So, Who Are You?
Good question - lets start with the basics...
Name: Marcus Edward Moazzam
Born: January 17th 1975, Southend-on-Sea
Current Location: Huntingdon, England
Occupation: Flood Defence Engineer
Huntingdon is a medium-sized town about 20 miles northwest of Cambridge. Its a quiet, pleasant place on the fringes of the Fens (a wild untamed...er...wilderness full of strange people!) Joking aside, the Fens are essentially the bread basket of the South East - largely consisting of farmland and wildlife reserves. Very nice if you like that sort of thing. The USAF seems to think so as we regularly get F-15s out of RAF Lakenheath flying around the skies of East Anglia.
Huntingdon had the dubious distinction of being ranked 38 in a 2007 tabloid poll to find the 50 Worst Places to Live in England. Like I said - its quiet! Click
here for an 'alternative' description, (you'll need to scroll down past a few other places).
On to my job. I have to say Flood Defence Engineer is not my official job title, but its close enough. The actual title is embarrassingly long and complicated to say in full (thank god for the government's love of acronyms!). I'm currently employed by the
Environment Agency, putting my education in mechanical and design engineering to use in what is basically a project management role in one of the Agency's Flood Risk Management departments. Given that I'm based in East Anglia - probably the flattest and lowest inhabited place on Earth (except possibly Holland) - its a fairly important job!
The Agency has several hundred flood defence structures in the Anglian region and over 100 of those are in Cambridgeshire & Bedfordshire Area (covering roughly the area between Milton Keynes and Kings Lynn)...where I work. My team is tasked with managing the maintenance and upgrading of these sites so that when the rains hit, the place doesn't disappear under water. If you think I'm exaggerating - take a look at what happened to
St Ives in 1998!
It can be a thankless task sometimes, trying to keep landowners, other environmental organisations, businesses and the general public happy - and thats on top of keeping an eye on the contractors to make sure they're doing what you asked. That said, I do get a real sense of satisfaction, seeing a project through to completion and knowing you're doing an essential (if unglamorous) job, keeps you going. I also get to spend a fair bit of time on the road, travelling to site and meetings with colleagues and contractors, so I'm not stuck in an office all the time...which is nice.
In My Spare Time...
When I'm not hard at work saving East Anglia from flooding (okay - you can stop laughing now) I fill my time in a variety of ways. I'm an avid footie fan and I've supported
Middlesbrough FC since 1987. Despite being born in Essex, I spent 13 years on Teesside - so I consider myself an adopted Teessider.
Aside from that, I'm also a bit of a computer geek (does it show that much?). I also read voraciously - mostly sci-fi, horror, comedy and fantasy stuff. Music is a big part of my life (as my CD collection bears testament to). For the record I'm a bit of a rock and metal freak, though I listen to a wide range of stuff. I'm a fairly mediocre guitar player and I go to gigs whenever I can. Paintballing and Battletech are other major hobbies of mine.
More About Me...
Favourite Books
Anything by Terry Pratchett, Tom Clancy and Stephen King. I also like Andy McNab and Robert Rankine.
TV Programmes
Andromeda, Brainiac: Science Abuse and Top Gear among others.
Films
Too many to mention. I generally like sci-fi, horror, comedy and action films. Recent favourites include Serenity, Van Helsing and V for Vendetta.
Food
I love Chinese, Indian and Italian in addition to traditional English grub!
Gadgets
My Sony Walkman MP3 player - I'm almost never without it!
I Really Admire...
The emergency services and armed forces. Scientists and engineers. Anyone overcoming disabilities and being successful...Stephen Hawking I'm looking at you here!
Favourite UK Location
The Southwest. Devon and Cornwall - great countryside, great beaches and great food!
Favourite Place Abroad
Florida. Great weather (providing you miss the hurricane season!). Disneyland, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, Tampa, Miami, Kennedy Space Centre...need I go on?
The Environment
At the risk of sounding preachy - look after the planet, as we're going to have to live here until we develop interstellar space travel! We're rapidly depleting the Earth of its natural resources, ravaging the planet as we do so and destroying wildlife habitats to boot. We may also be contributing to the next global climate shift with all the pollution our industry produces.
Dream Job
Fighter pilot. Not exactly original I know, but I love flying, speed and blowing stuff up!
