Retirement Memoirs

The stories in this book are all true. Its author has been held up at gunpoint at night on a road in Guatemala and shot with a machine gun in the chest and shoulder in Vietnam. He's come close to dying of thirst in the Sahara and freezing to death in the Himalayas. He's contracted malaria and typhoid fever in Ethiopia and hepatitis in India. There have been accidents involving motorcycles and automobiles. He's had close calls involving lions (twice), elephants (three times) and a rhino (once).

WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, MANY OTHERS OPEN. In her memoir RETIREMENT IS FUN, which is a sequel to My Life as a Banker - A Life Worth Living, Brenda describes her many wonderful experiences at the end of her banking career. Reluctant to move on from banking, she amazes herself when she turned down an offer to work in a higher position at another bank. She chose Insurance instead, and for her, it turned out to be the better choice. She excelled and qualified for the Premium Association for Financial Professionals [MDRT] six times in a row and her travels around the world skyrocketed. Within the ...

STAYING PUT is an account of one Englishman’s battle to secure his future in Spain. Jack Birtwell, a sprightly sixty-year-old from Accrington, Lancashire, is due to retire in 2019 and hopes that his poor pension prospects won’t force him to sell his beloved house in Spain and return to England to live out his days. When Brian, his friend and employer, is forced to lay him off from his part-time building job his dilemma becomes even more acute. After racking his brains and those of his closest friends for money-making ideas, he thinks he has come up with a solution. It will put paid to ...

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BOUGHT is a light-hearted, informative account of a Scotsman’s relocation to the Spanish hinterland. When Jack Waldie and his wife Nicola buy a house in rural Spain they intend to start a new life there, away from the hustle and bustle of Glasgow, but when things go awry between them Jack chooses to keep the spacious old place and moves there to write his crime novels in peace. In the small village in an area known as Spanish Lapland, due to its ever decreasing population, Jack befriends key local people who refuse to allow their birthplace to die. When he’s ...

ESCAPE TO EXTREMADURA is the candid, entertaining account of a middle-aged Lancastrian’s move to a small town in one of the least populated areas of Spain. After fate brings Brian and Mónica together in a café in Clitheroe, love blossoms and they begin to make plans for the future. His hasty retirement from a long career at a Lancaster furniture company precedes their flight to Llerena, Mónica’s home town, where her pious mother and unruly father await them expectantly. Don Andrés, the ailing patriarch of their ever-expanding family, welcomes the Englishman with open arms, while ...

AMAZED BY SPAIN is a light-hearted account of two couples’ unexpected relocation to inland Alicante. Before sisters Sue and Linda inherit a village house in the hills they have little interest in Spain, but on travelling out to see their new possession they begin to warm to the idea of spending time there with their husbands Paul and Bill. After an enjoyable summer holiday the prospect of living in the village becomes irresistible and this book describes their transition from visitors to residents and the diverse selection of people they meet along the way. This amusing and informative ...

SPIKE IN SPAIN is the light-hearted story of a peculiar Lancastrian’s relocation to a small town at the foot of the Alicante mountains. An obsessive cyclist and the bane of his long-suffering wife’s life, Spike finds himself booted out of the family home and consigned to a grotty terraced house in Colne. Believing, incorrectly, that an old clubmate has invited him to stay at his Spanish retreat, a spell of lateral thinking by the cycling club president, Pete, leads to Spike’s flight to his old pal Mike’s house instead. As the charitable Mike has already rescued three donkeys and a ...

When Janet and Colin Paddison move into their dream home in the countryside inland from Valencia they hope to enjoy a tranquil retirement, especially Colin, an ex-librarian whose desire for peace and quiet has been a lifelong obsession. A boarded-up bar in a nearby hamlet has been closed for years, but when Miguelito the builder sets about restoring the place Colin begins to fear the worst. SEEKING SERENITY IN SPAIN is Janet’s humorous and somewhat fanciful account of her husband’s tireless campaign to hinder the new owners’ efforts to shatter their rural idyll. Colin begins by ...

AN INNOCENT IN SPAIN is the light-hearted account of an unlikely expat’s first months in his new country. Ian Smith might not be the first tubby, middle-aged Englishman to arrive in a small Spanish town, but he’s certainly one of the poorest and most naive. Luckily for him, long-time resident Graham Baker is on hand to help him settle in and somehow survive on his meagre savings. After an initial, potentially calamitous blunder Ian appears to rally, but it’s only a matter of time before he finds himself in dire straits once again. Will he have to return to Lancashire, more penniless ...

*All three books in the series are now available in an omnibus edition under the title THREE MEN IN SPAIN* IT’S NOT ABOUT THE VAN is Harry Storrar’s account of a year spent making multiple trips around Spain with his Belgian wife Laura in their curious camper van, Bambi. After his friend Jeremy described Bambi’s initial north to south journey in THREE MEN IN A VAN, and Geoff followed it up with the extremely imaginative story of his solo adventures in ONE MAN IN A VAN, Laura thought it only right that Harry should complete the cycle by writing a book of his own, with her inestimable ...

