Financially we were afloat and we lived in a perfectly decent house until my wife came up with the zany idea of living on a boat. I'd just got home from work, via the pub, when Jan asked me to watch a video while she prepared our frugal meal. I watched a pair of old fogies trundling along a canal in the rain on a narrowboat. You can imagine my reply when she asked if I fancied emulating the sodden wrinklies and taking to the water. She's a lady of vision and determination (she married me after all) but this was elevating madness to a whole new level. Jan's oncologist had her a few years previously that she probably wouldn't see the new millennium, so she had a different perspective about the future than many people. Despite lots of huffing and head-shaking, twelve months later we had sold a perfectly respectable house, given up a job that kept us in cornflakes and moved onto a metal hole less than a tenth the size of our house – excluding garden. It was the 4th July 2003 – independence day.We knew nothing about narrowboats – their workings, waterways lore and how we would cope being cooped up together – particularly when it's minus five and the nearest shop is miles away. We had a mountain to climb – which you can only do by using locks, and we'd never done a lock. A more accurate analogy is shooting the rapids because our venture took on a life of it's own and we were washed down stream on a tide of enthusiasm and ignorance. We had to make it work or the people who had laughed and scoffed would be proved right – we really were mad. Well, make it work we did, and we're still boating twelve years on. It's marvellous and it possibly saved Jan's life.

    Chris tells the remarkable story of the magazine, from the tatty rag produced in his Newcastle bedroom to becoming one of the bestselling magazines in the UK.Chris was the creator of many of the characters and was responsible for all the magazine’s written content. Characters from the magazine, such as Sid the Sexist and the Fat Slags, are now household names.This is an engaging tale told in Chris’s unique, wry way. Chris takes us from his train-spotting childhood in the ’70s through to setting up the magazine with family and friends, and struggling to sell even a few copies of Viz in the local pub. The comic’s success swiftly grew, however, and remarkable events ensued, such as how Chris was invited to tea by Prince Charles, taken in for questioning by New Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch and caught his wife up to no good with Keith Richards in Peter Cook's attic.Chris includes many original drawings in this integrated book as well as some fascinating images of early Viz creations.

    The home was unkempt and rubbish was littered all over the floor. Dirty nappies were piled up in a corner of the room, which made the room have an awful stench. None of Jacksons bottles were being sterilised before use, and the water that was to make up the formula was tap water….straight from the tap and unboiled."

    

    The man she had fallen in love with had changed beyond recognition. When his body was found one morning, it was almost a blessing. Pregnant and alone, she is taken in by her friend Mary.Mary tells her stories of women heading west to become Mail Order Brides. Fearful of what her husband's parents might do when she has the child, she begins her search. But no one is willing to commit to a widow carrying another man's child.Ben, a farmer out west, had been happily married until fate intervened and shattered him. His desire to have children to pass the farm down to had been lost. But his housekeeper, Tilly, had other ideas. She would encourage him to find a bride.It would be a long journey for Pam with no assurances of a happy ending at its completion. Ben was fearful that he would be able to love again. But it was a risk that they both had to take.

    When you think about the kind of guy you are going to marry, a Romany living in an old caravan does not normally come to mind! Can't think why, can you?! So, there I was. 19 years old and fed up with 'normal' guys who only wanted one thing. Yep you guessed it! But then.... along comes this guy, tall, skinny, bad hair, ugly/handsome..... did I say bad hair? Oh yes! And that was just the beginning! But little did I know that he was a gypsy! Oh boy! Gypsies and gorgi's don't mix.....do they? I was about to find out! Honest, raw, colourful, and downright hilarious! Based on the true story of Nell Rose Loveridge and Jake her gypsy rover!

    

    Lots of laughs and tears are part of the job. Combat, test flying and, as the title implies, high risk. A Silver Star recipient, much of my OV-10 combat time was in Laos. Started with the F-100 in Europe and finished my career as test director to make the F-100 a target.

