologically orthodox man, and I was keen to help him
with some of his plans. Unfortunately, he "went native"
after a while and seemed to shelve all his "new" ideas
in favour of maintaining the status quo. We (and other folk,
including the Chairman of the parish council) were quite
disillusioned by this. David and I got involved with the local
Essex group of LGCM, and so met George and Carol Hopper. Their
simple human kindness, sincere love of God and natural practice of
hospitality has helped to rekindle in me some hope for humanity.
"Ubi Caritas et Amor: Deus ibi est."
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Eventually, after much prayer, cajoling, and some
emotional bullying on my part, Paul Hammond eventually got his act
together and decided to be received into the Catholic Church in
London. A few days before his reception, I visited Paul at his
flat in London. We were on very good terms at this time, though
that would change within the month. I had brought him a box full
of books of spirituality and theology which were surplus to my
requirements. I said to him: "Paul, I want you to have these,
in case anything happens to me." My meaning was that if at
some point in the future he didn't have me to ask questions of or
advice from, at least he'd have a few half-trustworthy books to
turn to. At that moment, a great shudder passed through my body:
as if someone had walked over my grave. I told Paul what I had
felt and then our conversation continued; for I had no idea at the
time what - if anything - this had meant.
Acting as Paul's sponsor a few day's later, and
offering him the physical embrace of spiritual communion with the
Catholic Church was one of the high points of my life. I remember
his father thanking me for all that I'd done for Paul and
expressing the wish that I would continue to guide him.
Sadly, I knew the meaning of the "strange
turn" I had experinced shortly afterwards. We had a row over
the 'phone, only a day or so after he became a Catholic. For
years, I had felt that he had systematically treated me badly, and
whereas I had felt it was right to "bear the burden"
before he became a Christian, once he had done so I determined
that he should be made to realize that "you don't mess people
about in that way, and certainly not a Christian brother." I
mis-judged this.
I made many attempts to patch up the relationship,
but from then until now I have never seen him or spoken with him
again. It was unacceptable to me that we should remain at
odds. This was for me a matter of serious sin. I was willing to do
anything within my power. Paul was as dear to me as the son that I
shall never have.
He was my friend.
Paul got involved with various groups of
"Conservative Catholics", went to Medugorje, "had a
vision there" and came to the conclusion that homosexuality
was evil, and that while he might "love the sinner", he
must "hate the sin" and so have no association with me,
but treat me as a tax collector!
It broke my heart that it was his membership of
the Catholic Church (which I had battled the world, the flesh and
the devil to achieve) that became the excuse for his repudiation
of our friendship. It was only my apostolic commitment, in
friendship, towards Paul, that forced me to admit the truth about
myself. It was only that non-negotiable commitment that I had
towards him, as a result of my love for him that brought him to
faith in Jesus. No one else would have persevered with him, or put
in the effort. They wouldn't have seen the point! I think that one
reason the Good Lord put me in this world was to witness to that
young man and win his heart for Heaven.
Without my homosexual orientation, none of this
would have been. Yet the Catholic Church condemns me as
intrinsically disordered, worthy of no civic rights and a danger
to the young. I do not think that Church leaders begin to imagine
the pain, desperation and anger that is evoked in the heart of the
gay and lesbian members of their flocks who look to them for bread
and receive only a stone; for fish and receive a scorpion.
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Bristol again, then Basingstoke
 Then
in 1997 I was made redundant again. The next picture shows David
and I together at about this time. After a difficult job search, I
accepted employment back in Bristol, and David and I moved back to
our old haunts and friends there. David easily got a transfer to
an H5BC Service Delivery Unit there. Then the next bomb-shell hit,
he was diagnosed with advanced lymphatic cancer! Then I was made
redundant again!
We muddled on. David responded well to the
chemotherapy, and didn't have too many side effects. We went on
pilgrimage to Lourdes. Paul Hammond wrote to me, claiming to have
received the charism of a healing ministry: but refused to come
and pray for David to be healed when I begged him to do so.
Eventually, I got another job as a research Physicist, and we
moved to Basingstoke, Hampshire. David seems to be fully cured,
but only time will tell. He worked for a time in Camberley for
H5BC and then IPSL. The next picture shows our house in
Basingstoke.
