Missionaries, Mercenaries and Madmen

“We’ll have to leave. This country has had it.” My husband made the decision and I followed along feeling like my heart was being ripped from my chest. Robert Mugabe switched the trigger that changed our lives. He announced that University in Zimbabwe would be for black people only. We were white Africans and so needed to find a place where our children would have educational options. Australia was the obvious choice. This memoir takes the reader on a journey to places most Australians have no idea exists in their own country. The isolated, remote locations where Aboriginal people live, not as their ancestors had done but propped up by government welfare. Wild places where hunting and gathering had become recreational rather than a way of life and where western culture, knowledge and values were imposed on ancient knowledge and ways of being. The confused, bastardised culture emerging felt like stepping into hell. The dregs of white society had gravitated north; economic refugees, criminals, drunks and druggies and God botherers all trying to survive in a melee of heat, dust, flies, mosquitoes, and topical downpours. We were not welcomed. This is where my story began.

Pepi and I

Does freshly deceased rat taste better than frozen steak?

Can dogs weed a flowerbed?

Does the Universe provide free birthday cakes in a park?

As soon as Jitka and her fiancé buy a house, it’s time for Jitka to fulfil her long-time dream: to have a faithful, cute, furry friend, capable of true, unconditional love.

 
The new addition to their family is strong-willed, with a clear focus on his own wants. He displays daily his obvious love of all the things the world so generously provides for him, especially if it tastes good, or at least is not completely inedible.  

Not aware yet that a dramatic turn of events is just around the corner, Jitka and her fiancé are enjoying life with the many surprising and frequently comical situations that Pepi drags them into. As life, so often unpredictable, can change laughter into tears, joy into fear and vice-versa, Jitka’s secure world is turned upside down and she is hurtling down the roller coaster with Pepi by her side. Will they make it?

 
These are life lessons – powerful, maybe, but always entertaining.

Teaching in Fuzhou, China

English is the world’s international language. Consequently, many speakers of other languages have taken great pains to make English their second language, mainly for practical reasons rather than for love of the language itself. Practical reasons include travel, business, academic intercourse and inter-governmental communication. China recognises this need and, in consequence, the author spent more than ten years in China, finding the experience interesting, enlightening and exciting, albeit at times frustrating. It was a wonderful time. In the author’s view, it is essential that the world comes to know and understand this huge empire. This book is full of observations from within the country, which should help in presenting China, its people, customs, educational systems and way of life, its contradictions and its attractions as well as its darker side. Most importantly, it gives some insight into how the people think – and this is important. Hopefully readers learn something while enjoying the experience.

The Expert Within

The human mind and how it works, what it thinks and perhaps more importantly, why it thinks what it thinks, is a subject that has fascinated humans from time immemorial. The first scholar to tackle this subject was Aristotle, but he was certainly not the first to wonder and ponder the mysteries of human perception, comprehension and interpretation. Since then psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers and even novelists, poets and artists have tried in their own inimitable way to penetrate and reveal that most fascinating of all mysteries – the workings of the human mind.

This book is the story of a human mind ... not the human mind ... as all authentic stories of the ‘human mind’ must be. This book tells the story of the author’s mind; the only mind of which she can truthfully speak in spite of the fact that she has qualifications in Psychology, Philosophy (Theology) and Journalism. For all that, the qualification upon which she relies most is that of human experience – life and living. In adolescence her mind declined into insanity, lingered there for some years, then painfully and insightfully regained its place in the world of sanity ... only to go on and penetrate the world of formal, academic, or professional (whatever you wish to call it) education/understanding.

This book was not written for the edification of those called mental health professionals. It was written to share wisdom and understanding with the ordinary, everyday lay minds of those who care too much to embrace or be embraced by the word ‘professional’.

They Call Me Jake

In this captivating memoir, Jakob, a Welsh-born Australian, takes readers on a remarkable journey that begins with a troubled youth and a life-changing decision. After running into legal trouble as a teenager, his family sends him off to sea on Scandinavian ships, where Jakob finds himself working out of Brooklyn, New York, joining ships engaged in global trade. It’s the era of rock and roll, with an atmosphere of freedom, free-spiritedness, and indulgence. However, tired of the endless partying and constant financial struggle, Jakob sets his sights on a new path.

He travels to England, enrolls in a navigational school, and earns his license as a ship’s deck officer. But his thirst for adventure and reinvention leads him to an unexpected destination - Israel. Jakob’s love for the kibbutz lifestyle and a young woman on the kibbutz captures his heart. However, as war disrupts the region, their relationship crumbles, and Jakob finds solace in a hippie commune on the sunny shores of Eilat. Through ups and downs, Jakob’s journey takes him across continents, from the Canadian Arctic to Thailand and beyond. His tale is one of resilience, self-discovery, and the pursuit of a meaningful life amidst the challenges and uncertainties of a rapidly changing world.

