Alan Morris, aka Gooner, aka Sharky.
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I have several nicknames & I can usually tell where I know people from by what they call me. If you knew me from England you would be likely to call me Gooner. If you knew me from when I moved to Spain it is more likely that you will call me Sharky.
Why am I called Gooner?
I am a big supporter of Arsenal Football Club, Arsenal's nickname is the Gunners & their supporters are called Gooners. Many years ago a friend I was talking with, called me Gooner & was overheard by other people who started to call me Gooner, this continued to the point where everyone called me Gooner & people who didn't know my name used this nickname. People in the UK generally use this nickname.
Why am I called Sharky?
In 2014 whilst having a break in Spain I was taken ill & because of my illness, I had a large part of my right leg removed. The resulting scar looks like I have been attacked by a large shark, a few friends in Spain told people that I had been attacked by a shark & once again the nickname has stuck. People in Spain generally use this nickname.
In brief, I was born in Walthamstow in London & moved to Fareham in Hampshire at the age of four. I grew up in Fareham, went to school, had my first girlfriend, my first job, my first everything really, all happened in Fareham. I have also spent time living in both Orlando, Florida, USA & Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain. I love getting out, meeting new people & trying new things.
In September 1990 I had a life-changing car accident which left me in intensive care for three months & visiting the hospital rehab unit for a year. I still have some problems related to the accident now, the loss of sight in one eye & a poor memory being a couple of them. Since then I have been trying to do some of the many things on my Bucket List. My big passion is travelling and now I have discovered escorted coach tours, I spend lots of my time planning new trips and how to spend my money when I do eventually manage to win the lottery.
After my mum became ill in 2007, I became her full-time carer. Whilst having a break from looking after my mum in 2014, I went to Spain for a week's holiday. Unfortunately, I became very ill, contracting Necrotizing Fasciitis & Sepsis. While I was in intensive care in Madrid, my mum passed away in the UK. I am still recovering from the effects of both illnesses & have now left England.
I am now living in Los Alcázares in Murcia, Spain. My Doctor agreed with me that it would be the best thing I could do for my health. The warmer weather makes it easier for my breathing & the fact that the boardwalk along the beachfront is very flat & has plenty of rest stops, means I can get some light exercise. Most days between the end of April & the start of November I go for a morning swim in the Mar Menor.
Unfortunately, in 2018 I spent 12 days in a hospital in Murcia being treated for Deep Vein Thrombosis which has meant I find it difficult to exercise again but I continue to swim when I can & I get about mainly on a disabled scooter.
In 2021, I went under the knife again having a hernia operation in the hospital. Unfortunately, after being released from the hospital too early, I had to go back to the hospital for a further 11 days to clear an infection up.
I have had many jobs since I was a teenager. At the age of fourteen, I was doing a paper round, working part-time in the local paper shop cleaning the shop & stocking shelves, whilst also doing football pools round. At fifteen I stopped working in the shop & doing the pools round & began working weekends in a local garden centre. At first, I worked in the yard as a yard boy, helping customers find what they wanted & carrying goods to people's cars for them. After being there for a while I began working inside on the tills as a cashier before leaving the week I left school. As soon as I left school I got a 3-year apprenticeship with British Gas. After completing my apprenticeship I became a Gas Service Engineer until I had a serious car accident in 1990. After this, I worked for British Gas & Transco in the offices as a clerk.
After taking redundancy from Transco, I lived in Orlando in Florida & worked cleaning swimming pools & as a taxi driver. On returning to the UK I worked as a website designer for some big companies including; The Dixon Group, Wandsworth Borough Council & several smaller clients. I worked for British Telecom trying to break their website & notifying their developers how I had done it. I also worked at Alton Sixth Form College as a Senior IT Technician. In between these bigger jobs I have worked in Asda as a customer assistant, at Travelex as a Travel Money Advisor, & at various pubs working behind the bar & have given voluntary computer lessons in the local library.
It's 2023 & I am now in my 8th year living in Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain. After many COVID restrictions were slowly lifted last year I was able to start to scratch my travel bug itch again. This year I started off as I meant to go on & booked a cruise which I went on in February.
I have also booked to see a couple of concerts in the first half of the year. I will see Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan & the band Simply Red when they appear in concert at different times throughout the year. My sister has booked to come out to Los Alcázares for a week, so I am looking forward to seeing her.
I am also trying to think about what to do for Christmas & New Year in 2023. After many Christmas & New Years spent on my own I have decided to try & take a holiday over that period this year. I want to get away somewhere new, if you have any suggestions for me to get away to, please leave me a comment at the bottom of the page.
I like to read a lot & when I do I like to sit on my balcony looking out over the Mar Menor. I used to enjoy a spot of gardening but due to me creaking & groaning more than a broken old shipwreck these days, & the limited space on my balcony, my heavy gardening days are now in the past.
My balcony faces Southwest at 220° & is in the sun all day, it gets very hot & because of this & the very dry weather conditions, I prefer to grow succulents & cacti on my balcony. Most of my plants are in floor-standing pots, but I have a couple of plant holders hanging on the balcony. I intend to swap out the plants in these hanging baskets soon; the plants currently in them do not display that well & I will transfer them to other pots.
I have now transferred some of the plants to new pots, thrown away a couple of plants that I didn't like & put some colourful plants in one of my hanging baskets. I have a solar-powered water fountain that makes it feel & sound really tranquil, especially at night when the lights come on & light up the water flowing through the fountain.
Videos.
These videos show the fountain on my garden balcony running, the first during the day, the second after dusk when the lights come on automatically.
Christmas Light Unveiling.
The lights were switched on on December 3rd 2022.
You can see photos from my balcony garden here.