Unlike many old gits, I think I was born an old git.
My granny was never convinced about schooling. She prevented me going to the local primary school until I was six. I made my debut in wider society as the oldest kid in the class. That feeling of being 'older' has stuck to me ever since.
Leaving school to pursue my career in a tarmac gang, I quickly appreciated what granny had missed and enrolled in university a year later, again putting myself at the wrinkly end of the age spectrum in the 1975 intake at Hull University. Twenty-one is so much older than nineteen.
The older I have got, the more rebellious I have become towards age.
At 62, Accenture, a renowned management consultancy with a reputation for being rammed with bright, young dynamos, headhunted me. Accenture employed over 400,000 people then, one of whom was my son, Ronan. Ever the wag, he identified how common it was in Accenture for parent/child combinations... but surely none where the child has joined before the parent! Age can distinguish or demean.
Unlike many old gits, I began writing my books on my sixty-fifth birthday. My books focus on the strange story of my grandfather - Andy Symington - a rural Ulsterman who fought in three armies across three conflicts in just seven years. Royal Irish Fusilier at the Somme. IRA volunteer in the War of Independence. Free State soldier in the Civil War. By 1922 he was Tyrone's Most Wanted Man.
I dedicate my meagre efforts with the pen to my ageing brethren.
When I am not busy writing, I am pursuing my lifelong love affair with Tigers of Hull City AFC and spending time with my partner, family and dog Whiskey!
In defiance. It is never too late. There are dreams to pursue. Or hobbled after at least. Never give up!