About me
I was born in the borough of Camden in London in August 1975 & raised by my Mother & Step-Father along with two bothers and a sister. My Mum & Dad divorced when I was young but Dad remained in contact and a large part of my life when I was young.
I lived in Camden throughout my childhood and my memories are happy ones. I recall spending many days and nights over Highgate/Parliament Hill Fields/Hampstead Heath as a kid fishing with my brother Paul and friends, playing ‘Tim-Tam-Tommy’ (hide and seek) & ‘Knocking Dollies Out of Bed’ (knocking on people’s doors and running away) on our council housing estate. We also played ‘Off-The-Edge’ which was a gambling game were you would throw coins to the end of the balcony and the closest to the edge would take the winnings – or Up-the-Wall where you’d throw coins towards the wall and closest to wall would take winnings.
As kids we spent a lot of time exploring the old derelict factories & building sites in Kentish Town prior to their development into housing estates and modern commerical factories, running accross railway tracks to get there. Something you might not let your kids do today!
We also spent a lot of time at Kentish Town City Farm which was run by John Langham.
We built many camps in the local junk yard, local derelict factories and over the local parks.
We would buy Red Bus Rover tickets and travel the bus network of London.
We played Street Hockey (think Ice Hockey on rolller skates, see here) as teenagers in London leagues as well as Roller-Skated throughout London.
We joined the Army Cadet Force at Regents Park Barracks and went on excercise with them them at Box Hill near Dorking, Salisbury Plain and Aldershot.
Growing up in Camden was fun!
As a youngster I would associate with different groups of friends. Some from Queens Crescent, some from Burghley Road and some from Hadley, which was closer to Chalk Farm/Camden Lock.
In my late teens I was interested in music and my Dad kindly bought me a set of Technics SL1200 mixing turntables. I spent many hours at these practicing mixing and scratching and for a short period of time after leaving school studied a Sound Engineering course at the highly acclaimed School of Audio Engineering – again thanks to my Dad as the fees weren’t cheap! Paul McKee from Sommers Town used to come to my house a lot and mix with me, as did Jason-Rasta from Queens Crescent. We used to smoke a few joints in the process!
I lived in Camden until my early 20’s, whereupon I relocated to a small village in West Berkshire named Woolhampton in order to pursue my love of fishing. I almost moved to Sailisbury in Wiltshire, a place I love and have visited a number of times over the years, however the commute to work in London was too lengthy, so I opted for a house closer to London for an easier life.
From 1999 – 2013 I ran my own small freelance web design, development, marketing & hosting business. Prior to this I had a few different jobs and I’ll write more about those elswhere.
The river Kennet (I’ll write more on this elsewhere, too) runs through the village of Woolhampton and I leased a small stretch of river from Monksmead Estate for several years prior to moving to the island of Koh Samui in Thailand in 2006 where I met a Thai lady and we had a beautiful daughter together. Unfortunately the relationship didn’t work out and after almost 3 years we separated. The separation was messy and I haven’t seen my daughter since 2009 – but not through a lack of wanting or trying extremely hard.
I returned to the UK in 2011 and with ongoing legal affairs continuing over my daughter and a case of gaslighting, I became depressed.
I decided to stop drinking and smoking and take a new approach to life by opting for a spiritual lifestyle, or, one of self-discovery. As the adage goes… Know Thyself.
The beginning of this new direction resulted in me attending Amaravati Buddhist Monastery of the Thai Forest Tradition which is located in Hertfordshire, where I had reloctated to (serendipitous that it was so local to me, having spent a number of years in Thailand) .
I attended Amaravati on a regular basis for guidance at their weekly meditation workshops, persued some private meditation practise in the beautiful temple, as well as attended group retreats. I should state, however, that I do not consider myself a Buddhist. Over the years I’ve attended Buddhist temples & monasteries, Christian Churches, as well as visited a Hindu temple in search of community, guidance and escape.
I’ve been locked up on numerous occasions in Mental Health Hospitals and have been on the run from time to time, having to flee my home in fear of being incarcarated.
Initially my pursuit of self-discovery saw me regularly visit an old friend who had been on a similar path for a while and advised me to look into Quantum Physics. So meeting somewhere in the middle I purchased my first ever “spiritual book” called A Visionary Window by Amit Goswami, an Indian Quantum Physics professor who I discovered in the movie What The Bleep! However, I didn’t read the book for a year or more.
Very quickly from Internet searches I came across a lot of interesting content, however Santos Bonacci’s YouTube channel was one that I found very interesting – though a lot of his early content from 2012/13 has been taken down. Max Igan is another, but his YouTube channel has been banned. You can still find his website at The Crowhouse which provides links to his various content on other channels.
I discovered Walter Russell and his wife Lao’s books which were interesting and many people I followed or watched on Social Media at the time were into the same authors. I had an amazing experience whilst reading one of Lao’s books. I also discovered Edward Leedskalnin and his Coral Castle around the same time and although was drawn to him, didn’t get to learn too much about him.
I discovered the YogEbooks website offering a selection of ebooks and then in 2014/15 found Global Grey Ebooks with an even greater number of free ebooks to choose from. It was very coincidental, as around the same time Grey was a colour I very much associated with (as a mixture of black & white).
Unfortunately my attempts to delve further into spiritual studies and teachings have been cut short since 2015 by frequent hospital detentions.
Since 2021, after reading a few Carl Jung books, this has led me back onto the spiritual path and I have discovered much about the direction I should be taking. Its been right in front of me, staring at me all along, but I’ve not seen it until recently.
So within the pages of this website I hope to give updates on my life-progress, some stories of my past and drop the occasional words of wisdom from my discoveries, that I hope will help others on their journey. A bit like one of my favourite movies; Pay It Foward. Which also reminds me of a video I watched of Nick Thorpe (formely of Curiosity Killed the Cat band) being interviewed at New Life Thailand in 2012/13 in which he said his development/recovery was a paired-on effect. He helps others and in doing so learns from them, which in turn helps him in his growth. I guess through that process is how we evolve as a species! Or we can just sit back and hand it all over to AI – which Sri Nisagadatta appeared to think wasn’t such a bad idea.
So, above (as below?) is a brief history (future to follow) of the life of the individual given the name William (Billy) O’Connor. There is a lot more to tell (much more than I’d ever imagined) and I may update this page from time-to-time or possibly create individual blog posts with memories that I recall – or maybe both.
I look forward to interacting with anyone who has constructive comments to make. Please do so in the comment box below.