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Paul Hammond wrote to me about this time. He wrote
to me asking how someone as "wise" as me could "believe"
what I do. I immediately started to write the four articles that
form the core of "Faithful to the Truth". I sent these
to both him and one of his new "friends", Peter
Hamilton: a Physics teacher at a Catholic school. I have no reason
to believe that either of these ever read a word of my essays.
After promising to do so, Mr Hamilton in fact said that he
"couldn't be arsed" to do so!
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More Recent History
 Carol
Hopper died after protracted treatment for ovarian Cancer in the
Summer of 2002. David and I were privileged to attend her funeral
in Basildon, Essex.
Paul Miller is now married, and lives in the
U.S.A. with his wife Candice. They feature in my next picture. I'm
glad to say Paul still owns and wears the red shorts! He is now
researching in the field of neuroscience.
After a traumatic time training to be an FE
teacher at my local Sixth Form College, I took up employment as an
Electronics lecturer.
I resigned from my lecturing job in June 2006 and
published my first book "New Skins for Old Wine".
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 Move
to Cheltenham
In June 2009 David and I ourselves moved home to
Cheltenham, in furtherance of David's career. It was a hard thing
to leave all the friends we had made in Basingstoke and also the
house and garden which we had made our home, with all its -
generally good - memories.
Our first six months in Cheltenham went very well.
We have made new friends and have made significant improvements to
the garden here. Our household had a third member; as Henry, young
man with mental health issues joined us as a lodger. I had met
Henry on a MySpace philosophy group a couple of years earlier. We
became close friends and I was able to help him a lot with his
philosophical, psychological and spiritual development.
Unfortunately, everything went horribly wrong just
after Christmas and Henry left us. I don't know what happened
exactly, as he stopped talking to me while whatever was going on
inside him took shape. I felt that I was going through a somewhat
reduced version of the PJH experience all over again. David was
very understanding and supportive throughout the process.
Click on the photo to visit the FaceBook page for
our house.
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Update [November 2015]
Over the last few years, we have had a number of
friends lodge with us: Luke, Paul, Matthew, Ben and David.
I am somewhat involved in the poetry scene in
Cheltenham; though I find it very cliquy and full of pretension.
Although almost all of the people involved are left-of-centre in
their politics they tend to be only concerned with self-promotion
and are uninterested in cooperating to help others to promote
work.
I have become stranged from my friend John Sacket
due to a dispute with his wife.
I had a cateract removed from my right eye. The
procedure was horrific. First a needle was inserted into my
eyeball so as to administer an anaesthetic. This was painful and
frightening. The procedure itself was also horrid. I emerged
somewhat traumatised and vowing that I would not put myself
through that again.
Until Easter 2013 David and I regularly attended
the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Gloucester and I went so
far as to transfer my juresdiction and become a full member of the
Ukrainian Eparchy. Hence I ceased to be a Roman Catholic, while
remaining in full communion with the See of Rome. A tragic series
of events then occurred. Our bilingual parish priest was recalled
to London and replaced with another man who spoke hardly any
English. When this happened a small group of forceful women took
over the running of the parish and made it quite clear that I was
not welcome in the parish, not being of Ukrainian blood.
At this time, I had also gotten involved in the
founding of an English speaking UGCC parish in Cardiff, working
closely with Rev priest James Seimens, and had been enrolled on a
diaconate programme. Sadly, the RC archbishop of Cardiff took a
dislike to me - mostly, I believe, because of my public postion on
homosexuality - and put pressure on Rev Seimens to remove me from
all positions of leadership in the parish. [This all started,
however, with a dispute regarding waste-bins!]
David and I regularly attend the Traditional
Roman-Rite Liturgy at Prinknash Abbey on Saturdays, occasionally
at St Gregory the Great in Cheltenham dring the week and Sunday
High Mass at the Birmingham Oratory. As I am a devotee of John
Henry Newman, I very much like being able to pray regularly in his
shrine there; and to attend Divine Worship in the place where he
celebrated Mass and preached during most of his life as a
Catholic.
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Update [July 2017]
I was verbally abused and physically assaulted at
the end of (Gregorian Clendar) Holy Saturday Liturgy in 2015 in St
Mary Moorfields by Dr Shaw the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society.
He had recognised me and took offense at me speaking to his son in
Church. The police issued him with a warning not to repeat this
behaviour, but I tend to keep away from places where I expect him
to be. Apart from anything else he allows his children to
misbehave in Mass, which is most disruptive, and reacts very badly
when anyone remonstrates with him about this.
