Playing Out: Swings and Roundabouts

by Paul Douglas Lovell

Overview

Playing Out - Swings and Roundabouts outlines the first ten years of Paul’s life. Abandoned by his mother at six weeks old, he lives alongside three brothers and a sister being raised by their lorry driver father. Struggling to cope, their father does his best to provide but living on state handouts means the children often go without.

Being motherless has a huge impact on every aspect of his existence. In way of compensation, swings and roundabouts, Paul is afforded the freedom to roam. Hardships aplenty, lacking the nurture that often comes from a motherly embrace, Paul is being sculpted, his life is playing out.

Set in the 1970s, the older reader can enjoy a nostalgic trip down memory lane and the youngsters can view the offline existence of kids who wore flares and had bad hair. Products and television programmes, toys and confectionery, the sweetest of memories entwined with the roughness of a working-class environment. Street games, scrumping and sewage tunnels. A patchwork quilt of Paul’s memories stitched together using a rather coarse yarn makes this story a true account of British social history that is both poignant and humorous. All the main elements of the story are genuine incidents, although many of the people and places have been distorted to protect the guilty and to assist with the flow of the narrative.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940153698922
Publisher:	Paul Douglas Lovell
Publication date:	08/25/2016
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	313 KB

About the Author

Raised by my father, the youngest of five, I spent many hours ‘Playing Out’. My school years were disruptive. Seen as an inconvenience standing in-between my freedom and the big wide world. Uneducated and somewhat troubled I went to London. I spent twelve years working as a rent-boy (a male prostitute) I did some travelling and met some interesting people. In 2000, whilst in Ibiza I found a husband (civil partner) and a new chapter in my life began. After the death of my father I plucked up the courage to tell my tale. My lifetime ambition to become an author, realised in ‘Paulyanna International Rent-Boy’. Gone are the pressures of Big City Life nowadays, I enjoy the small pleasures in life. I live in a detached property set in the foothills of the Jura mountains. I am surrounded on all sides by hills and trees, a small stream runs through the centre of the village. My own piece of paradise, one that inspires me to try my hand at writing haiku poetry. I also enjoy geo-caching, gardening, reading, designing graphics and listening to music.