jonperez

I am mid 50s and married to an angel who has supported me in everything that I have done in the last 25 glorious years. We have three children, a boy of 23 who has just returned after 10 months away, much of the time travelling through South America, a 20 year old girl who has just completed her army service and a 17 year old girl in her last year at high school.

Born and brought up in the UK I never imagined living anywhere else other than London. But love reared its head and here I am in Israel where I’ve lived since 1995.

Not easy to leave your homeland, but even more difficult to leave your parents and sister. After years of being a regular at Stamford Bridge, I still watch Chelsea religiously, albeit mostly from a pub in Tel Aviv.

Being secretary of the Chelsea Supporters Club in Israel has resulted in frequent television & radio appearances; but nothing beats walking down the Fulham Road on match day.

Always loved my homeland but never felt any great nationalistic feelings towards it and have to admit feeling exactly the same about Israel. I have these nagging doubts about the direction in which the country is moving and feel that increasingly intolerant fanatics are gaining a foothold.

That is not to say that I am not proud of Israel's achievements. For a country of seven million and an area the size of Wales it has numerous industries, such as hi-tech, agriculture, medicine to name a few, where it is regarded as a world leader.

After 20 years employed in the world of IT, I have been self employed for the past three years, trying to make a real difference.

Always had a multitude of hobbies and interests, some of which disappeared once parenthood came along. I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was younger and am still fascinated by anything and everything weather related. I really enjoy cooking and find that spending a few hours in the kitchen has gone from becoming a chore to a form of therapy.

I enjoy many sports, but my love of football and Chelsea in particular takes up much of my spare time. When does following a football club go from being a hobby to becoming an obsession?

Into health and fitness these days, so very quick to bore people with my mantra about eating properly and exercising.

That’s me in a nutshell.

I hope you find my contributions to the world of blogging either interesting or enjoyable or even both and hopefully you won’t be offended by anything that I write.