Where's Me Teeth

From the mystery of the missing teeth to the urine sample for a goldfish. From the hapless gardener who mows through a power cable, to the debate over fresh or frozen ice to be used in a drink. Why can’t you send an octopus through the post, yet you can take your parrot for a walk?

The frustration caused by the jobsworths of this world and automatic/robotic telephone answering machines.

A humorous and tongue-in-cheek observation of daily life and society. You could not make this up. Life is really stranger and funnier than fiction.

Beef Cubes And Burdock

The rural landscape of John Phillpott’s boyhood has changed irrevocably over the last half-century.The elm – that celebrated ‘Warwickshire Weed’ of folklore – has been lost to disease, urban sprawl continues apace and motorways now disturb the tranquillity of fields that once knew only the sound of cattle, birdsong and the rumble of the farmer’s tractor.But paradise lost? Not quite, because the river flows on through the valley as it has done for millennia, the rook ‘parliaments’ can still be seen high overhead and the bells of the church that has stood on the hill looking out over the Swift Valley for a thousand years still call out to the faithful.Beef Cubes and Burdock is an affectionate glance over the shoulder back to a time when the pace of life was still dictated by the rhythm of the seasons rather than the touch of a computer keyboard.

Go for It - My Journey

It was at dessert time when I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew older. Still today, I do remember my answer, “An engineer, because with my Meccano set, I can build so many things.”In Go for It, Dominick Dehette recalls the heady days of the 1980s and early 1990s, when his work as an engineering consultant took him to southern Africa, China and all over Asia at especially interesting political times.Dehette’s account combines an engaged eye for detail with the more-philosophical viewpoint of the seasoned traveller.

Nationality: Medicine

'Medicine transcends all barriers; it knows no frontiers, it respects all credos and, most importantly, it treats all human beings as equals. Despite the tremendous socio-economic inequalities that I encountered and experienced in each one of the four countries where I’ve lived and practised medicine (Peru, United States, Spain and the UK), I’ve always been proud to find that the Hippocratic Oath is unwavering and equally applied to all citizens. My identity never came from having a certain nationality, speaking a specific language or even from my family genealogy. It came (and still does) from the set of values that the medical profession professes and that I, as a doctor, hold close to my heart. These values are the building blocks of society; without them, everything else crumbles. My “nationality” is medicine and my allegiance is to the human race. The lives and the clinical cases in this book are all real and they tell the story of how the Hippocratic Oath prevails even in the most challenging conditions. They remind us that no matter how much adversity lies before us (poverty, socio-economic instability, lack of resources, etc.), with sufficient effort, creativity and perseverance, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. After all, altruism – the bedrock of medicine – is free of charge, independent of location and always available for anyone who’s willing to use it.'
Dr Carlo Canepa

Of Ships and Shoes and Scotland

The author is a Scot from the small (two shop) village of Whins of Milton, two miles south of the Royal Burgh of Stirling. He has always loved the sea and ships, and was master of the first Australian flag anchor handler, operating in offshore oilfields around Australia.

The book covers a wheen o’ topics – growing up in the Whins, then living in Australia, to which he emigrated in 1968 with his wife and family, to his wanderings in the countries of the Pacific Basin. Later, it also makes some comments on Australians, their character and contentment (and pride) as to who they are as a race of people, living under the Southern Cross.

Ships and the sea are never far away. Also part of this story is the Greek Tragedy of the demise of Alfred Holt, the author having been indentured to that heroic and exemplary Liverpool company as a deck apprentice in 1957. The note, Welcome to Country, says it all as to his worldview of Australians, an attitude almost Caledonian in its sense of directness and curiosity, particularly regarding the workings of the vast world which is all around us.

Recollections

I was born a girl and to my parents, it only meant one thing; I would be a servant to my siblings, husband, dad, in-laws and any other person who crossed my path in life. The happiness of my husband, children, family and extended family was important. I would be a cook, housemaid, sexual object to my husband, a mother, a nurse and all the commitments that come from being a servant wife.

Learning respect and obeying was why I was sent to a convent for my schooling. My brothers were more important than me and when the time came I was prevented from becoming a teacher because I was a girl and that would not be my role in life. I was made to believe that my happiness was not important, only the happiness of others. My mum had been my role model and I firmly believed all that rubbish until my husband died. I was finally out of the cage and into a future of freedom and possibilities. To be able to learn who I was and what I liked. Finally, I was able to think of myself.

