Finding My Feet

This is my story.

As a young child in Germany from 1943-1945, in and out of bomb shelters, who doesn’t know any better since he has never experienced anything else.

As an unhappy adolescent in the 1950s, who doesn’t like his home and wants to join the French Foreign Legion.

And as a young man in April 1960, who is disillusioned about his present life and seeks a new future in another land.

It was to Australia that I came, with 1400 others, in an old ‘bucket’ built in 1930, called SS Castel Felice. Very happy, actually, as for the first time in my life I feel as free as a bird; can do my own thing in my own time.

You will read about my life above and about my trials and tribulations as a vagabond in Oz. The people I have met and worked with, everlasting friendships, and travels between the old and the new country until I meet the love of my life and settle in the far west of Sydney.

Free Radical

A fascinating account of life in a period of great social and political change. Gabrielle Walsh discusses her personal experiences of pursuing feminism and gay rights amidst the stigma and tradition of a patriarchal society. Traversing the period from the beginning of the 1950s until the present, it is the story of an activist who also honours those who contributed to the great social and political movements aimed at freeing our world. The discussion of sexual liberation and race relations are equally thought-provoking. The anecdotes and details of family life, set against the backdrop of pivotal historical events, provides an insight into the personal inherent in every political situation. This work shares a progressive political tradition with a cheeky storytelling genre found in Anglo-Irish literature. It is exuberant, lively and amusing. Written with warmth and compassion, this work provides a platform for important conversations still necessary for our society today.

From Fire to Ice

I stood on the rock, in Antarctica, wearing nothing but a swimming costume, goggles and a cap, ready to dive into the ice. The water was 0°C so was the air. I have never done this before, and I had no idea what the outcome will be. Will I panic? Cardiac reaction? Have I come all this way, trained and invested so much money to dive in and flop with fear or incompetence? It was time, I counted to three and dived in and started swimming. I was alive, more alive than I have ever been in my life. Stroking up and down the little channel we made in the frozen glacial lake. “I am swimming in Antarctica.” I smiled to myself while focusing on the extreme sensation in my fingers and toes. I was fine, more than fine, I was alive! I never expected life to turn out as it did. I am still looking forward wondering what will happen next. Growing up in a small Kibbutz by the Sea of Galilei, with the paradox of tranquil sea and farming life together with the constant shelling from neighbouring Syria and Jordan, straight into our fields, homes and life, was just normal. One minute you play in the field or swim in the sea and next minute you run for your life, heading towards the nearest bunker, hearing the deafening sound of explosions around you.

Life was never meant to be easy for me, I am an uncompromising stubborn and strong-minded person. I spot bullshit from a mile and I like things simple, clear and honest. Things never are. I don’t give up easily, I don’t get scared easily and I don’t stop when I believe I am right. Life for me was and probably still is, at 63 years old, a journey of unexpected extremes. Regrets, I have a few, we all do. Would I do it all over again the same? Certainly not, I am not stupid, and I hope I would learn from my mistakes. Yet, I wake up every day, looking forward, appreciating the sea, the wave, the smell, the sound and feeling of water on my skin.

Gas Meter Knees

“It wasn’t until I was 13 that I realised pressing 50 pence pieces into Plasticine sheets and filling the impressions with water, freezing overnight and quickly using the ice coins in the electric meter slots wasn’t normal behaviour.” From raiding the bins of London fashion labels, to being asked to bury dead bodies in a flyover, being beaten unconscious twice in one day, to regularly driving my inebriated maths teacher back to school for a fee, finding my boss dead in a mysterious suicide and dragging a teetering motorcyclist to safety on a busy A3 flyover to avoid certain death, the weekly war with the bailiffs doggedly trying to repossess my TV, and finally an attempt to emulate Evel Knievel by jumping a pickup truck in Wimbledon Stadium. I learned the hard way that nobody was going to save me except myself – all this before the age of 16. A real-life rags-to-relative-affluence story which takes us from humble SW17 origins to the bustling streets of Singapore and Tokyo. The story is as diverse and delightfully absurd as it gets. If I hadn’t lived every moment, I wouldn’t believe it either.

