Eternal Gratitude and Many Pints Owed

WEB DESIGNER AND PHP & MYSQL PROGRAMMER EXTRAORDINAIRE JIM SHANNON

Back in 1991 when we met, fresh faced but not too naive, at Art College in Brighton there was definitely a feeling that we would continue to be friends throughout our lives. Jim is one of those people who has this amazing work ethic and ability to learn new skills and talents that I admire and respect so much. He is also the most patient, understanding and generous person I know. Thankfully. Because, although he has not said or shown it, I do worry that I may be pushing things at the moment.

Although he is trained as an illustrator (an extremely good one), has a passion for photography that easily equals mine and goes travelling at every given opportunity, he has also somehow taught himself to design websites and write all the code by hand. So when, in a moment of extreme generosity, he offered to help me redo my website I quite naturally accepted.

As I write this, the site is perhaps a month away from completion and has, I fear turned into a bigger monster than he anticipated. We have squeezed the odd hour of work into his few spare moments where ever we could and I have sat watching over his shoulder, slack jawed, as he works his magic. It is a truly awe inspiring and humbling sight watching someone do something that you could never dream of achieving yourself. The way an idea or piece of design is translated in his head into code and then appears on the screen as a page or idea is something that has many times left me speechless.

It makes me feel like the pathetic thanks I mumble, the pints I buy or the promises I make to one day pay him are almost insulting. All I can do is hope that I have not pushed our friendship too far and that soon I will have occasion to repay the debt. In the mean time please visit Jim’s own site, admire his fantastic photography and web design and bear him in mind if you ever have a site you want doing and you can afford to pay him…