My family is pretty small. Growing up family meant my parents and my older brother. My mother is close to our sister, whom also had two children. Grandparents were a sporadic presence, the lived in the next county and we would seem them a few times throughout the year.

I met Andrea in 1995, probably a chance encounter thinking back about it. Andrea had recently started University in Ottawa and made a few new friends. One of whom had met me and my online friends and introduced us. I was somewhat oblivious to the sparks that were definitely happening and certainly bloomed a few weeks later. Now, many, years later we have a family of our own, as we age together, hopefully gracefully. Passion and love seem to be such jaded terms, certainly in the UK it is something we all keep private for goodness knows what reasons. Close personal relationships inevitably change, nothing is ever calm waters, yet our love for each other endures.

Adding children to our lives was probably one of the hardest things we have done. We were pretty convinced we weren't interested in children of our own. I will admit that I have a low tolerance for children, I don't feel I have much of a natural way with them and just feel awkward. That said, Andrea's feelings changed and the recent death of my last surviving Grandparent left me thinking of what Legacy remains. The saddest part of a story is often the ending - I certainly did not want to feel our story was going to end with us. In hindsight, having children is the most remarkable and rewarding experience I can think of. They bring sorrow, pain and difficulty yet, that is vastly outweighed by their love, their desire to watch and absorb everything and as they mould themselves into who they want to be.

This part is almost a legacy of its own. Decades ago now, everyone used to have their own Webpage. "Social Media" has mostly killed off that old off-shoot of the Internet, somehow I cannot quite let it go.

These days my friends are all over the place, mostly found during my University years in Leicester, UK. Due to the small nature of both Andrea and I's family is we often feel like friends are part of our family. You guys, out there know who you are.

The hardest part of leaving the UK was knowing we would inevitably redefine our relationships with so many of our friends. I would imagine that such feelings are similar for many immigrants, especially as we moved to a part of Canada that was not a place where Andrea had lived before.

In my 30s and into my 40s I would not have thought much about music. Recently I have realised the impact it has on me. I am famously useless at dancing, lacking coordination in the most embarrassing ways possible. Yet, music helps me focus and concentrate, moderate mood. I listen to a wide gamut of musical styles. Although, my favourite is still Blues Music. (Thanks Dad, for the indoctrination!)

Ever since my childhood I have had a fascination with mechanical objects, perhaps mostly spurred on by my father's enthusiasm for Meccano, which I have inherited. Sadly I do not have the time to spend on the hobby as I would like, although I suspect I was corrupted into a love of Lego.

This grounding lead me to computers, Many people would have thought of me as some sort of computer geek when I was younger. I'm not sure that is how I think about it - I soon was seduced into the joys of writing code, one of few things that I found naturally easy to do without a lot of effort.

My biggest hobby now is probably photography. The world is an infinitely fascinating place. There is nothing like capturing a moment, freezing time with the click of a shutter. I use a variety of equipment, SLRs, Compacts and camera phones. My subjects are often mundane city views, landscapes. My father in-law often accuses me (and my wife) of taking "Architectural" photographs. I like to think this is a compliment.

I am an avid reader, having spent a good part of my working life commuting on a Train, reading is a great way to pass the time. I also read before bed at night, I find it the best way to quieten my mind at the end of the day.

These days, having bought what has become a century home, a lot of my spare time is spent renovating it, our latest project was renovating the front downstairs wooden sash windows, so they can operate correctly again.