Grass Roots

Would you expect a suburban Melbourne solicitor to settle brothel brawls, to locate dead bodies and to search for buried bullion? The author relates all of these adventures and more as he explores engaging stories of humanity, gleaned from decades of legal practice. From courtroom characters to family feuding, the author highlights the true, yet untold stories that show a surprising side of legal practice, told with simplicity and colour. As William Shakespeare said, “An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.” Whilst the author draws on client experiences from the humorous to the harrowing, the stories are respectfully related reflections upon client battles at the grass roots.

How Cricket Saved My Life

An honest, often sad but humorous account of life inside a body that no longer does as it is told!

Ian Martin was a sports-loving youngster. When he realised he was more enthusiastic than talented enough to make a career out of playing sport he left home and joined the Royal Navy. This book tells the story of his experiences at sea onboard HMS Ark Royal, his service during the first Gulf War on HMS London and his subsequent medical discharge after being diagnosed with a neuro-muscular condition. Ian talks about the impact of the diagnosis, his deterioration and mental health battles and how cricket helped him transition into a wheelchair and to him finding himself, and a new career.

It’s a tale of rejection, dreams, discovery, determination, resilience and, ultimately, success via the floors of many hotel bathrooms and scrapes with airport security.

Hysterical Memories

Here is the story of a man’s life that has been riddled and ruffled with emotionally unstable personality disorder, a known mental illness. Despite spending a considerable part of his life at various rehabilitation facilities, Eugene’s life was largely marred with crazy-bound incidences. He was a convicted drug dealer with a history of violence. His case was so bad that he even attacked his dad with a claw hammer. He was everything you could think of when it came to drugs and crime. However, from the lowest depths of a mentally unstable man, Eugene rose to become one of UK’s finest chefs of all time.

I Do Not Want a Fish Finger Sandwich

Being shown the private convenience of the Queen of England in The House of Commons was not the career highlight that Viv had expected.  A dazzling profession as a Prima Ballerina had been her plan but having two legs of the same length and width would appear to be a pretty strong prerequisite for a successful livelihood in that arena, not to mention a couple of ballet lessons at least. 

What did happen along the way were a random selection of activities which were not anticipated either:

• Inter-store “It’s a Knockout” on Cable TV
• Jumping the queue at the Austria/Slovakian Border Control
• Attempted mugging in Bratislava
• A West Highland White disgrace on National TV
• Acquiring a temporary Iranian Bodyguard
• Drinking schnapps in an isolated house in Eskilstuna

LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE MAKING PLANS

Imperfect Recollections

Welcome to the fascinating world of general medical practice in Australia.

This book is a collection of stories from the author’s rich and varied career spanning over 40 years.

During that time, he has been a country GP, delivering babies and doing anaesthetics, a retrieval doctor with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, worked in the emergency departments of various hospitals and followed his passion of motor sport medicine, especially internationally in the fields of Formula 1 and World Rallying.

The stories are both funny and poignantly sad. They are told in the style that invites the reader to sit down, share a glass of something with the author and tell a few tales, like old friends.

Many of us see ourselves or people we know in these pages… You may be right or you may be wrong, but then that would be telling!

It's Hard to Be Good

Times were hard in the 1940s and early '50s: kids went hungry and food was rationed; some families had to beg, steal or borrow to survive. But Charlie found his own way out. On a routine basis, together with his childhood gang, they became kid grafters (bang into crime). They did what they had to do, providing food to put on their family's table amongst other things. 

In 1953, aged 13, Charlie and his gang were always bunking off school. He went on to make further progress with his life. With his baby face and dressed as an office boy in a blazer, shirt, and tie, he was darting in and out of buildings in the city centre of Liverpool, buildings which provided rich pickings as he raided their cash drawers and safes.

Charlie meets his mentor: an older woman, who was a professional in the business. She teaches him how to rob high-class jewellers of their expensive diamond rings: a well planned-out scene which is typical of the classic, highly rewarding cases of jewellery robberies of the time.

Here's what Charlie has to say about his younger self: 'In 1954 and at the age of fourteen, I was earning more money than a professional adult. I was the richest poor teenager in Liverpool.'

Love Beyond Love

This very personal and moving love story takes us from the anticipation of the very first date through to the moment of the very last breath. It encompasses sheer joy, romance, fortitude and sadness. But love and memories live on forever because this is a Love Beyond Love. – Jan Smith (a friend)

Memoirs of a Failure

Tormented by an impoverished childhood, plagued by incessant bullying, and damaged by an abusive and violent relationship. Homelessness and broke, following failure after, failure, how does someone find the strength to keep coming back?