Meet the Author (As old as my tongue, but just a bit older than my teeth )

Hello, and thanks for looking in.

I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself at this point, so that you know who I am, where I’m from, what I’m currently up to on the internet, and most importantly, why I have chosen to create and develop a weblog on the very broad and interesting subject of self improvement.

So without further ado… let’s get started!

Name, birthplace and current location

My name is Alan, and I was born, bred, and still happily living in the North Staffordshire area of England in the U K (”Stoke on Trent” to be more precise, otherwise known as the “Potteries”).

Maritual status

Happily married to, and together with my lovely wife Karen for over 25yrs now. We have four wonderful children, two boys and two girls, and two adorable grandchildren, a boy and a girl.

That keeps everything nice and even for the time being … four girls and four boys in the Howells’s clan to date. Now, assuming there will be more additions to our family over the coming years “that’s grandchildren by the way ;-)”, we should have more than enough family members come every christmas day to actually polish off the big fat, oversized cooked Turkey that seems to squat in our fridge over the Xmas season and beyond.

Family, schooling and academics

The second eldest of eight children, I started my local school at the ripe old age of 5 yrs, landing back home on my very first day after only an hour had passed, thinking that “we” (me and my best mate at the time) had already completed our first day’s schooling after hearing the mid-morning break time bell ring.

I can still to this day remember thinking “where is everyone else that went into school with us?” and “why were we the only one’s on the short trek back home?”.

That was my first day’s exeperience at school - never to be forgotten. And very often laughed about, even to this day.

Luckily I was able to attend the very same school I started, right up through my primary and secondary years. I eventually left school at the age of 15yrs with no qualifications whatsoever to my name. It wasn’t that I was incapable, or lacked the education needed to pass my 11 pluses. My academic shortfall was mainly due to the fact that I failed to attend school when it mattered most, because there were more pressing matters to attend to domestically. On a personal note, that’s a whole other story I would much rather not cover in public.

So, quickly moving on…

First jobs, big pay days ahead. Whoopeee!!

I had a keen interest in art at school, so when being interviewed by my then appointed careers adviser, i told him so, and in turn he quickly got me my very first job as a…. wait for it… yes you’ve guessed it… “a painter and decorator”.

Although I wasn’t painting in any art form whatsoever, I loved the job. I was on the grand sum of £5 per week, which also included a 50 pence attendance bonus. I paid four quid board which left me with less money to spend for the week than my “best buddy” had for doing a paper round, who incidentally was still in his last year at school. Well, so much for the “big pay days”.

I never did get to serve my six year apprenticeship as I had to finish somewhat prematurely because a specialist consultant advised me not to continue in the trade. This was due to the fact I had inadvertantly contracted dermatitus on both of my hands after continually washing them at the end of my day’s work in a mixture of turpentine and white spirits. So, six months down the road I was job hunting for the second time in my life. A short lived and short changed experience, but I still have very fond memories of my very first job as a painter and decorator - happy days!!

My “rip roarin” late teens and early twenties (still with me? Good, I thought for a minute I was all on my lonesome then)

After bobbing in and out of different labouring jobs within the pottery industry for three years or so, I finally landed myself a steady job at the age of nineteen as a leading railwayman on the British Railways Board. It would prove to be one of my longest serving jobs during this hectic, and sometimes very turbulent time of my life.

<<<<< Rewind. For those who do not know. The pottery industry comprised of many various sized potbanks (that was the local name for pottery producing factories that once accomodated the vast majority of Stoke on Trent's male and female workforce). It was from these so called "potbanks" from where the real and genuine Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Spode, Royal Minton, "to name a few", wares were manufactured and produced for the world over.

>>>>> Back to the Railway days - “football, booze, women, and the occasional scrapes with the law”. To be continued…….