Well, hello there! Allow us to tell you a little about ourselves. We're a married couple with adult children and we live in Adelaide, the capital city of the State of South Australia (that's it at the bottom, where the yellow arrow's pointing).
Adelaide is sandwiched between the waters of Gulf St Vincent in the west and the Adelaide Hills some 15km (10 miles) to the east, and stretches approximately 80 km (50 miles) in the north-south direction. Because a lot of the interior of South Australia is desert, some 80% of the State's 1.4 million population lives in Adelaide. We know, because we seem to be held up by most of them as we travel to and from work every day. Adelaide drivers have a lot to learn, bless 'em.People who have never been to Australia tend to underestimate its size. Australia occupies approximately the same area as the continental USA (i.e. excluding Alaska), but has only 19 million people compared to the USA's 250 million. Texans shake their heads in disbelief and mutter when we tell them South Australia is 30% bigger than their beloved State. ("Hell, there ain't nuthin' bigger'n Texas!") And South Australia is considerably smaller than Queensland and Western Australia. By way of another illustration, you could fit the UK 31 times into Australia, and 5 times into South Australia. But please don't, as there's enough Poms on holiday here already!
Traffic congestion, Adelaide style—in the 1950s
TeresaRight from an early age Teresa showed an interest in travel. Her parents encouraged this by filling the tray of her trike with food and spare clothing, and leaving the garden gate open. Unfortunately for them she was too interested in having a turn with her big sister's hula hoop, and so she tended to stick around rather than wander off.
However, you can't keep a good woman down, and with Teresa it was definitely a case of "these boots are made for walking". We never did find out what was in the suitcases, but it looks heavy.
After qualifying as a primary school teacher Teresa taught in various schools for a number of years before entering the field of human resource development. She recently added an MBA to her education degree.
Sitting on walls seems to be a favourite pastime—this one's at Parliament House, Berne, Switzerland...
...and this one is Hadrian's Wall in Cumberland, England. Strange to think people have been doing this since the early 2nd century, when the wall was built (122-126 AD). Rest assured Teresa does have other clothes to wear—it's just that these are comfortable for travelling!
The trouble with associating with wallies is that it begins to rub off......
Here's Teresa in a contemplative mood, thinking about her favourite activity—shopping (a.k.a. 'retail therapy'). She also likes to cook ("Why worry about recipes and measuring when you can be creative?"), going for brisk walks, and being a party animal in general. Whilst not having the same interest in watches that Les has, she knows enough to prefer a Patek Philippe to a Tag, although she's happy with her Longines Dolce Vita (which coincidentally features in Les's Watch Reviews). Her star sign is Taurus, which Les says explains a lot, especially the stubborn streak.
Les
Teresa sees strong similarities between Les and Homer Simpson, although she's not prepared to elaborate further, which is probably wise. Les says he can't see it himself, unless it's something to do with liking doughnuts and only having four fingers on each hand. (Doh! Just kidding about the doughnuts.)
Here's our intrepid hero at the age of four, complete with teddy and speedboat. His mother says that while every other child was happy having their picture taken, Les was a miserable so-and-so the whole time. Nothing's changed, then.
This actually isn't Les, but it might as well be. (They don't call him ol' square-eyes for nothing.) It was taken in the '50s in Harrow, London, just round the corner from where Les lived in Wembley . The programme is Muffin the Mule, one of Les's favourites.
A fairly normal family life (see photo opposite) helped prepare Les for what was to come later — grammar school.
Ah—the happiest days of your life! Here the sports master helps the lads play a game of "drop the soap".
In spite of these shananigans Les managed to get to Uni and eventually gain qualifications in Civil Engineering and also Town Planning.
An interest in theatre led to Les becoming heavily involved with amateur dramatics and mixing with all sorts of people. (Who is that little chap on the right? He looks awfully familiar.)
This bloke is a WIS — a watch idiot savant, or "watch knowing idiot". The watch bit is obvious, as is the idiot part since he's wearing three watches at the one time. The savant implies he knows a thing or two (or three) about watches.
Whilst Les has only ever worn a maximum of two watches simultaneously, he is an officially certified WIS as he is the proud owner of a WIS badge from TimeZone, the leading internet watch forum. These badges are not easy to get. (Les won his for coming second in a competition). Anyway, his interest in watches has led to the creation of the Les's Watch Reviews page on this site.
Apart from his interest in theatre and watches Les is an avid golfer, and enjoys nothing better than taking a couple of dollars off his golfing mates on a Sunday morning — when he can. Here they are, thoroughly tanked up at an Xmas bbq and proudly displaying their watches. The term 'motley crew' comes to mind.
And Les's star sign? "I'm an Aquarius," he says proudly, then quickly adds, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
Glad you dropped by — hope you enjoy the rest of our site!
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