Last updated: June 13, 2005

So, for those who came in late ...

otherwise known as "where hast thou bin since I saw thee", here's a potted history of what I've done since I left England all those years ago.

From time to time I get an e-mail from people I've been out of touch with for 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, so this is for you!

OK, where to start? I went to Australia for the first time, on holiday, back in '81 when I was still among the living dead, working as a financial accountant at FIAT in London. Learnt how to scuba dive, fell in love with Queensland, and applied to migrate as soon as I came back. Two years later the papers came through, my immediate boss at FIAT contrived to make me redundant, which gave me a great head start with the relocation costs ( I never did thank you for that, Giancarlo).

Arrived in Australia with all my belongings either with me, or in a container on the high seas, to find that the promised plentiful jobs for accountants was a myth - unless you were a tax accountant. Bummed around Oz for 18 months or so, doing casual work and working for my brother in Brisbane. Decided this wasn't the dream I was expecting & returned to the UK to find work, leaving all my belongings in storage still. Ten months in the UK, winter time, couldn't stand the weather & still had the return ticket back to Brisbane, confirmed my flight & got ready to try again.

Then, days before my flight back to Brisbane, a job came up in the Middle East, in Sana'a, Yemen Arab Republic, (here is an interesting BBC article) working for a catering company as an accountant and PC nerd. Loved the PC part, accounting was boring and no longer a challenge, just a chore. Worked there 14 weeks on, 3 weeks off, working 7 days a week (nothing else to do!), went to Brisbane for one of my leave periods & bought a house. After about a year in Yemen, the house was paid for & I found I had no incentive to work in the third world any more - it had taken it's toll on my health, I having lost 2 1/2 stone in a year, lost a couple of teeth, and was bored ****less with the social life, which consisted of little more than the local Hash House Harriers (Sana'a Highest Hash House Harriers, or SH4), who saved my sanity on many an occasion with their drunken debauchery. Thanks lads.

Then, leave back in Brisbane, and the offer of a job (which didn't work out at all), so the proposed transfer from Sana'a to Khartoum never came about, which I really did not want anyway - the Sudan is not a good place to work!

Anyway, when I got back to Brisbane, I was going for a run one day, and bumped into the local Hash House Harriers, who are very strong in Australia - Brisbane alone has more than six packs - and as you may know, they are a great way to get to know strangers in a strange land. I soon found myself putting down roots, although I missed the relative lack of boredom of working in the third world. I was offered a job by P&O Catering in Papua New Guinea, which I was very seriously considering (they were making me a hell of an offer, in view of my experience with SSI in Yemen!) but then I met Jenny one night, got somewhat smitten, and turned the job down. We got married shortly afterwards, which rather put an end to my travelling days - haven't been out of Australia since 1987, in fact.

Got into triathlons about that time, which I found addictive - but over-training, coupled with injury & advancing years put an end to that after five years or so - I finished up getting fairly good times within my age group, finishing the 1.5 km swim, 40 km cycle & 10 km run in around 2 hours 10 min, not bad for someone then in my mid-40's. Married life & good food had a lot to do with stopping, too, if the truth be known!

The computer skills that I brought to Sana'a proved to be much more interesting to me than accounting, so I left my boring, mundane job as an accountant and started doing PC support, doing less & less accounting. My mother died while I was in Yemen, and when Dad died a few years later I was able to do something I had always wanted to do - go to University. I then spent 5 years at University getting my degree in Information Technology at Queensland University of Technology (known as QUT) , which is what they call the old Bachelor of Science (Computing) these days. The first year full time (as well as working), then the next two year part time, hence the five year length. I did a major in Data Communications, which I found much more interesting than any other branch, and essentially, I now make a meagre living installing networks, supporting & troubleshooting, and building web sites for people - mostly very mundane & boring ones, unfortunately. Most of my clients are in the "not for profit" sector (rather like SSI, perhaps??) which mostly means they can't afford to pay much, which is a drag. I'm still building the business up, which is hard work. I fill in time installing telephone systems and burglar alarms, when times are quiet. And if really pushed, TV aerial installations, which I really hate as I have no head for heights.

Otherwise, I've built a nice little place here, we have a huge house on 2.5 acres in the outskirts of Brisbane, we want to plant more trees on our patch, as we think this area might get developed soon. At present, if you go out our back door, you can't even see another house - but we are only 15 kms from the heart of Brisbane, a city of over 1 million. Ever wonder why I left dusty Sana'a, with a place like this to come home to? I'm not exactly making a fortune, but the lifestyle has much to recommend it - the Australian way of life is very agreeable, I find.

If anyone that knows me from the old days ever comes out this part of the world, there's always a spare bed & a welcome waiting! Just give me a little warning, we are only 20 min from the airport or the city. Our exchange rate is taking a real beating these days, but this means that for Europeans, this is a really cheap destination at present.

As you will see on another part of this site, sadly my beautiful partner Jenny died of ovarian cancer on August 19 2004. My world will never be the same again. But I rejoice that we met and had nearly 15 years together.

One other change has happened. My name is now Karen Gallagher. I am a woman. Hear me roar!