Darryl gives up his job as an undertaker to embark on a career as a bed and breakfast host by the sea.
With little preparation but lots of heart, he jumps into his new life with enthusiasm and determination, only to be met by obstacles and bureaucracy, and troublesome guests.
But Darryl is nothing if not determined, and he is open and friendly, getting to know everyone and finding his way around, often with hsyterical results.
His diary is an honest, laugh-out-loud account of this brave change of direction.
Working many years as a mortuary assistant, I often yearned for some conversation and glamour in my life. I don’t seem to make friends easily and find it difficult to strike up a conversation that doesn’t finish prematurely when one is asked what one does for a living.
Where to start, I wondered? I know, it came to me, begin at the top and quietly and slowly work my way down, examining everything whilst soaking up the delirium of knowing it is all mine. But then in a moment of gay abandonment I decided that whilst I was there I might as well check out the Connaught Room first.
It did have a small bar in the corner, I discovered, cleverly tucked away under the stairs where the previous owner, the swine, had left four empty optics, three out-of-date bottles of lager and a mountain of old beer mats along with enough cuddly toys and cheap china ornaments to start a boot sale. Ah well, at least there were no pumps or barrels to worry about.
It was a job to see the room properly with all my belongings dumped around it and flowers placed on every available surface, but there was an old Grundig radiogram and a pile of dusty records in the corner, mostly Matt Monroe and Cilla Black, it seemed.
“On a par with War and Peace.” Professor Plum, Oxbridge
“Should not have been published!” (Disgusted of Luton)
“Side-splitting riot.” Mr. C. Penrose
“Five star stay!” (anonymous customer)
“Why did I do this???” (The Publisher)
Brian has upped sticks and left Blighty for Latvia, stepping into the unknown. Which of us would have the courage to do such a thing? Let’s hope the good people of Riga welcome him and understand his humour, good nature and wonderful idiosyncracies. And let’s hope they also buy his book.
Available from October 2020 at all good, and possibly bad, bookshops. Use the isbn to the left for paperback version. Also available on Kindle, Apple Books and Google Play.