Who am I and Why am I doing this?

I am a lucky man! I just want to get that statement out there from the start.

My name is Paul Johnston and I am 58 years old, married to Fiona for 33 and a half years with two children both grown up. I am the eldest and only boy of five children. i have worked for my employer, CIE, for almost 33 years, 6 months less than my marriage. I have had a very good life so far!

Of course it has not all been plain sailing, there have been bumps along the road, including my fathers passing when I was just 22, my best mans death when we were just a few weeks married and my sisters passing in the last year. There have been health issues both for myself and members of my family but by and large its been a very good life so far.

One of the things I have been very lucky with in life is friends. Friendship has always fascinated me I can never tell when I meet someone for the first time whether or not they will be a friend, an acquaintance or whether we will end up going our separate ways. My friends are important to me, and there have been times when a crisis I was facing was made bearable by the presence of a friend who helped me overcome it.

My friendship with Brian is a case in point. On the face of it when we met we had little in common, he is blind and I am sighted, I enjoy active activities like walking, cycling and sightseeing while he cannot partake of these activities. we did share a love of music and technology and the big thing we had in common was our curiosity. We are both curious about everything and this has led to many conversations down through the years on topics covering all manner of things both in the sighted and unsighted world.

I am looking forward to this series of articles as Brian and I explore our long friendship and recall some of the many conversations we have had and the questions we have posed each other over the years.

Welcome along!