Welcome to the starling's nest
The Official homepage of the Starling Family
Fiona's christening in 1962
Now when I say the homepage of the Starling family - maybe I should make it a little clearer. As you might well know there are thousands and thousands of starlings around (and I'm not just talking feathered variety), but this covers "my" Starlings - who began in Ilford (my first memories...) - but can now be found in many places (although not always with the family name) - Basildon, London, Stevenage, Margate, Southend, South Wales and South Africa! That's is just the few I know of - or are related to.... you never know there may be more. Newest member of the clan born in August 2022 - a big Starling welcome to Luned - and to Ellie who was born in Jul 2022!
We are part of a large murmuration! Yes that is the collective noun for a group of starlings - although there are a few others in colloquial use - I quite like a chattering, or an affliction - but I don't like a filth! Only we could have that many names.... hahahahaha
Came across this on the internet - so it must be true - lol - In the late 19th century there was this group called the American Acclimatisation Society and their thing was bringing European plants and animals to the US. One member was this guy named Eugene Schieffelin and he was like obsessed with Shakespeare, so he went "hey, wouldnt it be cool if we tracked down every species of bird Sharespeare ever mentioned and brought them all to America". So he rounded up like a hundred European Starlings and released them in Cetral Park. There are now upwards of 200 Million Starlings in North America and they cause about US$1bn worth of damage to crops every year, all because Sharespeare mentioned them exactly once in Henry IV part 1.
Hopefully you will find something of interest within this website - not merely think of it as the insane ramblings of an idiot - oh wait that might be why I have done this.
Favourite Quote
A great man used these words - as his day to day mantra - and he lived up to it - that man - my father "Pop" who is dearly missed, by family and friends alike. If I am half the man he was then I will have achieved something special.
I shall pass through this world but once any good thing that I can do or any kindness that I can show my fellow creatures, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Second nest - our caravan
Its funny to think now that some of the best times we had as kids were at my Gran's caravan down at Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. Some really great memories were made there - the summer from the summer holidays that seemed to go on forever, and everyone fitting in to what was basically a small cupboard.
After a lot of thought we finally jumped in and bought ourselves our very own memory generator which we have enjoyed for the last eight years or so! Where the site in Essex was very basic we are fortunate in that it has everthing from swimming pools, to amazing entertainment, so many arcades (gotta love the old penny machines) and of course its own length of beautiful southern coast beach. We have owned two seperate caravans - the first a two bed - and now a three bed - which we love so much.
Our Pets
Over the years there have been many pets who have had an effect on my life. Some good and some not so. From the first pet I ever had - Pippa the shetland sheepdog, to my curent three dogs I have been lucky. I am going to share some memories and photos over time. Bree, Amber and Gizmo make my life so different now.
Amber & Gizmo are two of Bree's six puppies who were born in May 2019 - and totally changed our lives. The puppies were all very different some girls and some boys (duh!) some long haired and some short, and each a different colour. We had said that we would keep one of her puppies - but we could not choose between my two little munchkins - so decided to keep both. I am so happy we did!
Footy
I run a football predictions competition, and the idea of this just for fun competiton, is to predict the scores of a series of games over the whole season, or duration of a tournament.
The tournament is now in its 17th year which is pretty amazing to think it started life as a discussion over a pint (in those days so many great ideas originated when alcohol was involved). A small group of football fanatics were discussing how fantasy football had started - and how we thought we could do better. So after a few meetings of the committee (for want of a better word) the first basic rules were put down - and most remain to this day. To begin with everything was done manually (it took a while..) but now thanks to formulas and macros - it is almost all automated - although we are still not allowed to publish the games in full due to Owner's Rights!
It is still fun to run across the season and also the World Cup and Euros when they occur.
About me
Hello and welcome to my little vanity project - and this part really lives up to vanity idea - ha ha.
I am Gordon, although over the years I have had loads of nicknames - starting with tweeter junior at junior school, tog at senior school (to some), Milky (bar kid) my original DJ name, Razzamatazz (my mobile disco enterprise) and in work Gordie and Flash - oh and "oi you" lol.
Next to the caravan (see above) my happy place is probably Florida, as I have been there on numerous occassions - my first being in 1998 and the last in 2018. I have been lucky enough to swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove - twice actually on my birthday which made it an even better experience. Until the last time I did not really like big rollercoasters often offering to hold others' bags - but am now bitten with the bug!
Read my life story (well what I have written so far).
Hobbies
In my spare time I have a few things that I enjoy - which includes funnilly enough my computer, music (curtesy of being a DJ in my younger days), watching films, reading and the biggy - Star Wars and more to the point building Star Wars lego.
I was fortunate to see the original Star Wars movie on the second day of its release in the UK in the days when a film was first opened in the West End of London and then a week or so later came to local cinemas.
This film - and all the others that followed are now a big part of my life - and I get Christmas and birthday presents galore with the Star Wars theme - still I suppose it makes it easy to buy for me.... ha ha
