Category Archives: Extracts from Stairs For Breakfast

Do you remember the first word(s) you ever said?

Current number of pre-orders: 367
Required pre-orders to have Stairs For Breakfast published: 493

Here’s another extract from my book:

When I was about four, I had a small fish tank and a goldfish in my bedroom. The rectangular tank was on a shelf at the head of my bed. I used to watch the fish when I went to bed. One night, while I was feeling warm and cosy under my duvet, I suddenly felt sorry for my goldfish; there I was in my warm bed and there the fish was in cold water. I though ‘It must be cold.’ So I put my hand in the tank and scooped out the fish – and laid the fish on the right side of my pillow, and pulled up my duvet over it to keep the fish warm! I remember the fish flapping around for a bit before it went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning I learned a lesson about fish!
goldfish
My family knew I was intelligent before I started to speak at the age of four. One of the very first words I said was “Fire!”
Dad had a cream coloured three door Range Rover. Weirdly it had two fuel tanks – a petrol one and a diesel one. There was a switch down by the gear sticks to determine which fuel you wanted to use, before starting the engine.
One day, while my grandparents were staying and were at home with Clare, I was out with my parents and we were on our way home in the Range Rover (dad was driving, mum was in the passenger seat and I was sitting in the middle of the back seat. Playing on the radio was “Fire” by The Pointer Sisters. All of a sudden and in time with the song I said “Fire”. My parents were very surprised and pleased with me.
From that point on I started to talk regularly.

Please help me to get Stairs For Breakfast published by pre-ordering the book. You can buy it here

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Have you ever taken your dog to the dentist?

Here’s an extract from my book from 1979, when I was 6 years old:

One Sunday evening while he was still a puppy, Zebedee was chewing a bone (trying to get the marrow from the inside of it), when he started yelping. He had somehow got the bone completely wedged between his teeth.
Briard (French Sheep dog)

Briard (French Sheep dog)

With it being Sunday evening and no vet nearby, dad carried Zebedee over to Luke’s house (our next door neighbour dentist). My dad, Clare [my sister] and Luke (not forgetting Zebedee) then drove to Luke’s practice. Picture this scene – eight year old Clare sitting in the dentist chair, holding Zebedee in her arms, dad holding the dog’s mouth open, while Luke used some of his instruments to extract the bone from in between his teeth!

Thank you very much if you have already pre-ordered my book. I’ve now sold 206 copies and have updated my THANK YOU page.

To publish Stairs For Breakfast I still need at least another 61 pre-orders. Thank you for purchasing my book. I look forward to sharing it with you.

How worms taught me a bit of maths

Here’s another extract from Stairs For Breakfast

Before moving to Belgium in 1976, dad was working in London and we lived in Bromley. I must have been about two when I developed a fascination with worms! I used to crawl around the back garden and knew there was a part of it where there were some worms. I would pick a worm up, with my left hand, have a close look at it and hold the other end of the worm with my right hand – and then I would pull it apart. I would then put the worm(s) back on the ground and was fascinated watching the two halves wiggle around and the fact that they were still alive. I would then pick one of the halves up again and pull it apart, It was a disgusting habit and my first lesson in multiplication!

Thank you very much to everyone for buying my book. I’m now 88 pre-orders from having Stairs For Breakfast published. http://stairsforbreakfast.com

I’m going to a few networking events next week so have made and ordered this double-sided flyer.

Stairs For Breakfast flyer back

Stairs For Breakfast flyer front

The first 4 minutes of my life

I currently have 22 pre-orders for my book. My target is 534.

This is the first extract from the book – and where better to start from than the very beginning of it.

2nd December 1973 – that’s the day I was due to be born. But there were complications. A couple of weeks before I was due my mum wasn’t feeling well so she went to the hospital to get checked over. Upon being examined, she was told “There’s a problem. You’ve got extremely high blood pressure and we need to induce the birth immediately.”
I entered the world on 21st November 1973 at Masons Hill Maternity Hospital in Bromley, Kent. It’s the only time I’ve arrived early for something in my life!
The umbilical cord had gotten twisted and was wrapped around my neck, causing me not to breathe for the first four minutes of my life. After which point I gave out a little cough and I started to breathe normally.

As I don’t have any baby photos of me to hand, for the purposes of this blog update, here’s another baby boy.

baby boy

The midwife said to my mum “Your son is fine but he might have some learning difficulties.”
It was only when I was nine months old – when my parents realised I had difficulties sitting up properly – that I was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP).
I reckon I have a recollection of a few minutes just after I was born. All I remember is, bright lights (like in an operating theatre), being wrapped in a white blanket and then being placed in a see-through container, which had a lid on it (what I once described as a breadbin!). Who knows? Maybe the starvation of oxygen made my brain really alert.
When I was about eight years old, I told my mum about my recollection of the few minutes after I was born. She replied “Nah, you must have dreamt it”. But she then said that the white blanket and being placed in an incubator sounded about right.

You can pre-order Stairs For Breakfast from the top right-hand side of this page.