AS A kid growing up near the banks of the Tyne, the sight of huge ships being built and launched on the river filled me with awe.
From then on, engineering on an epic scale has always fascinated me.
Even today, an abnormal load being transported from A to B is a thing of wonder.
So the continuing saga of Siemens' proposed manufacturing plant in Hull for offshore wind turbines has been right up my street.
Trying to envisage 100ft tall turbine towers being pieced together on Alexandra Dock before being shipped out into the North Sea makes all the will they?/won't they? debate seem worthwhile.
I remain in the glass half-full camp. With everything in place on the ground, it's surely now just a question of Siemens doing their sums and hopefully coming to the conclusion that all the important numbers add up.
Yesterday Nick Clegg officially opened the new Lincs Wind Farm in the Wash at the same time as the Government launched its new offshore wind strategy.
But I was more interested in events in Munich 24 hours earlier when Siemens not only published its third-quarter financial results but also announced a major shake-up in the boardroom that saw chief executive Peter Loscher resign and chief financial officer Joe Kaeser step into the CEO role.
The significance for Hull in all this was that Loscher was the man who signed the deal with the Government back in 2010, committing Siemens to building a new offshore wind turbine manufacturing facility in the UK. Twelve months later, the company chose Hull as its preferred location.
What fascinated me most was the coverage provided by Siemens through its website.
It meant I could watch Kaeser's press conference live and translated into English from the comfort of my Beverley Road pew while scrolling through his speech and running an eye over the company's latest financial figures.
True, the inevitable quirks of translation meant his speech appeared to be peppered with exclamation marks which made it look like a German comedy sketch at times.
A quick Google search on Kaeser also revealed the previous presence of a bushy moustache which is now sadly nowhere to be seen.
But the overriding impression was one of ultra-efficiency, perhaps not surprising from a company that describes itself as a "global powerhouse" on its own website.
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