LIVES ON THE DOLE: THREE DIVERGENT TALES OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN BRITAIN consists of the following three stories: 1 – LIFE ON THE DOLE by FILIUS THOREAU: Filius Thoreau, arch-benefit fraudster and jaunty raconteur, celebrates the silver anniversary of his induction into the world of the workshy with his candid, but not too candid, autobiography in which he celebrates the unique and sinuous path he has steered through the minefield of work-obsessed modern Britain. From the dark days of the Poll Tax through the laissez-faire nineties to the ghastly government work schemes of the new millennium, ...

CLIVE AND KEN, REMOVAL MEN is a humorous and touching tale about two friends who are reunited in Spain after over thirty years apart. Ken Bradshaw and Clive Ogden, alias Oglethorpe, were two teenagers in Ramsbottom when Clive was whisked off to prison, wrongly accused of pinching old Mrs Sutcliffe’s jewellery. Thirty-odd years later, Clive, now an art and antiques dealer, feels a burning desire to give his old mate a call, not least because he believes Ken to be the owner of a flourishing van rental business. Clive invites his long-lost pal to fly over to visit him in Spain, a meeting ...

LIVING NEXT DOOR TO ALEC is a light-hearted account of the growing friendship between two neighbours in Lancashire. When fifty-something accountant Adrian Lane moves into an end cottage on the outskirts of Burnley, he’s hoping to live quietly and continue to rebuild his life after separating from his wife. He didn’t bargain for a neighbour like Alec, a widower and retired plumber whose behaviour is decidedly odd. After a rather disturbing initial meeting they gradually become friends and Adrian finds himself being drawn way out of his comfort zone by the older man, whose philosophy is ...

STEADY ON, GEORGE! is the stirring and humorous account of the adventures of two mature men in Spain. Five months after his friend George becomes a widower, 76-year-old Mel Taylor finally gets his new knee into gear and flies out to visit him in Denia. Intending to stay for a couple of weeks, George soon whisks him off on a trip whose consequences threaten to turn his quiet life by the English seaside upside down. Despite the misgivings of his protective daughter Beth, Mel soon finds George’s desire for change and renewal so contagious that previously unthinkable ideas begin to seem quite...

Through her engaging memoir, author Margaret Herle shares a pioneering tale of life on the road. After deciding to retire in a home on wheels, Herle and her husband satisfied their cravings for travels (and being warm in winters!) on their own terms, exploring every province in Canada, most of the US, and the entire length of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. From tourist destinations to unexpected offbeat spots, they found more adventure than they imagined in their converted bus, the Dragonfly.

This book is a memoir about life with a four-legged friend, and a lamentation for her premature passing. It is a tale of interlocking dramas: a dog owner’s devotion, but rooted in foolish denial; a scientific objectivity, but under attack by nagging grief; a recognition that a wonderful friend is now “at peace,” but angered by the glib way in which that very word is used; grateful for a great canine’s gifts—Christmas every day—but stunned by their fragility against the sudden ravages of time; certain that no mere dog’s death can be a tragedy but unable to shake the feeling ...

A Day Like Today charts John’s journey from the poverty of his post-war childhood in Cardiff, leaving school at 15, to the summits of broadcasting. Humphrys was the BBC’s youngest foreign correspondent, the first reporter at the catastrophe of Aberfan, an experience that marked him for ever; he was in the White House when Richard Nixon became the first American president to resign, in South Africa during the dying years of apartheid, and in war zones around the globe throughout his career. John was also the first journalist to present the Nine O’Clock News on television.

There’s life...and then...there’s life after retirement. And for this retired guy, that means it’s all about his dogs, garage, and cabin in the woods. Welcome to the first essay collection by debut author Everett Kunzelman, the inaugural book in his series - featuring humorous essays on life after retirement.

In "Beyond the Chalkboard," embark on a poignant journey with Miss Thompson, a dedicated educator retiring after forty years of teaching sixth graders in the same school. As she navigates the bittersweet transition from the classroom to retirement, She Thompson reflects on a lifetime of memories, lessons, and connections forged within the walls of her beloved school and childhood home. From heartfelt farewells to her final class and heartwarming reunions with former students to the restoration of her family's centennial home, each chapter offers a glimpse into the rich tapestry of Miss ...

Sewists, you deserve a good laugh. Beth is a former president of her local sewing guild and loves to sew. Rich has a lot of time on his hands after retiring early. Follow the humorous antics of these two as they adjust to his new found freedom. He wants to micromanage her days, and she just wants to sew! You’ll relate to their back and forth and chuckle at the anecdotes within. The only problem being how to put it down to get something else done, or finish work on a sewing project.