Better to Travel Hopefully, Than to Arrive

A record of an engineer's life starting in childhood with Meccano which gave him a fascination for all things mechanical leading on to aeromodelling and later to motorcycles. His education at a private school was followed by a mechanical apprenticeship with a well-known motor manufacturer, including time off for two years national service in the R.E.M.E, and afterwards further study for three years at the College of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering in Chelsea where he completed his training as an engineer. All this led to his first real job in the aircraft industry working for several firms over a period of years before moving back into the car industry at Vauxhall Motors. He switched back once again into the aircraft industry and eventual retirement at the early age of fifty-seven. The author has always had a keen interest in two stroke engines and sleeve valves such that he has designed and built many of them in his home-built workshop, writing computer programmes and obtaining patents for some of his more inventive ideas. During this time, particularly in this century, he has explored Scotland extensively, including the islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides and has climbed all over Ulster and southern Ireland. He has been married to two talented women and has spent his retirement years pursuing his motorcycle engine building hobby, and is, at this time, a member of the Trojan, Scott and Norton owner clubs.