My back yard. When I was young only the rich people travelled and my first overseas trip was a schools trip to Norway in 1973 when I was 16 years old. Since then I have travelled widely across Europe, including in the last 20 years to places which when I was a young adult were still behind the iron curtain. 

Between 1984 and 1988 I lived and worked in The Netherlands and used the opportunity to travel overland to many countries. It is, or at least for me, was an awakening to see the UK and the rest of the world through other eyes - even ones so closely related as the Dutch.

I am sure that the odd attitude of many in the UK as compared to our fellow Europeans on the mainland is literally an island mentality. We are cut off, surrounded by sea. We hear a lot about the problems for coastal towns in the UK. They are problems of a geographic nature, which are hard to overcome, so imagine my frustration and dismay when I hear fellow countrymen, and more shockingly our Prime Minister Theresa May, celebrating her main Brexit achievement of ending Freedom of Movement, specifically of people, which if reflected across Europe would effectively impose the same problems on all border areas. The Irish have pointed this out, but it seems there are none so deaf as they who will not listen.

So from 1972 until last year I was travelling widely across Europe on holiday and on business and sometimes a mixture of both.

I didn't keep travel diaries in the same way I did for some of my long haul trips, but I intend to make here a scrap book of my pictures and memories of travelling, working and living in continental Europe. My homage to the European project known now as the European Union. As long as I live I will never forgive those who have taken delight, for whatever reason, in depriving my children and other young people of the pleasures and freedoms I enjoyed. 

Please be patient. It will take me some time to add these pages and find and scan the photos from life before digital cameras!