For the last fifty plus years, I’ve lived here in ‘Adopted Land’.

I blame my late parents for this state of affairs. They decided that the grass was greener here. After a suitable dwelling was acquired, along came a big lorry and scooped us up and deposited us here. It was a clean start. Well, cleanish! On removal day it was raining in Adopted Land and the removal men left muddy footprints as they unloaded our stuff. New home, but no pre-arranged jobs to take-up! My father found a position fairly quickly and settled. I took much longer. I must have gone through around twenty jobs before I settled. Definitely a square peg etc.

Life for me, began to settle on the 14th February 1972 when I started at an electrical wholesaler as a van driver. I spent four & a half years in different roles. Having taken and passed my HGV test at the third attempt ( shame ), in mid 1975, I began getting itchy feet and so, on the 1st of December 1976, I moved to Eastern British Road Services. At that time it was one of many transport related companies within the ‘nationalised industry’. Following the Tory landslide win in May 1979 the whole transport undertaking was sold to its employees & pensioners in early 1982 and I began to get the bug for buying shares. Almost all of my investments are transport related.

‘Adopted Land’ has a capital that was once considered quite important. One can still see many examples of the architecture from the period. I believe this to be the reason why the region is ‘stuck’ in the mindset of that time. It appears to have been asleep and allowed neighbours to determine its rate of re-generation and general movement with-the-times. As a ‘new-comer’, I can’t see the need to change now. The amount of investment needed is far and away more than could be justified for the potential. The ageing population would not approve nor need this amount of change. Recently, when a consultation was held to look into upgrading the main road that leads to the National Capital, more than twenty objections were filed. I don’t believe it will be improved in my remaining lifetime! All of the major employers that were here at the time I arrived have either ceased to be, or have merged with others and changed the trading name.  With the wealth generated in the past, is there any need to update this area? Do we really want heavy industry eyesores littering the countryside? Now that most goods are manufactured abroad, theres not much chance anyone would want to invest in a backwater. So there’s not much need for road or rail improvements. Would ‘Adopted Land’ benefit from a change of name? If so, the postcode would need to change as well. When postcodes were first deemed necessary for the whole country, this area was one of the guinea pigs.

Life here has been evolving apace. A lot of money has been spent making changes and upgrading the fabric of the home since I inherited.

A major development was that I’d ordered a new car, the first time I’ve had one ‘straight-out-of-the-box’. In the past I always thought I’d have a British one. Sadly at the start of the second decade in the third millennium there aren’t any. This means that the hard-working people in South Korea have designed a vehicle that is produced in India and they have busily crafted my vehicle in Speckle Blue. Just about everybody who has seen it have remarked on its fabulous colour!

In July 2012, the car was 16 months old and has been more than 6000 miles. Sadly a lot of that was local stop-start journeys. Now in February 2013, having almost passed the 10,000 mile landmark, it definitely needs a good wash to remove all the salt laid down on the roads to combat the recent snow!

June 2018 saw the purchase of a second new car, another Hyundai. This one is the Ioniq electric, also in blue. This vehicle was registered with my own personal plate.

In October 2022 the Ioniq was replaced by a later improved version with a larger battery and motor. It was at the time, the dealer’s demonstration vehicle and seven months old. The personal plate was transferred to this vehicle.

Since the end of February 2025 the vehicle has been replaced by the Ioniq 6. It’s a very, very dark blue. Some might say that it’s black. It also now carries my personal plate.

To be continued……..