About

I was still an operational Firefighter @62 – I didn’t see that coming!

Hi, I’m Ian, this is all about life’s rollercoaster ride and a rather unexpected outcome

The odd thing is, I only qualified as a Firefighter just after my 56th birthday. You might ask why on earth would I want to qualify as a Firefighter at that age? Well it was an unexpected outcome as I rebuilt my health & fitness all over again.

The frustrating thing is that I had the tools I needed to turn my health & fitness around long before I finally woke up to my predicament. If you are reading this and find yourself in the same predicament, I just hope I can help you turn things around too.

The Early Years pursuing two dreams

Going through school I enjoyed swimming and tennis and did OK. Then in my final year of school I got a bit obsessed with rowing and wanted more.

At the same time I was fascinated by geology and how we humans use our natural resources. I set my heart on a career in Mineral Exploration. I realised I needed a degree so I started searching for the ideal course and uni to attend.

I had two big dreams so my criteria were simple:

A degree course geared to a career in mineral exploration
A College/University with a decent rowing club

So I applied to the Royal School of Mines to study Mining & Exploration Geology. Now that really did match my first criteria. And the RSM is part of Imperial College of Science & Technology, as it was then, and IC had a decent rowing club, matching my second criteria.

Now I made a bit of a mess of my degree and still feel bad about that. But I did get my BSc Hons and the ticket to my dream career.

I did better with my rowing. I set out to make the top boat each year and did achieve that. Representing my College at the big events was the best feeling. And along the way we won some big races and events. Some races stay with you as if they were yesterday like our race against US Coast Guards Academy in the semi-final of “The Ladies Plate” at Henley in ’78.

Racing US Coast Guards Academy at HRR, 1978

We went on to win the final beating Syracuse. But the following year we lost in the semi-final of “The Thames Cup”. Suddenly it was all over, I had my degree and three weeks later I was off to the Middle East and my first taste of the desert.

Fun Years in Mineral Exploration

I was a bit giddy at first. Yes the work was hard and it was a challenge living in remote camps or even fly camping for weeks and months at a time. But what’s not to love about seeing some beautiful and inspiring places like:

Exploring an old hill top fort, possibly Nabataean, in the heart of a region now known as the Harrat al Harrah Conservation Area in northern Saudi Arabia

And the endless open spaces of the Australian outback

On the road to Nullagine, Pilbara Region of Western Australia

And sometimes even just getting places was a challenge:

Rule #1 Always check the depth of the water before you drive in!

I was living and breathing my life dream. As an exploration geologist I spent years working in remote deserts, steaming jungles, temperate forests and even in the Arctic Circle. all sorts of challenging places where I felt right at home.

Even when I wasn’t working I still had to go exploring. I loved scuba diving and would head off to places like the Great Barrier Reef as often as I could:

Taking a break between dives, Lady Elliot Island, Great Barrier Reef

The exploration work was a buzz and I just loved the physical challenge and adventure of it all. Unfortunately my time in exploration did come to a catastrophic end.

Catastrophe 1 – my health collapsed

I had picked up a tropical illness working in some horrible mangrove swamps in PNG. It wasn’t diagnosed properly. I struggled on for a few years but it finally took hold and I was unable to work and had to retire from mineral exploration.

I returned to the UK to try and find the medical help I needed. My condition just got worse and I ended up totally incapacitated for over two years. I weighed less than 8st, that’s 112 lbs or around 50 kg. I should have been around 75 kg!

In my desparate search for answers I crossed paths with Dr Younis, a Harley Street specialist. He helped to firstly bring the illness under control and then start the long process of rehabilitation. Working with Dr Younis, I found a simple way to organise and plan my daily nutrition that turned my health and my life back around. It was a diet I could live with.

Raising a Family

As I was turning my health back around I got married and together we started a family. Well that’s one rollercoaster ride for sure. Hectic crazy years. We had three children and all the fun and games that go with that. But I don’t want to talk about my children, I’m not sure they would appreciate that.

But the experience struggling with my diet proved to be very useful.

My wife and I were determined that our children should enjoy their food and that they were free to experiment. They were always quite content eating plenty of fresh fruit & veg, much to the surprise of some other parents. And in the fullness of time they did develop their own distinct food preferences.

And in their early years we used to head out onto the nearby hills and heathlands so they could explore to their hearts’ content and they could find their own sense of adventure.

One Sunday morning my wife informed me that she had signed two of them up to join a local rowing club. And she had very kindly signed me up to help coach. And so began a very enjoyable period of my life coaching juniors at my favourite sport. Together we had a lot of fun training and then racing at the different regattas and head races.

But as children grow they want to chart their own courses and pursue other interests. By now all my three were charting their own different courses. And slowly but surely those little shared activities came to an end.

Catastrophe 2 – my life was shutting down

I didn’t notice at first, but a lot of other shared activities had dropped away too. First with family, then friends. Bit by bit my enthusiasm for life had ebbed away too.

So in 2013, as my 55th birthday came looming up on the horizon, I realised my life was no longer a journey and it certainly wasn’t an adventure anymore. I was heading down a dead end, constantly exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. Sound familiar?

What had happened to the guy I used to know? Somehow, I needed to re-boot my life and turn it around again…

I was shocked and distressed to admit that my whole life was shutting down. Not only was I less active physically, as each year went by I was slowly but surely disengaging from the very people and things I loved the most.

But I knew I had the tools to turn this around and so I got to work.

Back on the roller coaster, life is an adventure again

Look I was 55 years old so I wasn’t going to hang around waiting to get fitter and waiting to get healthier. I just set off again, starting on 1st November 2013.

I knew how to get the most out of exercise, even if I could only walk briskly, so I started walking
I had a good nutrition plan, so I just started using it again

Shortly after my 56th birthday I qualified as a Firefighter with my local Fire & Rescue Service and was a fully operational firefighter right up to 62 years of age.

Me & the Fire Truck

I had taken up the call late in life as my local Fire & Rescue Service needed new Firefighters. It was very humbling to turn out to emergencies and be able to help people in need. It was just a great way to give a bit back to my community.

This gave me a huge incentive to re-boot my whole life.

The most satisfying thing of all was finally hiking in the mountains with my own kids. They weren’t kids anymore of course, but you know what I mean.

Hiking in the mountains with the family. Looking Southwest towards Wastwater.

My life is an adventure all over again and I have re-connected with my family in ways I thought I had lost for good. One day I realised that life felt different. I looked around and realise that I felt like:

I’m BACK

I’m back to being me again. I’m back with the family, back in the middle of things. I’m back on the rollercoaster of life in a good way.

If I can do this then anyone can

So if you find yourself in a similar sort of predicament I want you to know that you can turn it around, rebuild your health & fitness and re-boot your life. Honestly, if I could do this then just about anyone can.