The Old Bradfordian community is truly international, with more than 6,000 OBs based across 40 countries. We love hearing about OB’s international experiences and used lockdown as an excuse to reach out to find out what some have been up to. To see the ‘Where in the World’ feature in its entirety, read pages 36-41 in The Old Bradfordian 2020 magazine.

It is now 50 years since Simon started learning geography with Mr Eggleston and then with other teachers, including Mr Parker at O-Level. He never expected that he would live and work in the countries that he learnt about.

But Simon’s life and career in the bakery and ingredients industry, has led him to living in ten countries, across three continents, including ones that when he was at school were unheard of and hidden behind the Iron Curtain. Simon has experienced the Mediterranean (Turkey, Spain, Israel and Greece), the Baltic Sea (Denmark, Lithuania and Latvia) as well as Asia (Malaysia) and now the USA.

‘People often ask which was my favourite, and the answer is that I don’t have one, as each is different in its own right’ recalls Simon. ‘On my first overseas position in Turkey, my boss gave me the following advice. He said that whilst you will always have difficulties and challenges, in every place you will meet good people and have good memories – remember those.

‘Living overseas has pros and cons. The benefits are that you get to see and learn about the world 365 days a year, and not just in a few weeks’ holiday. You get a deeper learning and perspective, seeing many things from the local point of view, learning about culture, religion and politics, and spending time in the local homes of colleagues and friends. The children experience different cultures and have friends of a really global nature.

‘On the downside, you lose stability and contact with family. With respect to my case, stability is lost due to relocation every few years. However, when you live in an international environment, even if you stay put, your friends and your children’s friends move on. With respect to contact with family, a lot has changed since living in Turkey with one phone call per month and plenty of letter writing, compared to today when we have Zoom, FaceTime, email and YouTube. You need to find the balance between return trips to the UK and using the time to explore the countries and sights around where you live. We have been in Upstate New York for five years now and as a family have still to cross the Mississippi.’

Whilst many people work in the same place for most of their lives and then look forward to travel in retirement, Simon is looking to stay put when in retirement. ‘We have a house in Greece and a farm in Lithuania and that sounds just fine!’