Rogues Gallery: Tony Searle

This is the first in what I hope will be a semi-regular feature, in which I turn the spotlight on one of the people in my life. The brave volunteer to go first is my housemate and best friend Tony.

I met Tony at the Games Club here in Taunton back in 1998 not long after I had left University. He asked if he could join my game of D&D, as we were a bit short on players, I said to pull up a chair and roll up a character. The next week he brought along a mate from work Rodney Kick (now sadly passed away) who also joined the group.

Tony is a software engineer by trade, meaning he earns about twice what I do, and as a result pays more of the rent. Because of this he has the whole top floor as his lair wherein he has his office/lounge (complete with leather armchairs) and his bedroom (complete with mess!)

We share the same birthday (he's a year older) and a LOT of the same likes and dislikes, though he has a far greater tolerance for TV than I do, and I'm more inclined to listen to music than he is. He likes his beer (Fosters and Newcastle Brown Ale do not last long around this man), though he is banned (by me) from drinking Tequila, mainly due to the fact it gets him horrendously drunk and he makes a LOT of noise when he is that drunk.

He drives a motorbike (which he is seemingly forever having to repair) and has a penchant for hitting large visible stationary objects. Pedestrians, animals (apart from pheasants), or other road users, you're quite safe around Tony. If however, you are a wall, hedge, ditch, fence... look out! Still, I am slowly getting used to hitching rides on the back of the thing, but thus far only to the cinema and back.

He is the computer whiz of the household and thus is called upon to wield his mighty screwdriver whenever my PC has a glitch. Indeed he built the current PC I am using for me, from a few new bits that I bought and a load of his old components, from when he upgraded his computer last. He also set up and maintains our wireless network in the house. Put bluntly, I likely wouldn't be able to post this without him.

It was our joint idea to rent a house together, as walking back from the cinema we were discussing the cost of living and realised that we'd each save a little if we moved out of our two small apartments that we were paying too much rent for and got a place together. Add in a third housemate and we saved a lot more!