I have taken the name of Gavin because that was the first thing I
shouted when I crashed my spaceship, which caused a
cup
of hot coffee to fall off the dashboard and into my lap - it's a swear
word on my home planet you see. However, on this planet, the English
translation of the Gaelic derivation of the name means White Hawk,
which is rather cool :-)
I have a fondness of animals, especially my late dogs, who were all rough collies.
Drinking
is a great hobby of mine - especially
the type of drink that has the appealing side effect of getting you
pissed - haven't a scoobie how that could happen though ;-)
A particularly nice pint in my local is Belhaven St.
Andrews - it's a
very
smooth pint that usually goes down toooo easily!
Related to my hobby of drinking, I'm treasurer of KIDDA, the Kum-a-lot
International Drinking and Diving Association!
Another hobby was a Phase 2 (1989 model) Renault 5 GT Turbo. Just in case you have never seen one, imagine a Renault 5, forget how ugly it is, then put on a body kit and colour code everything. It looks a hell of a lot better now doesn't it!!! As for driving it I can recommend it to anyone who likes a small, very nippy car (before you butt in and mention faster cars, just remember that this car is relatively cheap, although it is a band 14 insurance). I had the car around Knockhill a few times - spun it on the first occasion at Duffus Dip, fell into the gravel trap at the hairpin once, but was ok after that. One thing about racing the car is that you require the heater on full blast to provide extra engine cooling - if not you will warp the head, but you try not to worry about that sort of thing. Another place I had fun with the car is at Crail Thrash and 1/4 mile dash which is held at Crail airstrip in Fife.
You may have noticed the past tense with the 5 GT Turbo, that's
because I now drive a Honda
Integra
Type-R. This car, compared to the 5, is outstanding: roads that the
5 took reasonably comfortably, perhaps screeching the tyres are now
taken without much effort at all.
I do other things too ... like the odd bit of hill walking, mountain biking
(well, twice
so far!) and take lots of photos on nights out much to the annoyance of
my mates! Talking of mates, one of them, Mark Naples has recorded his
first
album called "The Insignificant Man." My claim to fame here is that I
took a fair number of the photos he's used in the album cover and
insert (okay, if you insist on knowing ... front cover, inside front
cover and back
cover as well as the main image he's using on his website). He's even
now in a band called Jura and will be gigging in
Edinburgh and surrounding areas. Since he's
a mate ... I'll also tell you about his business venture: www.mystery.tv which
is full of all
sorts of weird and wonderful stuff!
As for other things, I'm an electronic engineer
(here is my CV)
working for SELEX
Sensors and Airborne Systems
(aka BAE
SYSTEMS, aka Marconi
Electronic Systems, aka GEC Marconi, aka GEC Ferranti) and have
been there since leaving school in 1992.
They sent me to Napier
University
to get a BSc in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. They sent me
back
to do an MSc in
Electronics and Communication
Engineering - so mustn't grumble, even though it didn't turn out
to
be as good a course as expected, such that I didn't complete it.
That's all for now folks !!!