My primary interest at this moment in time is to find an alternative to Youtube and one that doesn’t track its users and bombard them with ads. Youtube has now blocked users who try to watch yt videos while logged into a VPN which has accelerated my goal of finding an alternative. I think PeerTube might be the answer to that and I’ll probably import all my videos into a PeerTube instance (not sure which one at the moment) which shares my enthusiasm for flying (commercially). In that respect, all my videos comprise of takeoffs and landings in different countries and airports.

As for myself, I’m a bloke (British English slang for a man), single and live in Amsterdam although I was born and grew up in England. I ostensibly came to Amsterdam after making the wrong decisions about what I wanted to do with my life and to try and curb my erratic behaviour which at the time led to me losing my job and being forced to sell my apartment into the bargain. I only intended to stay for a weekend in Amsterdam and use the time to sort myself out. That was 44 years ago and I’m still here. Kind of a long weekend you might say.

Back in 2016 my country took the most incomprehensible decision to leave the EU. So on the assumption that I was going to be stuck up a creek without a paddle if the UK’s decision would lead to expats being told to pack their bags and leave I decided to apply for Dutch citizenship. I had already learned enough of the language to qualify (genoeg om uit de voeten te kunnen zeg maar) and I had a job which took me over the minimum income requirements at the time and thankfully I was awarded citizenship of this tiny little country which in spite of its size, is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products. The Netherlands is also one of the six founding countries of the European Union. But enough of these boring facts

Apart from flying I’m also interested in IT and worked in various jobs in that theme although I don’t have any technical qualifications to speak of. But I do have the ability to pinpoint a problem quickly regardless of the subject resolve it.

What else? I don’t smoke and seldom drink alcohol. Oh and Je ne parle pas français (I should learn French I know, maybe one day…)

Oh, and I love movies! I only just discovered that Jodie Foster who is an American actress speaks fluent French. Amazing.

Am I a Crusader? Once upon a time, but now I’m just a knight in rusty armour.