I am 27 years old and I live with my beautiful partner, 3 children and our dog. My childhood was very good, I was an only child which didn't bother me as I had/have a very active imagination. My dad was a lighthouse keeper for over 20 years which meant that I lived in different parts of Scotland. I lived in Drongan (small village near Ayr) when I was first born, my dad was sent to different lighthouses when I was young but myself and my mum stayed in the same place. After a few years we moved to Davaar island (near Campbell town), we stayed there for a few year, I have to admit that I have so many great memories of being a young boy on an island of about 10 people.

Unfortunately my dad took a severe heart attack and was rushed off the island and to hospital, he spent several weeks in hospital. Thankfully my dad recovered and our next move was to an island called Islay (close to Ireland). There wasn't much to do and the locals looked upon us as "white settlers", but over time we were accepted in a manner into the community. All 3 of us made some really great friends and my dad went back to work on the lighthouse (Rhinns of Islay), throughout my primary school life I was bullied and beaten up almost on a daily basis. One memory that sticks in my head about Islay is my friend and I were playing one day and he turned around and told me his dad had died the night before. Unfortunately this was my first dealing with death, I didn't know what to say or do (I was only about 7 then).

After several years we moved to John O'Groats (Duncansby head lighthouse), I have fond memories of there, the bullying seemed to have followed me even though there was no explanation why, one day I turned around to the bullies and stood up for myself, one boy nearly had his nose broken. I don't endorse violence but I was pushed to my limits, after that day I was never bullied again. Reaching 15 or 16 years old I started to rebel and really made my mum and dad's life hell, I pushed them to the point that they threw me out to try and save their sanity, this part of my life will always live with me as a major bad time which was self inflicted.

I moved to Thurso and attended college as an electrical engineer, but I was easily led and fell off my road several times, after a period of time I managed to make some of the hurt up with my mum and dad and really our relationship changed to an adult one after that. I have a lot of memories of Thurso and some blank memories as well due to getting to drunk, I was in several bands and worked in several bars as well working and earning my money. I started work with a BT call centre in Thurso as a 1st line analyst for BTinternet, I really felt at home then and got to know some great people who I still look upon as friends, although we have lost touch. An opportunity arose to work in Alness (20 miles from Inverness) training people, I was asked to stay in Alness for roughly 8 weeks, by this time my dad was made redundant and both my mum and dad had moved to Inverness so I would go home for weekends.

I managed to get a job in the call centre as a team leader which gave me so much experience and happiness, I worked my way up to 2nd line support for several different ISP (Internet service providers) and even helped start tesco.net ISP, after a few years I got a trainer job for BTopenworld (broadband) and helped to train a lot of people for the helpdesk. Eventually I moved from Alness to Drongan where I stay now and I couldn't be happier.

Well that is really about me, I hope something has stuck with you about my life story, one of the main ways of helping people is to share stories and experiences. Sometimes half of the battle is knowing that there other people out there with the same experiences and sometimes unfortunately worse. In the main menu I will be adding some kind of discussion board so that anyone can talk about their experiences.