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Desmond
(Des) McPartland
British,
born (1963) and educated in the North East of England. As
a
child through to my mid teens, traveled extensively with my parents on family holiday's, visiting such places as France, Monaco, Spain,
Portugal, Madeira, Greece, Malta, Italy, Austria, Switzerland,
Belgium,
Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, USA and Canada.
......I
guess the seeds of travel and adventure were firmly planted.
From 14 to 18, I devoted all my energy to Water Ski-ing, and at 18 spent the winter months training at a ski school in Florida. It was whilst I
was in Florida, that my Father passed away, just 3 months after
taking early retirement at age 58.
I think this, more than
anything else has helped me focus on
"living the dream"
whilst I am still relatively young and healthy.
After
graduating from Teesside University with an Honor's Degree in
Interior Design, and
prior to moving to Japan in 1988, I lived for
one
year in Copenhagen, Denmark. After returning to the UK for
a few
months in 1989, I have been a resident of Tokyo since 1990.
I met
Hiro in April 1999, and in May we had our first holiday together,
touring through the Japan Alps on our
motorbikes.
Often, the
surrounding landscape was snow covered, and although
the scenery was
breathtakingly beautiful....even wearing our leathers,
we were both
freezing cold. We stayed at my favorite lodge, "Pension
Sucharl", the friendliest little place, with great food.
All the other guests were there for the skiing!
Later
that year, at the start of the next ski season, we visited Sucharl
again, (by car this time...my beloved Range Rover), ...and started
our
first season of Snow Boarding together. Up until this year we
have
skied or boarded about 25 days per season. Japan has
wonderful ski resorts, and the season runs from Dec to May.
In
November '99 we decided to live together. Lucky to find a house
with
a garden and double parking space in downtown Tokyo. It was
a
great reason to buy another car, and we decided on a "Z
3",
actually Hiro's car, but I got to take it to the office
every day!
Shortly
after moving into the house, at 10 weeks old, Mica and Mocha
joined
us. (Mocha disappeared 6 months later), but Mica has been
with
us for 4 years, and he is the friendliest, most adorable cat one
could ever wish to meet. We just couldn't leave without him,
so he
is going to become a sailing cat!
As part
of our "downsizing", and in order to make our 3 year
countdown a viable plan, we agreed the cars must go...and bought
a
10 year old BMW 5 Series (cheap), that just about gets us from
A to
B.
Next to go was the house, in Nov 2002 we moved into
Hiro's
apartment that he bought 6 years ago and had been renting
out.
Its on the 12th floor, with great views of
the city
skyscrapers, only
problem is Mica has lost his garden, and his play
mates....so, he's
not a very happy cat.
I keep telling him its not
forever, and he'll soon be on the boat with us!
Next on
the agenda to go is my Ducati...
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