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My name is Martin Ian Buckley and I have 2 children.
We live in a little town called Blackburn which is near Darwen, Bolton and Manchester.
My Birthday is 22/04/73 and I have had various office roles as well as manual production operative employments over my time on this planet.
I am happy in my life as it is at the moment and you can see a full interpretation of my employment HERE - I left college in 1991.
I live with Clare Cox who is the apple of my eye and I love her forever and always - Amen.
We have 2 dogs called Winston and Leo, (Pugs) - (Sadly, Timmy passed away and Winston was really upset hence why we had to get another)
We live in a 3 bedroom house and we have a massive garden. (I am not a gardener either) The garden is a mess.
I can code in many different computer languages but I am definitely not a professional.
The code that I love writing is HTML and CSS, and as you can see from my web page I am pretty good at what I do.
I can also code a little in C#, ASM, BASIC, Amiga AMOS, Amiga E, Pascal, Java, COBOL, C+, C++ and pretty much any other programming language.
I have 8 GCSE grades and this is a collection of A`s and B`s.
I also have a ULCI distinction in typewriting.
I have four A level passes too.
I am currently doing four courses on
Udemy
but as you may imagine I find it difficult to find the time to continue with them.
old and by now in my life I should be in a management position but the circumstance has never been presented.
I would love to be a manager of sorts but again, I have never had the opportunity.
I used to be part owner of a News Agents when I lived with my Dad but this shop was sold and demolished, so I guess that is where my corporate legacy ends.
As for 'Where am I going' Well, I would love to be on a sun-drenched beach somewhere far away but the chances of that happening are remote to non existent so I will stick to doing what I do best, Customer Services and
Sales.
This may seem like a defeatist attitude but I assure you that it is not, I am simply a realist and with what is going on in the world at the moment I see no other option than to continue working and hope for the best.
I have an IQ of 187
Feel free to send me an email using the form below.
This is a sort of my life in pictures and some appropriate music. (I hope)
My scanner came with a 'Memories Disk Creator' software and quite frankly it wasn't very good. It did the job alright but you could only have ONE sound file and the displayed pictures were only small but it did cater for all screen resolutions. So I used my knowledge of HTML to create this CD.
This slide show has been set up for display on screens with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 so it will appear different on any other resolutions. I have viewed this slide show at a resolution of as little as 800 x 600 and you have to scroll sideways and down to view all of a picture. Sorry but I can't cater for everybody.
Now don't blame me for the quality of some of the photographs. I didn't take many of them. In those days photography was not for the amateur.
I've tried to put the photographs in some sort of chronological order and used my deductive powers to try and figure out the date and place. Some may not be 'quite right'.
The photographs have been scanned with a Hewlett Packard Scanjet 3500c at 200 dpi and some I have had to 'doctor' and re-do the contrast and brightness. They are not perfect I know but you should see some of the originals.
A few of the colour photgraphs are in fact picture post cards but you will be able to spot them easily enough.
The pictures with an asterix after the number are scans of 120 size colour slides and there is a tale to tell about how I managed those.
My scanner is fitted FOR but not WITH a Transparent Materials Adaptor (TMA) and in spite of the Hewlett Packard web site advertising its existence and the manual showing a drawing of it, no one seemed to stock one, not even Hewlett Packard.
Then early one morning (3:30 am) I woke up with the idea in my head to make my own TMA. After all just how difficult could it be?
Basically a TMA is nothing more than a masking plate with a hole to take the slide and a back-light to illuminate it whilst it is scanned.
A piece of A4 white card with a carefully cut square hole to take the slide was simple enough and I used one of the slide mount's glass as a slide flattener. I acquired a 2.5 Ltr 'Paint Kettle' from the local hardware shop into which I fitted an electric bulb holder with a suitable length of mains lead protruding from it. A local photographic accessories shop was able to supply me with an enlarger light bulb and after fitting a piece of opaque white plastic to act as a diffuser I had my back-light. I also drilled several holes in the base (which became the top when in use) of the 'Paint Kettle' to allow the heat generated by the bulb to escape. After that it was just a question of experimenting to determine the distance the light should be positioned from the scanner bed and slide. It did mean scanning each slide several times to get the distance (and thus the amount of light illuminating the slide) right for that slide but as I only had about 50 slides I approached the task with stoicism.
My Heath Robinson contraption worked a treat and I have been able to scan my 120 sized slides with a little brightness and colour balance adjustment. I tried to use my home made unit for my 35 mm slides but being a Heath Robinson contraption it was very time consuming and the prospect of scanning many slides had me baulking at the task. Hence the search for and purchase of the real thing.
Eventually I managed to track one down and it duly arrived but like all the other TMA's for other makes of scanner this will only scan 35 mm negatives and slides. But I had already solved that problem.
Click on the picture to continue and also click on each picture to go to the next. At the bottom of each page there is a text link to take you to the next page or you can jump to a page of your choice below.
Timmy was an actual "angel sent from heaven," he did not have a bad bone in his body, he was incredible, we miss him terribly and I get a little upset each time that I see him. This is not always a bad thing but I remember the good times in his very short life. I cannot put it into words how much I personally miss him.
