Escape To Benidorm , livre ebook

Ken Walsh - Raymond Thomas

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159 pages

English

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This is the account of a journey of five years, as middle-aged Ken adapted to being a widower after the death of his wife. A series of tales, some funny some sad - but all true - happened to him as he struggled to rebuild his new life and look to the future. Did it all end happily ever after? You'll have to see.

Informations

Publié par	Ken Walsh
Date de parution	11 août 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783017867
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Escape To Benidorm
A true story - it could be a cross between Last Tango in Halifax and Benidorm the Comedy .
Escape to Benidorm is the moving account of Ken, a man in the late summer of life, who is knocked sideways by the death of his long time partner.
A single return visit to the last place where they had holidayed together, begins a new found love of the place and is the backdrop to the story of him rebuilding his life.
There are many adventures both there and in other places on the road to his coming to terms with his loss and being a widower.
Sadness, stupidity, love, heartache, comedy and tragedy are all there a plenty as Ken s tale is told.
By Thomas Raymond
2015 Thomas Raymond
Thomas Raymond has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by Ken Walsh
First published in eBook format in 2015
ISBN: 9781783017867
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT
CHAPTER FIFTY NINE
CHAPTER SIXTY
CHAPTER SIXTY ONE
CHAPTER SIXTY TWO
CHAPTER SIXTY THREE
THE LAST CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
The classic 1970 film Love Story with Ryan O Neill and Ali MacGraw opens with the Andy Williams song Where do I begin, to tell the story of how great a love can be
And that s Ken s dilemma - where to begin? His story here begins at the end of one love story, one that s similar to the film. Two young people meet, fall in love, marry then one dies.
In the film the girl contracts a very fast acting illness. Incurable, it proved fatal very quickly and ended their young love story very sadly. I don t think it ever said in the film what the illness was but it prompted one film critic to write something along the lines that whatever it was, Ali MacGraw became more and more beautiful as death approached .
The end of Ken s first story wasn t quite the same. His love story lasted for thirty three years. Poor health and pain intruded for the last fifteen of them. But just like Ali MacGraw, his Carole suffered it quietly and serenely. Her heart finally gave out and she literally died in Ken s arms as his attempts at resuscitation proved fruitless - she had had enough. It was a blessing that she was free from pain and suffering. Love Story 1 ended on September 23rd. in 2009.
Ken didn t quite know when Love Story 2 started. Certainly, as I began to write this, it had no ending as yet; happy or otherwise. I only know that Ken travelled along with great hope that he might find another soul mate and would ultimately find a love and friendship to last forever.
This is the story of how he came out of grief to find new horizons and confidence once more and the amazing people who helped him. When it has an ending, perhaps I d like to write his Love Story 1 with him - as the prequel.
CHAPTER ONE
After the funeral, Ken was in bits inside. He d held it together for the children and everybody else. Held it in throughout. Now back at home in Lancashire at the tail end of all the sorting out - insurances, paperwork, and an infuriating building society - he felt the emptiness of the house. Alone.
Ken was used to being alone. Not alone actually but on his own a lot. Carole s long periods of different illnesses had meant that going out to do the shopping, for a drink or just for a quick walk, he was more and more often on his own.
They had moved from the Leeds area to the Lancashire coast to a bungalow and somewhere flat, four and a half years ago, which had meant making new friends. Quite difficult when you are not very well. But there was a local pub just around the corner, with a host of new friendly faces. Ken had spent most of his time doing up the bungalow and garden which had taken nearly all of the first two years, and meant he was always close for Carole.
Although they loved their bungalow, holidays were their joy. The same criteria applied here too. Somewhere flat and by the sea. Carole loved the sun (when not too hot) and sea air but after a stroll on the prom or around the gift shops in a morning, that was enough. A quiet afternoon with a book on the room s balcony or sometimes in the bar or sat in the shade by the pool was all she could manage before a siesta. A nice dinner and a quiet evening in the hotel. Or, laughing at the rubbish entertainers and clapping along to the slappers and clappers as they called the compulsory hotel flamenco show.
On good days, they managed a trip out in the evening to a comedy show - Rich Bitch was her favourite! Benidorm Palace was a close second. But all taken at a very steady pace. Not that this was a problem to Ken. Ever since he had been able to retire early aged just 50, in 2000, they had managed three or four or more holidays a year in between doctors and hospital trips. He loved Carole enjoying the good weather that seemed to do her so good. It was a good break for him too, from cooking and shopping and not just the heavier domestics, but any tasks that Carole found increasingly more difficult.
After doing lots of Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Greece with their friends in the past, their favourite choice became Benidorm for the two of them: flat but definitely not boring! With just a short flight from Blackpool, now their local airport and good medical facilities there, if ever they had been needed, Benidorm had suited them down to the ground!
Despite being well practiced for almost ten years, Ken now rapidly realised that On your own is very very different to Alone . He was always a fairly gregarious, outgoing person with lots of friends and acquaintances. Ken however had made very few really close friends and was quite individualistic and comfortable with his own company for long periods.
But now as he reflected, back in the quiet of home, it crept up on him and hit him hard. The realisation that he had lost his very best friend ever in the whole world.
After Carole s death, friends in the pub had made him an honorary member of the 5 0 clock club - a group of mainly older customers who sat around a particularly large table and put the world to rights every teatime. This was a kind of putting arms around him and just being there . A gesture he gratefully appreciated, only to have to join in and do the same for another regular of the 5 0 clock club who lost his wife very shortly after Carole s death.
Joan was a lovely lady who had been a good bit older than Carole and sadly had had more serious health problems - but her loss was just as hard to bear for her husband. Adrian (Aid for short, he preferred) was no spring chicken himself, and he had been a much more involved carer, for much longer than Ken. So the 5 O clock club, now including Ken, got into gear to support Aid, a great little guy with a huge personality. He was a Liverpool supporter; Joan was Everton. Enough said.
At the funeral there was to be only one flower on the coffin - a blue rose for Everton. Unbeknown to anyone else, the 5 O clock club arranged buttonhole flowers of the same blue for each member and one for Aid, presented to him as a token of love and support before we entered the Chapel to the strains of the Z Cars TV theme - Everton s adopted tune. Steve, another 5 O clock member, gave the eulogy.
Many of the pub regulars, who were now rapidly becoming Ken s good friends too, expressed surprise and some concern that Ken attended the funeral, so soon after his own loss, but it was kind of cathartic for him to share the grief and then the joy of the group remembrance of someone s life.
A few also asked him if he would stay in Cleveleys, or go back home to Leeds - Ken s reply was that they had chosen to come here because they liked it and this was home. Besides, only Ken s stepson, Steve, was back in Guiseley now. Daughter Michaela was married and lived in Barnsley. Son Richard was serving in Afghanistan and lived in Hampshire with his family. Ken s brother and sister were in different towns in Yorkshire. Where was Ken supposed to go, to go home ?
As soon as he could see clear water out of the mire of bills, claims and arguments with insurers and the building society, he was going to escape to sort his head out. Where to go? Well, there was really no argument - Benidorm. He needed a place he knew, but a place that d