At 63from63, I will be sharing a life story about me being born and brought up from 1963 to the present day, not all of it, as you might be falling asleep! I have seen many changes, as many of us have, but I just wanted to write about it, as I enjoy writing.

Being 63 years old, I am lucky to have retired early, two weeks before my 60th birthday. I now have time to enjoy my hobbies, and writing is one of them. I enjoy cycling, walking tennis, walking the dogs, and more. But please notice that ‘walking’ is used in two of my hobbies, and yes, that’s an age thing. Back in the late 60s and into the 70s, I used to run with my dad’s working dogs, which will be part of the story, but I’m afraid my two little terriers don’t enjoy running today!

My life hasn’t been so different from others born in that decade, but I wanted to tell people about some of the changes we have seen and how life was different all those years ago compared to modern-day life.

I will start with my daughter. I was once comparing how things were back in the early days to modern life, admittedly a few years ago, but she said to me, 'get with it, Dad, it’s 2017/18 (or whichever year it was.) And in all honesty, I think I have 'gotten with it’ over the years. I mean, here I am at 63, starting to write on my own website again, and at this stage I will say a massive ‘thank you’ to my Daughter for setting it up for me - maybe I’m not that ‘with it.’

Thanks to Danni, and thanks to you for reading this. I hope you can enjoy some of these articles and pages.

For me, it was quite easy, I am starting to write once more at 63 years old, and I was born in 1963. ‘That’s obvious then,’ said my daughter when I told her my reasons for my choice. My response was simple: ‘it’s only obvious if you know!’

I was brought up in the Scottish Borders. Born in Hawick, I left my hometown at 18 years old to join the RAF, and I spent 6 years serving Queen and Country. I eventually settled down in Telford, Shropshire, and have lived in the area since I first moved here in 1988, working in industry, in logistics and production management roles. I had often contemplated returning to Scotland, but that would have meant going to Peebles, where my parents settled back in the early 1990s. However, sadly, they are no longer with us, so it looks like I’m here to stay!

But before I start, let me briefly explain my writing style. I’ll just write it as I see things. Most of the time, my spelling should be correct; however, there will be occasions when you will say my grammar is wrong, but you’ll at least understand what I am trying to say. I use the website to check my writing, which is quite often debatable, but that’s it. But then why do I/we worry when major worldwide sports pages talk about the ‘Soutyh Africa T20 Cricket Team’ or another that said that Reece Hames was playing for Chelsea, when his actual name is Reece James? Both were found last week online, and if major international websites do that, surely little old me can make mistakes too.

Being 63, I will tell you about my first TV, and yes, it was black and white, and about how we had to pull out the channel selection buttons and turn it to tune in to get the best reception for the required channel. I remember getting our 4th channel, and of course, that was Channel 4 back in 1982, and I suppose in the day that was considered exciting – I’m too old to remember my reaction or where I was.

In my story, you need to know a bit about me; it’s nothing overly different. I’m not a bad person. I believe we should all get along and live together happily and try to have a good time and a laugh along the way. I like seeing people I don’t even know doing the same. I try to go through life doing a good deed every day, even if it is something simple like holding a door or giving way to someone in my car or on my bike. I like it when people say ‘hello’ when out walking, but maybe not along the high street, or we would never shut up!

Don’t tell me I can’t have an opinion on something, as you are having an opinion by saying that to me, and therefore it is hypocrisy. I love chatting about all sorts of things and giving out opinions, which, as mentioned, we are all entitled to, but let’s talk about it and challenge each other whilst getting along and hopefully having a laugh too. But please don’t be offended if I don’t agree with you, because I certainly won’t be annoyed if you don’t agree with me. Remember, we often have different opinions, but let’s be reasonable with each other when we do discuss something.

And there will be more stories relating to when I was much younger and the changes I’ve seen and lived through. Like when I had to scrape the ice from the inside of my bedroom windows as a child and young teenager, or even in the early 80s, or from the inside of the train windows travelling from Inverness to Edinburgh whilst wearing 3 coats!

I hope you can enjoy the laughs, maybe some tears (but hopefully not too many,) the opinions, the stories, and my life and times. We all have them, but I decided to write about mine because I enjoy writing. I must admit that being retired does make it a little bit easier, and I’ll tell you all about that too!

Thanks for reading

DJ