I'm from Liverpool, UK. I turned down a place at university to become a programmer as I was sick of formal education, preferring instead to teach myself. It's a choice I regret in some ways but the past few years since leaving college have been fun, working as a programmer.
There's a growing startup scene in the UK. You may have to travel as far as Edinburgh or London, but go to enough events and you should run into plenty of people with the same kinds of passions. Add to that looking in places where people share your subject passion, and I'm sure you'll find someone. It's all about hustling.
There certainly is and I have become move involved with it, especially in recent months. Still finding it tricky to locate someone however and most people I have met have been quite considerably older than me. You're right though - it may be time to start looking outside of my local area, however it would be nice to find someone who I could meet regularly to hack at ideas with.
