The Royal Institue of British Architects staged an exhibition called "40 under 40", featuring the work of 40 up and coming young architects each under the age of 40. I qualified in 1989 at the age of.....40. Hence you won't have seen my work exhibited there, or in any glossy coffee table book.

Prior to that time I worked as a humble technician in local government, studying part time at the North East London Polytechnic, now more grandly known as the University of East London, for several years in the mid 1970's then again for most of the 1980's. In between times I tried my hand and my camera at freelance photography.

After the euphoria of qualifying, despite the dificulties of having a full time job and family, came, not the ascent of the proverbial ladder, but............. redundancy. No problem, I'll freelance. Trouble is, to do that you need clients and work, scarce commodities in the recession of the early 1990's. So I had to get a "proper" job, working for a couple of small practices until, in the summer of 2001 my wife says to me