I had a minor heart-attack on (Julian) Easter
Sunday 2016 and had two stents fitted. I enjoyed my week in
hospital, being fussed over by nurses - especially one
particularly kind Muslim women.
I fell off my bicycle on the Monday of Holy Week
2017 and - even though I was wearing a cycle helmet - sustained a
potentially serious head injury. This resulted in me having to
forfeit my driving license for six months because of fears that I
might develop epilepsy. I am pleased to report that, I experienced
no neurological symptoms in the following three months.
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Update [May 2022]
David and I are still living in Cheltenham. We
survived Covid with neither of us being infected. We regularly
attend Mass at the Birmingham Oratory; but given the impact of
pope Francis, Masses at Prinknash and Gregory the Great are no
more.
I have reconnected with what little family I have,
back in Stoke-on-Trent. It was wonderful to meet my cousins
Marlene and Grenville after so many years. They are the children
of my father’s brother.
Karl Dutton (a very dear school-friend from when I
was 11-14 years old, and who was taken to Australia by his mother)
visited us, with his partner. It turns out that he is gay too. It
was wonderful to be able to talk with Karl and hug him again after
all these years apart. If he hadn’t gone to Australia, I
guess we would have become life-partners.
David’s mother has died of Pancreatic
cancer.
I have become a fan of the PC-based Role Playing
Game “Skyrim”.
My Godson Philip has given up on Christianity.
Paul Miller has become an atheist and we have
become estranged.
James Seimens has defected to the Russian Orthodox
Church.
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Update [February 2023]
My cousin Grenville has died and we attended his
funeral.
David’s father has died. We have been busy
clearing their bungalow in Norwich so that it can be sold.
I have had the cataract removed from my left eye.
I had been assured that my previous experience would not be
repeated. I am pleased to say that this time there was no pain -
the anaesthetic was administered as an eye-drop! - and the
procedure itself was no more than “mildly disconcerting.”
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That brings you up to date with my "history".
I am interested in lots of things. Here's a list:
Physics
(especially Quantum Mechanics),
Philosophy
(especially Plato, Popper, J.S. Mill and Ayn Rand),
Theology
(especially Patristics, Ecumenism, Catholic-Jewish relations and
sexual ethics),
Traditional
Liturgy (especially the Old Latin (Tridentine) and the Byzantine
rite),
Politics (I am a
strong "Euro-sceptic"),
Music (especially
Heavy Rock: Rush, Dream Theatre, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath,
Alaska, Queensryche, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Magnum,
Judas Priest, Helloween, Motley Crue),
Fantasy Role
Playing Games (e.g. Dungeons and Dragons),
Gardening
(especially dahlias) and Pot Plants,
Personal Finance
(especially Investment Trusts),
Theatre
(especially Sophocles, Shakespeare, Marlowe and Stoppard),
Science Fiction
and Fantasy books (especially Tolkein, Aldis, Asimov, Brin,
Silverburg, Le Guin, Eddings, Donaldson, Christian Jacq),
Cinema (e.g. 2001,
Torch Song Trilogy, Ordinary People, Time Bandits, The Breakfast
Club, E.T., My Beautiful Launderette, Crossroads, The Lost Boys,
Dances with Wolves, The Shawshank Redemption, Bill & Ted,
Interview with the Vampire, Get Real, Eyes Wide Shut, The Blair
Witch Project, The Talented Mr Ripley, A.I., The Village,
Thirteen Days, Brokeback Mountain, Ender's Game).
I like animals,
but my only pets are gold fish.
I have a
collection of stuffed toys.
My favourite TV
includes A Touch of Frost, Cavenagh QC, Judge John Deed, Silent
Witness, Keeping up Appearances, Star Trek (in all its
incarnations), Roswell, The Originals, Sanctuary, Farscape,
Babylon V, Extant, The Expanse, Dark Matter, Mr Robot, Twelve
Monkeys, Supernatural, Emerald City, Angel, Jeremiah, Open All
Hours, Porridge, One Foot in the Grave, Yes Minister, My Family,
Birds of a Feather, Absolutely Fabulous, Justified, Burn Notice,
Bates Motel, How to Get Away with Murder, Young Royals, The Good
Place, Lucifer, Monarch of the Glen, Will and Grace, and `Ello
`Ello.
David and I both love Scotland, and have been
on holiday there six times.
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