www.seabeestories.me.uk

I was born slap bang in the middle of the twentieth century – 14 January, 1950, making me a double Janus. Not only did I look back on the previous year and forward to the coming year, but I also looked back on the first half of the century and forward to the coming half. You will find these features reflected in this website.

By the age of sixteen I’d learnt all that I would ever learn about literature and grammar. This was thanks to my English teacher, Mr. Battersby, at Waltheof Secondary Modern in Sheffield. To this day I am incapable of breaking any of the rules of grammar that he taught me. If you like this website, then you have him to thank; if you don’t, then the fault is mine.

Over the next forty years I wrote intermittently, work and children proving something of a distraction.

Fortunately, in 2005 I developed sciatica and was able to take early retirement on the grounds of ill health. The grounds on which I have stood since then have afforded me the opportunity to write most of what you will find on this website, Lockdown being a particularly productive time for me.

Some pieces on this website bear the name SeaBee van Bellamystraat. Don’t worry – it’s still me. I chose the name because there is a Bellamystraat in Amsterdam. I visit it whenever I’m in that city, and I urge you to do the same.

I also cook.

SeaBee