So why are working in solar physics?", asked the mythical interviewer.

"Well, I enjoy the research process, so...", says me.

Pause. "Is that all, and is that a good enough reason?"

"I don't know. When I was finishing my Ph.D. I applied for a lot of different kinds of jobs, all research, some based at universities and others based in industry. I got offered a position in solar physics and I took it."

That's basically how it happened. I had applied for a whole bunch of jobs and I got an offer from two of my applications and both of those were in solar physics. One was at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the other was in the University of Birmingham in England. Maybe some background would be useful at this point so let us peer through the mists of time to...