User Profile

My name is Neil Ferguson, and I'm from Scotland. The user image you see here is a real picture of myself. If you could somehow step back a bit, you'd also find that I'm tall and slim. People back home often call me a skinnymalink - think "beanpole"!

I'm a software engineer, currently employed by Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and working at the European Southern Observatory HQ in Germany. That makes me an employee of Her Majesty's Government, posted overseas, and I have German diplomatic ID to prove it. Ironically, I never see the telescopes, since those are all in Chile.

I have the great good fortune to live in a small country town about 30 minutes from the centre of Munich, right next to the local nature reserve. Better yet, the Alps are within easy reach, an hour or so from the city. No wonder Bavaria is the most expensive part of Germany to live in. I've been here for three years now, and the only way they'll get me to move back to the London area is if they tie me up and carry me onto the plane.

Naturally, I speak German, although it can sometimes be a bit of a snag, since I have a severe hearing loss and wear two hearing aids. I lipread, but listening and speaking in German remain hard work. The local Bayrisch dialect is utterly impenetrable, so I stick to Hochdeutsch. As often happens with deaf people, I'm quite good with the written language.

By annoying mischance, the damage to my hearing is due to Usher Syndrome, which means that my eyesight is also affected. Fortunately, my life remains relatively unconstrained by that, at least for the moment.

My first introduction to LiveJournal came via scruffycritter, who told me about the hearingaidhacks community he set up here. Since I've made efforts of my own in that direction, I was sold on the spot. I also pop up on the hard_of_hearing community from time to time.

Offline, I follow standard procedure for single men of 30: trying to chat up pretty young women (in dubiously accented German) whilst consuming liberal amounts of excellent beer and decent food. I also squeeze in a few other bits and pieces along the way (see 'Interests' below). All in all, the life of Riley...

Friends (11):

Mutual Friends (9):

Also Friend of (3):