About

Hi from helixtandl

Trish in the orange.

I value Lynda’s friendship, which began at work. The strands of the helix showing us how much more we had in common, beside our first book together. It was after we had published “What Can I Do?”, that I remembered my father’s book. He wrote about his life, stories, and poetry. After his passing, I read it again, and was reacquainted with Jim’s amazing survival of so many challenges. I am pleased that I asked Lynda and her mum to read it. Was I reading it with rose-coloured glasses, because Jim was my dad? Or would other readers enjoy it? The six degrees of separation between our families, evident in Jim’s book, lead us to consider others would also relate to his storytelling, and find a bond, a memory, a connection.

Lynda in the blue

Trish and I had been close friends for many years, before she asked me to read her Dad’s book for the first time. When digitising it, my Mum and I read every word, making astonishing discoveries of even closer links between our families. In editing Jim’s book, I corrected and deleted as necessary, but I was very careful to maintain Jim’s words and, most importantly, his voice.

Recently, I picked up Jim’s book again. What was his secret to coping with whatever life threw his way, including the curveballs? How did he grow to be the caring gentleman that I knew as my friend’s Dad? Although he was no longer with us when Trish gave me his book, I am hoping Jim can still help me understand how to deal with my life’s twists and turns.