This is Timmy, he was six and a half when he sadly passed away. He was one in a million with not a bad bone in his body. He passed through (what we thought was) heat stroke on Tuesday 19th July 2022 at around 22.00 hours, it was horrific to see him take his last breath. We will never forget you baby boy.
Timmy was the one that would always come to you rather than having to go to him for kisses and cuddles. Even when he was getting close to giving up, he still put his complete trust in me to try and save his life. Dogs are smarter than you may think as they understand the basics of life and can let you know (in their own way) if anything is wrong. This site is not about his death, rather to celebrate his wonderful life on this planet.
Timmy was full of life, a little fatty really but he carried it okay, he was always pleased to see people and was everyone’s friend. We miss him so much. Here he is with Clare posing for the camera. I love them both dearly.
Here we are again! Tim, in full effect, words cannot describe how much we love him, not just for his cute looks but for his personality too. I cannot express how broken I personally feel right now. I love you Tim and I hope that you know that I tried everything I could to keep you alive, sorry my boy but we will all see you again one day, I am sure. Amen xxx
Winston and Timmy (all though not biological) were Brothers – through and through, Winston is having a real hard time adjusting. Clare is also besides herself with grief. We as a family are internally destroyed but I would not change a single thing, we had Tim for around 4 years and the love & joy he brought to us will stay with us to the grave. Love you, Son.
Winston and Timmy on the table. (Yet again) I don`t know what caught their attention but it was possibly either “Ta-Ta`s” or “Foods” either way these are the faces that we got on regular occasions from the both of them, they were so involved in the family, again, my heart breaks every time I see pictures of Tim or have a “bit of a moment” when thinking of him, he was six and a half years old. Sheesh! Why God, why did you take him away from us?
Just chilling dude, leave me alone! That is the message that I get from this photo, just warming up in the sunshine! Timmy was a real character and was never boring, he really was "one of a kind" but everyone says that don`t they. Timmy, we love you always pal, see you again my friend.
As you may see from the picture above, Timmy is now sleeping alongside Buddy. (Another legend in his own right that was taken from us too) Grief effects different people in different ways, personally I don`t deal with it too well as I ask questions about how and why, very rarely getting answers. My Dad died and I am not ashamed to admit that Tim`s passing has had more effect on me than when he went. This doesn`t mean that I don`t love my Dad, I do, but it is an alternative type of grief. Until we all meet again fellas – we all love you more than you will ever know. xxx RIP Bud & Tim
Some insensitive people may say “its only a dog” but I don’t think like that, it is as if I had one of my children die in my arms.
Tim, you will never know how much you are loved, even now, even after all this time, I cannot help but wonder if there was more that I could have done for you.
That last look that you gave me as you crossed over the rainbow bridge will stay with me until I die, I am and always will be sorry for not helping more, sorry Son.
I love you, Dad x
Timmy over heated on the hottest day on record and it peaked at around 39℃, he was ok during the day and had plenty of clean fresh water but it just got too much for his little body to absorb the heat and as a direct result of this he took his last breath at 21.52 on Tuesday 19th July 2022 – God rest his beautiful soul and I just know that he will be playing with Buddy up in doggy heaven. We all love you Bud and Tim, we will see you again I am sure, RIP fellas, love you, Mum, Winny & Dad. xxx
More to come later...
Clare got Bud as a puppy from a dog sanctuary so he has been with her from a very early age.
Buddy came as part of the package when Clare and I moved in together and he really was a lovely dog.
Buddy was a rescue and he was a dream to live with.
As previously mentioned, he came with Clare when we started living together and he was with us both for a good few years, he was liked by all and was a perfect gentleman.
We still miss him even after all this time, he was a major part of our lives.
Bud was a mongrel, a Heinz 57 dog is what they are commonly known as, a bit of this and a bit of that. He was outstanding, loyal, attentive and switched on.
As he was getting to the later stages of life, he started to have fits and seizures which was not nice to see and then the day came that Clare decided that enough was enough and we had to let him go. He was a gentleman until the very end, rest in peace my friend, we will all meet again one day. Amen!
More to come later...
Winston needs no introduction, he is the one and the only Winston Stanley Yoda Buckley Esq.
"Winny" is a "funny`en," he will play by his rules only and if you ever go to him for cuddles then it will be on his terms - he is like a cat in many ways but I wouldn`t change a single thing about him.
He came from Manchester (Like Leo) and we got him again, as a pup, he was the cutest little thing ever, in the world and he used to windup Bud by bitting his heals and then when Winny was caught, he would just roll over and submit.
Bud was amazing with him, he knew that Winny was a pup and they played together loads.
More to come later...
Leo is a total clown! He is funny, cute, loving and an absolute diamond. We got him from Manchester after Timmy sadly passed away and we got him primarily for Winston who was pining for his best pal that was taken from us.
Leo is a Panda Pug and reported to be the first of his kind. (apparently) Leo came from a house in Manchester where there were a lots of other dogs, mostly Pugs! He is adorable and we love him without boundries.
Above are also some small movies of Leo as a very young pup, playing with his pals and this of course is before he came to us here.
More to come later...