My life from the age of two has been a huge rollercoaster and one that I never got the chance to get off until I was 64. I have kept a lot of my experiences to myself as I believed them to be my fault. I yearned for someone to love me and not abuse me and to be my friend and my confidant. The only unconditional love I ever got was from my two boys (my dogs Max and Sam) who left me when they were 16. I cherish and feel blessed by my two wonderful children’s love but it’s not the same.

Scallywag – My Duvet Diva

Scallywag – My Duvet Diva is a true story about a man trying to rebuild his life, and a dog in need of a second chance.

It tells of their adventures together ashore and aboard their canal boat “Bluebell”, of their developing relationship and of their deepening companionship.

Atmospheric, funny, and sometimes sad, it will make you both laugh and cry.

Keep the tissues handy!

Taxi to Broadway

“Hey, did anyone tell you look like James Dean!”

It happened once in a while. I had just lit a cigarette… (can’t resist the slice of ham). Drawing into myself; playing the dead actor behind the wheel, cigarette dangling loosely from my pouting lips; angry at life… scowling at the world!

Christy Jones was no James Dean, but he could proudly tell people in his taxi that he was an actor nonetheless. And driving wasn’t the only time he could play a character.

The author of this memoir found a passion for acting and made it to Stella Adler’s Academy for Theater in the early ’60s. But to make a decent living he drove a taxi across New York for six years. Christy never had an accident, though he had plenty of narrow escapes during his six years of driving. He preferred driving at night, so he could make the rounds of agents and producers during the day. But the streets can be treacherous... and dangerous. A cab only lasts a couple of years on New York City streets. After a long time spent dropping people off at their destinations, he finally arrived at his own: Broadway.

Taxi to Broadway is a story of fleeting conversations and adventurous nocturnal driving, but in the end, it is what all great stories should be – a tale about following your passions.

The Gift

Sixteen-year-old Anne faces radical change in her life after a supernatural encounter. When an unusual person makes an unexpected visit, Anne finds she is linked to a decision that was made three hundred years earlier, and her peaceful and predictable life is shaken. She must respond to a complicated request that challenges her own sense of morality and integrity. Anne seeks out help from a local seer and healer who reveals secrets about her birth and her destiny. But will this guidance be enough to help Anne see through the deceptions and traps that have been set for her by nefarious forces?

Behind the pastoral loveliness of the Vermont hills, Anne experiences an invisible world, populated by both good and evil presences who vie for her very soul. A special gift has been given to Anne, but her use of this gift can bring either joy to others or be a curse to all.

The Tale of a Hip

The Tale of a Hip is an account of the author’s 80-year life to date, through a period of huge social change, during which, technology has taken over from nature. It is the story of true love lasting six decades, despite the fact that physical aspects of the relationship were less good than they might have been, due to an unsuspected structural problem that only came to light when Pamela and her husband, John, took up dancing in their 40s.

The mystery of Pamela’s shifting bones is unravelled piece by piece, from art-influenced early years in Yorkshire, through the excitement and romance of working in a burgeoning post-war London, to marriage and, later, to obsession with dancing, resulting in back and hip issues for many years.

Through Withered Weeds Flowers Bloom

There is a lot I still don’t know about life or about what the future might bring but I do know who I am and how to incorporate life being more about where we choose to go and not just about where we come from. I believe you can throw out the script we get handed during childhood and make different choices whilst implementing determination and positive affirmation. I have used my faith to demonstrate where I found my strength, this can be applied to any type of belief system someone may have. I hope this book can be an inspiration regardless of who you are or where you are in your own life journey and to encourage that it is not where you start but where you finish that really counts. As a result, I accept the idea that through withered weeds it is truly possible for flowers to bloom.

What Now

What Now is written to assist people through times of change. It’s particularly relevant in these very trying times of COVID-19. It is not a how-to manual; it’s an entertaining and humbling account of how one person discovered the most powerful transformation force of all! How he recreated himself after being unceremoniously sacked from the job he had dreamed about as a teenager.

What Now tells the story of how a barefoot and frightened little boy from the remote bush of Australia went on to play State of Origin for Queensland, represent Australia and achieve his dream of being a Head Coach, leading the London Broncos alongside Sir Richard Branson onto the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium. After tragically losing his father at the tender age of three, he unconsciously sought out older people as role models.

In his story, Dan Stains reflects on his quest in search of the most powerful transformational force available. The lessons he uncovered on this journey lead the reader on a path to reveal their own What Now. The rollercoaster ride takes the reader on a sometimes uneasy and humbling path. From the foothills of East Cooyar, to the raucous applause of screaming fans at the best football stadiums in the world, Dan discovers that the ‘open sesame’ to change is by simply loving all of life, including and especially yourself, and the rest is taken care of.