    O'Brien never puts a foot wrong' Irish Independent IT'S THE WEDDING OF THE YEARSupermodel Ali Armstrong will tie the knot on board luxury knot Excalibur, surrounded by her closest friends and family.AND THE SCANDAL OF THE DECADEBut as the guests descend on Puerto Banus for the festivities, tensions and secrets rise to the surface.Will Ali's mother, Carrie, finally accept the end of her own marriage? Can her sister, Hope, forget her broken heart and learn to trust again? Will Jay see off the Russian temptress and hang on to her millionaire husband?When the sun sets on the azure waters of the Med, the privileged world of the Armstrongs is blown sky high...'Delicious ... full of warmth, glamour and excitment' Cathy Kelly

    Her husband Richard is not so sure about it, and her son Gavin and his down-to-earth wife Fiona are apprehensive about spending two weeks cooped up with his family. But even they could never imagine the havoc Bunny’s two beautiful daughters, Sarah and Jess, will cause on board. Meanwhile Tony Kenny, a wealthy Galway businessman, fed up with his wife’s family who descend on them every Christmas, thinks a cruise is the perfect way to escape them. His timid wife Ann is nervous about it all but, as always, Tony gets his way. His children are less than enthusiastic but, as it turns out, their handsome son Jack is pleasantly surprised by the action on board and his shy sister Emily begins to come out of her shell. Declan Jordan is terrified that his sexy mistress Alix will reveal their affair to his classy wife Cassie, so he whisks Cassie away for what he promises will be a second honeymoon. However, it turns out to be anything but . . . This group form what they laughingly call ‘the Irish Mafia’ on board the Liberté and, between the drama and the shenanigans, there is never a dull moment!

    Alone, with no one to help or advise her, she must make funeral arrangements and then plan the next step for the direction of her life. While going through some papers and documents that her mother had always kept in a locked box, Belle discovers that her mother had been keeping secrets. Secrets that seemed to involve her daughter. Upon a chance encounter with a handsome attorney, who fills her romantic idea of the man of her dreams, Belle begins to see that it's time to take control of her life and live it the way she would like, and not necessarily the way her mother had planned. But first she has promised herself she would fulfill her mother's dream to visit the lighthouses along the Lake Michigan shore. As Belle travels the West Michigan shoreline, from Grand Haven heading north, she makes acquaintances along the way who will change the course of her life in surprising ways, and who open her eyes to possibilities of love. Book 1 of The Lighthouse Trilogy begins a series of genealogical twists and turns that you won't see coming. Suspense, romance, family lies, secrets, and mistrust, all come together in a surprising ending. A clean romance that will send sparks and passion through the characters and straight to your heart. One of Jane O'Brien's best!

    These memoirs take him from enjoying the odd cold beer sailing peacefully across the Indian Ocean to being trapped in a war zone. Here he sees life at sea changing from the leisurely days of general cargoes to the hectic computerised containerships. He seems to have done it all – rescuing drug runners from the ice, dredging aggregates in the North Sea and finally skippering a ‘steamer’ on a tranquil lake. This volume is the second of Bob’s memoirs covering his service as master on a wide variety of ships. The first book ‘I think I’ll go to sea’ relates to his experiences climbing up through the ranks. In this book he has to flee the USA to avoid arrest for drug smuggling, assists rescuing a ship’s crew when their ship sinks in pack ice and gets stuck in the middle of the Iraq/Iran war. He also experiences alcohol free ships which take away the pleasure of his ‘cold beer’

    And it is every mother’s worst nightmare.Ex-Casualty actress, Rebekah was just 34 years old and 7 months pregnant when she found a lump in her breast. After twice being examined by doctors and having been told that it was nothing to worry about, Rebekah pushed it from her mind and concentrated on the birth of her beautiful daughter, Gigi. But one night, whilst nursing her baby, Rebekah realised she could still feel the lump. And it was bigger.Finally, her worst fears were confirmed: just 10 weeks after giving birth, Rebekah was told that she had a fast-growing grade-three cancer and it had spread to her lymph glands. It was the beginning of a journey to hell and back and Rebekah embarked on the fight of her life.This isn’t just a book about the horror of cancer.It is about facing illness with humour and courageIt’s a celebration of the special, unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters. It’s about survival.

    Life was no bed of roses. The Bernardinis stayed in a room and kitchen, where young Walter slept in the bed recess in the front room. His Mum and Dad, meanwhile, had a 'hole-in-the-wall' bed in the kitchen. There was no bath, only one downstairs toilet shared by two other families. Glaswegians in those days may not have had much money, but they made up for the lack of material possessions with a real live of life. There was never a dull moment, at home, on the streets or at school. In this compelling book, the author fondly reminisces about first footing, wedding scrambles, winchin' in the close, nights at the pictures, the trams, trips with the Scouts, wartime evacuation and much more. It is a scintillating slice of social history, full of warmth and humour. For the sake of his career, Walter Bernardini eventually left Scotland, taking his wife and family with him. Yet he has never forgotten the city of his birth, the place that shaped him, the place he still thinks of as home. These were truly his dear old Glasgow years'.