Hi, I’m Neil. This is a bit about me, what I do for a living, who I live with and where I am in life.
I’m a Millennial
I was born in York, United Kingdom, in 1984, during the Miners’ Strike. That makes me a ‘millennial‘, apparently. My parents still live in York, and I’m an only child.
I moved out of York in 2002 to go to university. I then spent 8 years living in Bradford, and have lived in the town of Sowerby Bridge since 2010. I have only ever lived in Yorkshire.
I’m queer
I came out as bisexual in 2017, but had known for much longer than that. Nowadays I tend to simply describe myself as ‘queer’, but bisexual also works. I’m a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and especially rights for trans people.
I’m married
I married my wife Christine in 2013. We met through a mutual friend in 2009, moved in together in 2010, and got engaged in 2011. We do lots of things together as a couple.
Between 2005 and 2009 I was in a relationship with a girl who I refer to on here as Hari. It’s a pseudonym which we agreed on when we were together. Whilst we split up on mutual terms in 2009, we have met up on occasion since.
I have completed three university courses
Between 2002 and 2005, I studied a BSc in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Bradford, for which I was awarded lower second class honours. This was closely followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Forensic Computing which I completed in 2007. I then studied a part-time, distance learning course with Nottingham Trent University between 2020 and 2021, and was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Administration, Management and Leadership.
I’m a dad
Christine and I had a baby in 2015, and I’ll usually mention their age when blogging about them. Because they’re not 18 yet, as I write this, I’m not disclosing publicly their name or gender. We just have the one child and it’s likely to stay that way.
I’m disabled
I was diagnosed with asthma when I was three years old, back when air quality was worse than it is now and you could smoke in lots more places. I started to lose my hearing around 2019/20, and got hearing aids in 2022.
In 2026, I was diagnosed with epilepsy and osteopenia, after I had a seizure that triggered a fall and resulted in me breaking both my arms.
I work in Higher Education
I work for the same university that I originally graduated from, Bradford, and have done so for most of my working life. At present, I work in the admissions team, processing and making decisions on applications from prospective students, but I’ve worked in a number of other areas too.
Christine, meanwhile, is a critical care pharmacist. She also graduated from Bradford, but we never met during the four year overlapping period when we both there.
I’m a homeowner
Christine and I bought our house in 2015, and it’s been something of a project ever since. We’ve partly renovated it, but with more work to do in the coming years – mainly upstairs. It’s a nice, reasonably sized and conveniently located house. We were only able to afford our house thanks to a generous financial gift from my parents.
I’ve been blogging since 2002
I started this blog in 2002, when I was 17 and still living at home with my parents in York. It’s therefore seen me through my A-level exams, university, starting a career, getting married and starting a family.
