Bit of background

Figured that if anyone was reading this it might be useful to give a bit more information on who I am.
Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1980, parents in the forces so moved around a bit, enough that I don't really have any regional accent. I'm what's known as a "patch-brat" - forces kid. Parents moved to Gloucestershire in 92, about the same time that I started senior school.
I was in the school orchestra (wasn't very good at the clarinet, should have practiced more), the Boys' Brigade and took the Duke of Edinburgh's Award at bronze, silver and gold levels. Later helped in the running of the Award unit. Met some really good friends at school, Ferret, Tash and Kev mainly but there were others. Did fairly well in my exams and came out with a number of GCSEs and five A-levels, four if you don't count General Studies - which is basically a pub quiz. Those were maths, physics, biology, and chemistry, grades B or C, which I think is rather good.
Went to uni at the University of Wales, Swansea studying physics, which was definately the right choice for me. Unfortunately I didn't study as hard as I should have and had to resit the third year, dropping from the four year masters course to a three year batchelors, which is one of the things I regret. While at uni I carried on kayaking (badly), climbing (also badly), took up archery (not too bad, but now I shoot longbow so accuracy is less important), diving (never managed to get my qualifications signed up although I passed all of them so I'm not qualified) and a few silly things with friends. I was involved with the DofE society for a while, the Physics soc (president and then year rep) which included our road trip to CERN, more on that later, Cult TV (not as bad as it sounds...okay it was) and sometimes RAG.
Mainly I had fun with friends. In the final year ('02) our house fell out a bit, partly due to miscommunication, which is another thing I regret. I'll add more on uni later.
After uni I couldn't get the research position I wanted, something to do with getting a low honours, so I returned home and became a bin man for a while. Then I got a job with Millets and was offered the assistant manager's job on my third day. Worked for them for a while and then moved to Blacks which was a much better shop. Same chain but I've been walking for a long time and I'm the sort of person that finds out things about his kit out of interest so the more technical shop was definately better. Made some good friends there as well and then in 2005 my mate Tanner told me of a job going at the research place he was working at so I sent in my CV and got an interview. At the same time, I'd replied to an advert in New Scientist for a job with the Met Office and I got an interview for that as well. A few weeks passed then, in the course of 24 hours, I was offered both jobs.
This was a problem, I wanted both of the jobs, working with Tanner would be ace and would get me back into research, while the Met job would get me traveling and had a few elements that the research job didn't have. It wasn't an easy choice but I went for the Met Office, duty and service and all that playing a not insignificant part in the choice. As a result, in the last 10 months I've worked in Exeter, Oxford, Scotland and now Yorkshire, I've been to Lincoln a couple of times and I've done the Royal Marines Commando challenge, a basic powerboat handling course and skid pan training. If I can pass my physical this time, in six months I'll be a Reserve officer in the RAF. If I can't pass the fitness test, I'll be out of a job so I've been training better this time.
And that brings you up to date, except for the massive amounts I've glossed over, such as serving for a year on the Tewkesbury Abbey PCC, and alot about the friends I've made on the way. But there's always time...