My Blog is "The Songbird that Learnt to Sing"

WHY?

Why did I decide to write a book?

I never thought that I would do this, or even contemplate   doing this. This skill is not in my makeup or DNA. No one within my family circle has done so.

Is it because of my command of the English language is good ? No, I had  never dreamt of doing a thing like this as one must have a particular talent.

This urge for writing came through   in 2016, just after the British Referendum. On whether Remain/Leave.

However, the ‘Vote Leave’ win was a shock.

I had not had a vote in any national election since 1987, was not bothered, as I was not affected .

We, British, living in European were not given the right to vote even though the decision had a profound impact on us.

 I was extremely disappointed and upset, as my German wife and I had, prior to the referendum, decided to sell our house there, and move permanently to England. Our property was up for sale, and we had people who were extremely interested in buying it.

This was exactly the time of the 2016 Referendum. We immediately changed our minds and decided to stay in Germany on hearing the result.

The run-up to the Referendum had seen the politics in the Britain move to the right, and the level of anti-European feeling dramatically increased. Since Brexit, this anti-European feeling has taken over what was once a tolerant society.

My own family and some of my good friends voted to leave. This was extremely disturbing to me, and I was trying to find answers for this.

I started looking back through my life, and experiences I had, and was astonished to find that the only thing that mattered I had in common with my siblings, was that we had the same parents. With a number of my friends, we had all the years had not spoken a lot about politics, but mainly about family. This was also true with many people in England who I had previously regarded as good friends for many years.

Even though I had been living in Switzerland and then Germany, I was proud to be British. I had arrived in London on a cold, foggy day in February 1968 from Kenya, as part of the 'Asian Exodus'. All the values, hopes and aspirations, I developed in Britain. I had family there. Even when I left Britain to work in Geneva for eighteen months, which was only a temporary move, as I still had my house in London. I was then asked to work for some time in Germany. It was then my life took an unexpected change.

I met my wife, decided to stay there. We married and have subsequently lived in various parts of Germany.

Looking back at my colourful life, what I had done, where I had lived, that I had become very European, with entrenched in British values, of fair play, multicultural values.

This   sudden discovery prompted me to document my life’s passage and experiences in a book.

I have  a very British   sense of humour and wanted my audience to read the book as they saw fit, and not  in chronological  sequence. The book was to reflect my character, humour, and personality.

This however should not be a book, where one starts at page one and reads to the end…… (assuming that you are not bored with it).

 I want to engage with those who choose to read ‘The Songbird that Learnt to Sing’ in my own unique, Quirky style. Thanks to Boris Johnson and Brexit, I have added another ‘String’ to my Bow, writing!

The Answer to my earlier Question.

                            Why  did I decide to write a book?

                                I have a story to tell.

Getting a book out is a much more complex thing. I have discovered this. My life has seen many ups and downs, I have a lot to write about. I am seventy-two +, and so that I can tell you of my experiences. I will try to do it in stages. This was originally going to be my memoir. However, in the process of looking back at my life, I uncovered a number of skeletons in the cupboard which I was so shocked to find. When things happen, specially not very nice things, you often shrug your shoulder, and dismiss it. However, when you see what happened previously, and then after, you can join the dots, and this paints a totally different picture. This shocked me, and it took a lot of time for me to decide what to do with my writing. The Referendum took place in 2016, only a year ago 2023, did I have a change of plan. Memoirs are out! Instead, I decided to write a novel, which still had a lot of the story before, but enabled me to incorporate a lot of creativity. So the book was born.

I and my flock sing about many things, you will be surprised, I hope this touches on my culture, religion and the baggage both have brought. How I shed this, and the bitterness that I once had for 'Brexit', has gone as now I have discovered that writing has opened my creativity, made me open my eyes to other important social issues.

In conclusion, I thank 'Brexit', and the wiles of Boris Johnson, for giving me this new lease of life and discover a skill that I did not think I had, namely 'Writing'. I hope that I can throw off my 'L-plates', and get my singing done.

                                  The Songbirds they have learnt to sing 

However, in doing this exercise, I found a number of skeletons in the cupboard that I was not aware of before. This discovery frightened me. Some of the characters are still alive, and so to protect them, I used creative envelopes. This has also enabled be to include historical facts in an interesting way. I was able to widen the scope outside Kenya and Britain, to India and Goa and my culture. This has opened the door for me to attract a wider audience.

I hope that you are not disappointed with what I have to say.