Who is ELCS.ch?

When you’re born in a maritime city like Liverpool, with ships arriving and leaving daily, from and to the four corners of the globe, there’s a good chance that one day you will up and leave.

Which is what I did in the late 1980s following my university degree. But not for the sea, for the city’s other great source of exports—the music industry.

The job of a live sound engineer was made for me. Vital, technically demanding, high-pressure work. But done at the back of the room, away from the lights. The real stars, after all, were up on stage.

Well over a thousand concerts later, I moved to Switzerland, a nice, quiet change from being the sober guy at everyone else’s party.

And I stayed. I enjoyed my years working for a big, Swiss-based Silicon Valley software developer, driving communication programs, managing and authoring documentation, giving (early) e-mail etiquette courses (among other tasks). And in my spare time my role as a “bad guru”, organizing low-budget flash events built on grassroots community involvement.

But.

It took me almost 20 years to find again that combination of vital, high-pressure work and relative (and welcome) anonymity that a life on the road had provided.

I found it when I launched ELCS.ch in 2010.

Clarity, continuity, and correctness in written English and the challenge of helping to craft strong, effective texts for my clients fill up my working days. And the highly varied—and often highly technical—subject matter is constantly expanding my horizons. And I get to never forget who the real stars are: my clients.

I live in the Swiss Jura mountains—where we watch eagles from our kitchen window—with the one I love and with various animals, including several wise, sociable, and hyper-intelligent cats. In my spare time I do voluntary work for a range of nature conservation projects, particularly those focusing on avifauna.

In past incarnations, I have run stage backline for James Brown, done front-of-house sound for Hendrix’s The Experience, sprung Lara Croft from jail, and been interviewed on primetime Swiss national TV wearing a wetsuit.

All experiences that, I would say, every good proofreader should be able to draw on.