In 1964 my father, a naval officer and aeronautical engineer, made me the wooden crane pictured below.
If he thought I was destined for a career in demolition, or crane hire, or any other construction discipline, he was wrong - sort of.
As it happened, I grew up, put away childish things and forgot all about “David Taylor (Demolitions) Ltd”. At university I studied English and Music, not civil engineering or construction management. I wanted to work in journalism, not construction.
But then in 1986, I landed a job as editorial assistant on a magazine called Cranes Today. By then, I had all but forgotten my own wooden crane, now gathering dust in my parents' attic.
Another 12 or more years went by before I saw the crane again - retrieved from the attic and dusted off for my own son. That was when my father added the “& Son” to David Taylor (Demolitions) Ltd.
Cranes became a recurring theme throughout my career. I left Cranes Today in 1990 to work on Construction News, where I became features editor.
It's easy to become pigeon-holed in journalism and even when I went freelance in 2000 a lot of my work involved construction, infrastructure or engineering.
Attempts to diversify found me writing for publications as varied as Utility Week, Motor Boat & Yachting and the Daily Telegraph. But in 2013 I was asked to write a feature for a new construction title, The Construction Index, and shortly after that I was invited to edit it.
If the world of construction journalism is small, that of crane journalism is miniscule and we tend to cluster together. My long-standing colleague Phil Bishop, erstwhile editor of TCI's daily online news service and my sparring partner on the Re:Construction podcast, started out as news editor at New Civil Engineer. But he went on to edit Cranes Today.
One-time TCI contributing editor Emma Crates had previously done a stint as features editor at my old paper, Construction News. But before that, she cut her journalistic teeth at International Cranes (an upstart rival to Cranes Today).
Emma left journalism to work with the government's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and now leads on ethical practice for materials manufacturer Marshalls.
And in March this year, after more than three decades in construction journalism, Phil retired. I shall follow suit as soon as this issue of the magazine goes to press.
But I know I leave the magazine in good editorial hands because my replacement, Will North, is already doing sterling work as Phil's successor, editing TCI's online news.
And Will could not be more qualified to edit the magazine: because he too has served his time as editor of Cranes Today.