A lot of well intentioned chaps of a certain age will dream of restoring the bike from their youth, learning Spanish, learning guitar or writing a book, I've done the Spanish and guitar bit, as a hopeless mechanic the only thing left is the book, I've written a book. Essentially about a village idiot, some truth, some lies, included anyway, light hearted fiction that may make you smile. Written in a local dialect, small thinking village life, a world that spans four miles radius from his mums house. It's a far bigger feat than I ever imagined, originally written as three short stories, now three chapters in the book, each chapter is a week in the bullshitters life, some light industrial language and the odd bike reference. It's called "Simon Island" now available on Amazon, paperback is £15.00 Kindle is £8.00 It may make a good stocking filler for the liar in your life.
Congratulations -or should I say felicidades- on learning the guitar and now you've written a book! Does this mean your garden is overgrown?
I have never been a keen gardener, grew some tomatoes this year. Still ride the bike, cycle a bit, go to watch football, got to keep the the grey matter going, little projects are the key.
There is so much help and advice on the interweb nowadays that anyone can restore a small bike. Its just a matter of step by step and if someone is there to help you with those steps then sooner or later you will get it right.
What work did you do before retirement ? I retired at 60 to build a house, I saved more than I would have earned so it made financial sense and I know everything is done properly. It’s nearing completion now, just the landscaping left to do next year. Then I’ll need to find some things to do. I have a Harley to tinker with and I’ll go fishing. I could not write a book though so hat off to you. I used to work with a Mike Willis at Virgin Direct in Norwich many moons ago.
Ive got one renovation left in me... (3 completed so far) - this time i wont be living in it though....
I admire anyone who can commit to and complete an endeavour like a book. I am buying it now as a motivator to get my YouTube channel out of the subscriber crater
That's not me. I was a builder for 50 years, I suppose the amount of Herberts I've worked with over the years gave me plenty of ammo for the book, a lot of them are in it. Well done on building your own place, I bought this house for my retirement, renovated it over the years, set up nicely.
Well here’s my garage just got the rendering and gutters to finish Yeah you meet plenty of characters on a building site Were you on the tools for 50years ? I did most of it myself with part time help from my Son In law, had trades for electrical, plastering, rendering and roof trusses ( they were 150 kilos each so needed a crane as well) and the LVT flooring downstairs 120m2.
Hi Mike, I feel your anguish. I retired at 62 after a lifetime in the industry and could have probably doubled the size of your book with some anecdotes. I converted a 1200 ft2 bungalow into a 3000ft2 house in 2007. Its been unbelievable to live in but we now have the predicament that whilst its worth a significant sum; its where we want to live and yet we couldn't find half the house for 3/4 of its value if we wanted to downsize. At the time of retiring things seem so clear but sooner or later the government will come after the benefit gained and you suddenly realise that it just wasn't worth it.
I think I covered all trades, did a fair bit of site management, some commercial, lots of big sites and interiors, started as a hod carrier in 1976, that was hot
Well Mike, you certainly came through it the hard way and all credit to you for your achievements, you should be very proud. I was a Quantity Surveyor who ventured into building and groundworks but married into a family of Brickies. My poor brother in law 79 whom I see every week is on end of life support with Pulmonary Fibrosis I guess, caused by years of ripping down ceilings, taking down asbestos and all the rest that went with labouring work in the sixties and 70's. He would never have hurt a single hair on any living being in his life but this is the hand he has been dealt. I'm sure this is not the correct forum for such a discussion but its important that people need to know how to live a little and not to worry too much about the future.
