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I am delighted to begin the Black Dog Blog which is something I've considered for a long period of time now, but I only wanted to begin once I felt fully ready. I feel it is best to establish where I am from and who I am as a person, in order to give some real context behind my journey and my goals, both of which I aim to document over the course of this blog. So this is where I will begin.
My name is Dean Ellis, I am now just the wrong side of 30 and I was born in a place called North Shields, in North-East England, not far from the city of Newcastle. Raised in a small ex-mining village by my mam, on a council estate that could certainly be described as a little Shameless. A fantastic childhood was spent leading adventures onto the "back fields" (now new build houses ironically) kicking a football against peoples houses, cars and into their gardens for hours on end and generally having fun without a care in the world. School was enjoyable but uneventful and I was glad to leave to see the world.
Upon leaving school (and a brief stint at college) my first foray into working life was a 3 year stint in the merchant navy where I tried and failed to grasp an HND in Marine Engineering, the Russian language (first sea trip) and also the Ukrainian language (second sea trip). I did of course learn a few choice words that I don't believe will benefit me too well going forward, but they did stick unlike all the heavy algebra! Great memories both on my travels around the world and sampling the South Shields nightlife with the other course members (admittedly the main reason I believe i'm not a marine engineer today). Some very valuable lessons learned along the way nonetheless.
After being relieved of my position as a Clyde Marine trainee during an eventful holiday in Tenerife (while I was expected in college), a brief stint followed working for Newcastle Council as a Rapid Response Operative (fly tipping attendant). Great blokes, but a terrible job and working in some very run down areas around the Newcastle suburbs. I had itchy feet quickly and after six months I decided to leave to join the British Army as a Royal Engineer, with the job role of a Heating and Plumbing Engineer with subsequent Gas engineer qualifications on offer.
During my 10 year army career (to date), personal highlights include guarding the Tower of London and St James' palace, training the next generation of recruits in combat engineering for two years, numerous deployments around the world, sporting achievements playing football both with REAFC and multiple regiments, aswell as many more that I won't bore you to death with. I firmly believe that all of my previous decisions (some good and some not so good), have led me to be exactly where I am today. I've had a fantastic career that has allowed me to build a solid foundation to push on from; for that I will always be grateful.
This brings me to my current point in life. I have a beautiful wife, adorable and slightly crazy son and a bouncy Springador called Gus. We have owned, renovated, bought, sold, rented and let property over the past 6 years and this is where my real passion has eventually came to the forefront of our lives, albeit inspired by the long dreamy days spent in enforced lockdowns of the Coronavirus era.
I believe that the strong core values picked up in my military career, my life experience across varying sectors and not forgetting the lessons we all learn in life, primarily through making mistakes, have set me up perfectly to be mindful of other peoples varying situations in life. This also allows to me to have the conviction to push ahead at full speed to achieve the things I want for my young family.
Thanks a lot for reading. I look forward to talking all things property in the near future !
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