Keith Wright

Who am I? A good question for which there are many answers and with those answers many more questions.

Working in the West End of London in the 1970s was an eye opening experience. I found myself dining at the Playboy or Penthouse club, rubbing shoulders with The Beatles or The Rolling Stones in the first ever Hard Rock Café. The advent of the mini skirt and the excitement of the Kings Road and Carnaby Street left much to tempt a young working lad from his given tasks.

A transfer to Croydon was not so exciting but a further move to Jersey in the Channel Islands was an interesting experience. During my time there the laws and practices were that of 1950s UK, with hanging still a punishment for murder. No social services benefit existed as a right and any destitute resident had to ‘go before the parish’ and plead poverty. He was named in the local paper and if seen wasting his charitable benefits on drink for example he could lose everything. On the opposite side of the coin rubbing shoulders with multi-millionaires revealed many aspects of wealth of which I was not aware.

A move to Birmingham a capital of the Midlands showed a totally different character and tradition of the people of whose accents made it somewhat difficult for me to follow but a trip to ‘the black country’ revealed a language that was totally alien to me.

A long resting place further South in a small village in Devon contrasted the industrial midlands with the agricultural south, persuading me once again to learn a totally different accent and way of life.

a property in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands provides an excellent backdrop for the observation of different people and the development of ideas.

It is through this that I allow my strands of thought to weave their way through the threads of words to the tapestry of a book, often assisted by the odd glass of wine.