Welcome to "Blue Stilton, Red Wine, White Knuckles" the website from jpoc that's focussed on eclecticism. Since I started all this back in February 2000, I have written hundreds of pages on dozens of topics and, according to my logs, just about everything has been read by somebody. When it started the site was based on the tripod free hosting service but now it is professionally hosted and has its own domain. Some of the pages are still over on tripod as I am moving things bit by bit but all of the new material, and the most popular parts of the old material are now here.

But that's enough of an introduction so take a look at the links below. Whether you are looking for a guide to life in Germany, an introduction to the business of finding a Russian bride over the internet, reviews of music, films, books, software, wine, hardware or even my recipes, just visit the links.

Click here for my latest CV.

Otherwise, just browse your way around as you see fit.

My pages on UK tax for British contractors working overseas have now got a fair amount of useful information. More will follow soon.

If you are checking back, look in what's new for the most recent changes.

All of the stuff here is Copyright (c) John & Maria O'Connor 1999-2008 inclusive. You may link to it as much as you like but please do not put it up on other sites on the net. I cannot keep copies up to date and I cannot add new pages to them. Thanks.

Please remember, what you get here are my opinions and free advice. None of what is here constitutes legal advice and if you are in any doubt about anything then you should get some paid for legal help.