Following the publication Café Britannica, Stephen Cardew shares the top 10 things that his readers should know about him:
Stephen Cardew
It’s taken me half a century to get published.
When Mrs Wade, my primary school teacher, asked me, at the age of 11, what I wanted to be, I confidently announced my intention to become an author. I had no idea, back then, how hard that would be – I just knew I enjoyed writing stories. Anyway, life got in the way for many years, but now, at last, I’ve had my first book published. I’m quite chuffed.
I went to the Paralympics in Arnhem in 1980.
During a period of unemployment, I volunteered to take people with visual impairment to and from a day centre in Nottingham. Through that, I became involved in helping younger people play a game especially designed for the visually-impaired, Goalball. Through luck and circumstances, I was appointed as GB coach and accompanied a team of five to Arnhem in Holland. We came nowhere but had a good time. Germany won.
I completely changed career in 1999.
I gave up training careers advisers, went to Prague and did a course to learn how to teach English to speakers of other languages. I loved it instantly and went on to spend 7 years living and working in Portugal, Bulgaria, Hong Kong and Italy, before returning home in 2007.
I was once stranded on the border between Macedonia and Bulgaria.
I was teaching in Sofia and my visa restrictions required me to leave and re-enter the country every 30 days. I duly travelled, in late November, to the border with Macedonia and the Bulgarian officials were happy to let me go but not so happy to see me return. I offered nothing except humility and incomprehension but it worked.
In Milan, I worked in the same building as Donatella Versace.
The British Council in Milan is in a grand building on the Via Manzoni, just up the street from La Scala. Versace had the upper floors and we could always tell when Donatella was in by the click of stilettos on floorboards and occasional raised voices.
I remarried in 2009
My wife Sue has taught me a lot about relationships, about love and about me.
My grandchildren started arriving in 2010.
First a granddaughter and now two grandsons have arrived. There’ll be others, no doubt, in the future and I look forward to that. They give me a much less pressured opportunity to do some parenting and I’m better at it now.
I recently performed at an Open Mic Night.
I’ve never read out my work before, in front of strangers and so I chose a strong piece – about my relationship with my father. I’m not sure if it was the piece or the occasion but I got unexpectedly emotional. People said nice things, though (or, perhaps, because).
Stories are other worlds.
I have always had an inner voice (I am on only child) but the joy of writing is to find that inner voice flowing outwards, creating an alternative reality and one people seem to like. Fifty years on, I have realised my true vocation.
I like a good puzzle
I’m an avid doer of crosswords, sudokus and quizzes of all sorts. Many of the stories in Café Britannica are inspired by actual cafés and, if you’re puzzled by where these are, visit my website (www.stephencardew.com), sign up and I’ll tell you. You might be surprised!
Café Britannica offers a collection of ten short stories, uniquely crafted to be the ideal length for those fifteen minutes of respite. Published at £7.99 it can be purchased from The Book Guild, Amazon and all good bookshops. Go on, tuck in!