Family:
Work:
We don't any more, but we used to ...
Dianne retired in 1992 after a high school teaching career which included postings in the country - at Victor Harbor, where we met, and to Jamestown as Senior Mistress in Mathematics and Geography. It was at Jamestown that our son Mark was born in 1971. Dianne later rejoined the teaching service and taught at Daws Road and Blackwood, concluding her career with a posting to the Language school for new arrivals, at Cowandilla.
Before my retirement at the end of January 2001, I taught Mathematics, Computing and Information Technology in state secondary schools. I started in the mid 1960s, and taught at country schools at Victor Harbor and Jamestown, and metropolitan schools, including Christies Beach for 18 years and Aberfoyle Park (my last posting) for 12 years.
Music:
My wife and I enjoy going to plays, films, musical shows, concerts and recitals. Mark used to play the piano in various concerts and recitals around Adelaide before he left for the UK. Carolyn Lam and some of his other friends still perform, and we sometimes go to performances to hear them play to keep in touch.
Here is a picture of Mark and Carolyn taken at one of his earlier graduation ceremonies at the University of Adelaide
Reading:
My wife and I are both keen readers of fiction, and particularly enjoy books written by Carol Higgins Clark (),
Mary Higgins Clark (Stillwatch, A Stranger is Watching, Silent Night, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Remember Me),
Robin Cook (Coma, Fever, Toxin, Contagion, Outbreak, Blindsight),
John Grisham (The Firm, The Client, The Chamber),
Brian Harper (Mortal Pursuit, Shudder, Shiver, Deadly Pursuit),
Darian North (Bone Deep),
Veronica Stallwood (Oxford Mourning, Oxford Fall, Oxford Double, Deathspell, Death and the Oxford Box, Oxford Shift), and
Peter Temple (Bad Debts, An Iron Rose).
Electronics:
My son and I share an
interest in electronics, although hardly to the same degree (groan).
Other Interests:
JOHN:
I am interested in computers, and own an Apple flat-panel imac and a Macintosh PowerPC 8500/120. I use them to keep in touch with Mark in England, and to maintain this web page. I also use the older computer, with my scanner and laser printer, to reproduce vintage and veteran motorcycle manuals and handbooks.
I also enjoy poetry, and doing cryptic crosswords and puzzles.
On the more practical side, I used to do my own car repairs, tuning and maintenance. These days I have trouble seeing what I am doing while underneath the car - I cannot focus over short distances either with or without my glasses. One of the joys of getting old?
Tuning and maintaining a motor cycle is somewhat easier ... usually I can move my head far enough away from whatever I want to do on that to be able to focus clearly.
DIANNE:
Dianne is a member of the Embroiderers' Guild of South Australia, and has always been interested in knitting, crochet and various forms of embroidery, including Silk Ribbon embroidery, Cut Work, Cross Stitch, Ruskin Lace, Knotted Lace, Blackwork, and Hardanger, to mention only a few.
The true AFL:
Mark and I were both financial members of the AFL ... not the newly formed Australian Football League, but the TRUE AFL which is over 25 years old ... The Anti-Football League.
Mark:
November 2001:
Mark has just won a position at the Melbourne University (in the Howard Florey Institute), where he is to help establish a Magnetic Resonance Imaging research lab like the one he worked at in Oxford.
January 2003:
After working in Melbourne at the Howard Florey Institute, Mark has just moved back to England as Head of the Imaging department at FMRIB (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain), which is based at the John Radcliff Hospital at Headington, near Oxford.
Mark is engaged to Sarah, an English girl who is just completing her D. Phil at Oxford University, which is where they met.
September 2003:
Mark and Sarah were married in Oxford in late September. The wedding and the reception went exceptionally well, and there were people from 16 different nations represented. Some digital images of the wedding and the reception can be seen at Mark's wedding page
European tour |
Mark's pages |
Bloody teachers |
Recycled cycles |
Dress Sense |
BSA Motorcycles |