The British in Italy

The British in Italy is a fascinating exploration of the enduring relationship between the English and Italians, dating back to the times of Shakespeare, Leghorn, The Grand Tour, Florence, and Venice, up to the cataclysmic events of World War II. The author draws parallels between Victorian England’s progress and the Italian Renaissance, particularly the British presence in Italy during the 19th century.

In a unique approach, the author embarks on a journey through Italy, beginning in the Alps and continuing on foot and by bicycle from Monviso to Trieste, then down to Sicily. Along the way, he rediscovers the forgotten Anglo-Saxon characters who played a significant role in shaping Italy’s cultural, artistic, and scientific landscape, such as the true Count of Montecristo, textile industrialists, inventors, painters, archaeologists, botanists, and travelers.

Their stories are intertwined with the author’s encounters, memories, lost friends, legends, and conversations, providing a rich tapestry of Italy’s diverse history and culture. The book is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and insight, revealing Italy's layers of history and culture from a unique Anglo-Saxon perspective. As Doctor Johnson aptly said, “A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see.” This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to discover the true heart of Italy and the enduring bond between the English and Italians.

When the Knives Rattle in the Drawer

Ryan Tanner is an average family man battling alcohol and the demons from his childhood, while struggling as a husband and a father. Drowning in a life that often makes no sense, he turns to an insightful, no-nonsense psychologist as a last resort to try and save his volatile, but altogether beautiful marriage with his beloved wife Tess. Surrounded by Ryan’s drinking, memories of their traumatic childhoods and the gut-wrenching lows of married life, When the Knives Rattle in the Drawer is a cathartic recount about understanding the damage that life can cause and searching for the strength to be the best partner and parent possible.

Set in two different worlds, the story evolves between the couple’s small-town family life and wild, alcohol fuelled nights in the inner suburbs of Sydney. After meeting at 17 years old, they have been married for 23 years and play a simple game: 20 questions, ask anything you want. They explore every aspect of trust, love, fidelity and desire before they go to the club. A club where they enter a world of primal sexual energy, a world where wild things happen.

An Essential Ally

Why was the ABDA Command created to defend Java? Were the losses of people and planes justified?Why were the United States’ largesse, leadership and luck alone not enough to win the war against Japan?Where and when was this war won and how did luck make this possible?What was it like living in Australia during the war against Japan?These and many other previously unanswered questions are all answered in An Essential Ally.

Burberry Days

At the end of the 1950s the 100-year-old clothing firm Burberry was a troubled company with an uncertain future, whose new owners did not know what to do with it once they had secured it.Brian Kitson joined Burberry in 1958 expecting a temporary summer job and stayed for over twenty years. His research into the company's distinguished past, encouraged by the last Mr Burberry, began to suggest a possible direction for regeneration...Written with great verve and wit, Burberry Days tells of the author's unexpected adventures as an international travelling Burberry salesman throughout the 1960s and '70s, as well as exploring the origins of the company's emblematic trench coat and the familiar house check.The book also offers some controversial reasons why Britain, with so much to offer - from the Savile Row suit, the Jermyn Street shirt and Scottish cashmere to workforce skills and great design talent - can still only count Burberry in the premier league of international fashion houses.

Did I Wake You, Pet?

Her back hurt, her head hurt, her legs ached, her lips were split and bleeding, her nose felt numb and she could feel her cheek swelling up under her eye. He still had his arm around her shoulders. She was sobbing quietly, and as she took each step, she wished that the police would come running up the stairs behind them and that she would be safe. But there was silence. No one was standing in the stairs, just the silence after the chaos.After this last, worst beating, she managed to seek help from her employers, who transferred her to another branch of the bank 400 miles away. Changing her name, she moved her address to step away from the horror of ten years of abuse and find a chance to start again"”a chance to change her life without going back. This is a story of hope for victims of abuse everywhere.

Kommunalka Child

Nine months after she was conceived as a way to contribute to population growth, just like every other Soviet kid, Kommunalka Child was harvested from a cabbage patch. She was brought up in a bilingual family in a communal apartment in Riga. As she was searching for a place in the world, the Soviet way of life slowly collapsed in the face of Western luxuries.Kommunalka Child takes its time-travellers onboard and triggers the reader’s personal memories and senses of smell, taste and touch. The cinematic storytelling in these funny, touching, embarrassing and absurd illustrated micro-memoirs reveals what life was like in the last decade of the Soviet Union, all through the eyes of a Latvian child.

Who Cares Who Wins

Adventures start at some point!The author was born just after the end of World War Two.He used to leave home at 4am at eight years of age on the horse and carts and in the evenings would go chimney sweeping.When he was older he spent a few years in the military. Multiple migrations, including the ‘Ten Pound Poms’ program then followed.After this came over 30 years of global ‘itchy foot syndrome’ full of exciting ever-changing lifestyles ranging from: rich, skint, happy, and sad.In the following 30 years, there came numerous diagnoses: anxiety, depression, Parkinson’s, mental health issues, strokes, various dementia and divorce.Then along came Mike’s saviours: grandchildren, hiding and losing his disabilities within their love and warm hugs.Every day’s an adventure.