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Alan Morris, aka Gooner, aka Sharky.

Thank you for taking the time to take a look at my website, if you have any comments on any of the articles feel free to leave a comment.

My Nicknames.

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.

A little history about me.

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.

Work Experience.

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 a 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.

What am I doing now?

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 will be starting off as I mean to go on & have a cruise booked for February.

I have also booked to see a couple of concerts in the first half of the year. I will see Rod Stewart & the band Simply Red when they appear in concert at different times throughout the year. My sister has already booked to come out to Los Alcázares for a week, so I am looking forward to seeing her. My cousin Paul is finally marrying his long-suffering better half Sara & I am looking forward to their wedding, providing that all the strikes that are currently continuing in England let me travel to it.

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.

My Journal Entries

  • Week 24 of 2021. This week started with a  bright blue sky, birds singing outside my apartment & the sun shining down on the righteous. Fri ...
    1012
  • Week 38 of 2022. This week I spent time with my sister Karen & her other half Brett. We went swimming each morning & sat feeding the fish as ...
    429
  • Week 27 of 2021. This week starts with no phone, no money, no kindle but lots of hope. The second half of the year has started. Friday, July 2nd. T ...
    1104

My Memories

  • Christmas 2013. I got up this morning to discover I can't remember where the Christmas cards I had for my family had been secreted away. I bough ...
    1470
  • Mums Ghostly Appeal. In 2014 I had taken a two-city break in Spain, staying in Madrid for a few days before travelling to Barcelona for a couple of d ...
    56
  • Doris Daniels, ghost stories. Do you believe in ghosts or believe in premonition? These short stories about me are true. These first couple of storie ...
    349

My Bucket List

  • About the Langkawi Sky Bridge. I saw a photo of the Langkawi Sky Bridge on my computer when Microso ...
    1297
  • Dive on the Great Barrier Reef. I have always loved swimming & diving on the Great Barrier Reef ...
    1665
  • Ride a Segway. I think the first time I saw a Segway was on the television. It was a policeman ridi ...
    1764

Celebrity Stories

  • Rita Marley. Whilst I was on holiday in Jamaica I took a trip to Kingston for an overnight stay. When I was there I went on a trip around Bob Marley' ...
    1767
  • Charlie George. My good friend Derek Almond took me to the Emirates Stadium to do a celebrity guided tour in 2014. I knew that we were going to ...
    1717
  • Jim Quillen. I met Jim Quillen on a tour of Alcatraz when I was in San Francisco in about 1992. I had gone on one of the self-guided tours where you ...
    285

My Recipes

  • Honey Garlic Chicken. Ingredients. 1 large chicken breast, boneless & skinless. Salt & pepper. 30 grams of flour. 50 grams of butter. ...
    2008
  • My Recipes. Like a lot of people I suspect, I go through stages in my life where I enjoy cooking & other times where I hate cooking. When I am in ...
    415
  • Asian Pork. Ingredients. Diced Pork 500 g 1½ tbsp of plain flour 2 tbsp of olive oil 1 onion cut into wedges 3 garlic cloves chopped up 1-inc ...
    502

My Genealogy

  • Florence Alberici. Florence Alberici was my Grand Aunty on the maternal side of my family tree. Because Florence died as an infant 67 years before I ...
    584
  • Maria Davies. Maria Davies was my Great Great Grandmother, she died thirty-six years before I was born. Maria Davies was born in 1857 in Tremain, Ca ...
    1677
  • Fanny Estherby. Fanny Estherby was my Great Great Grandmother, she died eighty-four years before I was born. Fanny Estherby was born on 4 March ...
    1755

My Travel Stories

  • Peru 2013. In 2013 I went on an escorted tour of Peru. My dad had always wanted to go to Machu Picchu but because of his health reasons he never got ...
    101
  • Los Angeles, California. I took my Uncle Dave with me to America in 2012, this would be his first visit to the majority of places we would go. We spe ...
    1579
  • Chongqing to Beijing. As always I awake early & have a cup of tea around 6:30 in the Yangtze Bar, before going for breakfast. I see Selina our wa ...
    1432