Red Blake was born and raised in Cornwall, a small parish following Methodist doctrine and morality, he was often called to play the pipe organ at a local chapel, he loved all the music and architecture but had concerns about its philosophy and teachings—then one evening, he had an epiphany, and in less than five minutes, recognised he was an atheist and probably, still is.

After dismantling and restructuring his thoughts, when not at school, he would surf, watch local aircraft, fitness train, observe how people reveal themselves, and make many, many notes. Red couldn’t wait to leave home. At 18 he moved away and went to flying training college, to get his commercial pilot’s licence and joined an established airline. Upgrading his licence he became a training captain, eventually qualifying as an examiner.

This book has been nascent long before the author was aware, or prepared for it, youth of the fifties were often left to ‘pull themselves together’ without advice or support since society had no idea what was happening to old values and beliefs. Although London was the epicentre of change, small coastal towns became esoteric centres of reality for artists, hippies and those comfortable living on the fringe.

St Ives was like this. The author enjoyed a surreal and abstract association in this company getting involved and started making notes on behaviour and circumstance, some physically charged, others quite benign, but intangible.

At flying college, life became more linear and authoritative, but later in the airline, personal situations and relationships that often developed needed a wide spectrum of solutions.

This collection of poems is not about one particular genre, per se, but written over fifty years encompassing many things, romance, humour, the eclectic, and other stuff!

Red is married and has two children, both in their late thirties. He’s retired from commercial flying, but delights in all types of aircraft and is still always making notes and writing.