For One Night Only Series

The Second of Three, book one of a two-part travel memoir titled For One Night Only, deals with the author's formative years growing up in Frankston, a town located just outside the city of Melbourne, Australia. Though Frankston was long ago absorbed in the urban sprawl that is Melbourne, at the time of his birth and for many years thereafter it occupied an 'in between status'. It was neither urban nor rural but rather a curious admixture. Twenty-five miles separates it from Melbourne's central business district, a distance regarded as fairly considerable in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. Literally and metaphorically speaking Frankston sat at the end of the line. The electrified rail line from the big smoke ended there. Single-carriage, diesel powered trains plied the routes further south to Stony Point and Mornington on the state of Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. Born into a family with one older brother and one younger brother, The Second of Three details the sense of estrangement the author often felt growing up in this milieu. Parts one and two illustrate some of his early memories and experiences, especially as relates to his schooling at the hands of Roman Catholic nuns - at primary school - and brothers - at secondary school. A more suitable learning environment is found closer to home during a year spent studying at a local technical college. During this year he slowly begins gaining a measure of self-confidence, a quality that has been systematically ground down in previous years. For a short time he plays competitive Australian Rules Football, only to throw in his lot with running, an activity better suited to one of his nature. He has been running on a regular basis for about twelve months when he sets himself the goal of training for and running a marathon. Another thing that aids his bid to come to terms with the past is writing, an activity he has always liked though he has never written more than school essays. Buoyed by the feedback some creative writing receives at technical college, he decides to brook the challenge of writing a novel. Part three of The Second of Three examines how he fares in his efforts to realise both dreams, the marathon run and the novel.The epilogue of the memoir looks briefly at the genesis of his writing ambitions and also at some of the pitfalls encountered as he strives to make a go of writing novels and screenplays as a career in his twenties.

From A Caregiver's Point of View is comprised of thirteen chapters. Chapter one, set in Glasgow, Scotland depicts the author's first venture into life as an intentional community worker or assistant. He joins the city's Simon Community, which provides temporary and longer-term housing options for chronically homeless people. Chapter two describes a visit made to a Manchester-based English friend Ernie, a man in his sixties struggling to overcome the regrets he harbours in life. The focus of the following chapter is a second Simon Community, that of Cork City, Ireland. Chapter four sees a chance encounter with some compatriots in an Athens budget hotel, notably Alan, a man who has succeeded in making travelling the world his vocation. Yet the peripatetic nature of his life has clearly not served him well in many respects. In chapter five, at the beginning of a third trip to Europe and before beginning work in another Simon Community, there is a visit to Zorica, a pen pal from Banja Luka, Bosnia Herzegovina and also opportunities to reunite briefly with friends made elsewhere in Europe. Following further community experience in Europe the interest begins turning toward North America. Chapter six covers the time spent as a live-in volunteer with the New York City Catholic Worker, another organisation serving homeless people, as well as several visits with Teresa, an upstate New York pen pal. Chapter seven illustrates the largely non-verbal friendship that develops with Kay, a resident of one of the houses that makes up the Dublin Simon Community. A return period in the United States, beginning in 1993, allows for a first experience - in Seattle, Washington State - of life with another group of marginalised people, ie, the mentally and physically challenged. Chapter nine, set in Manila, continues the focus on life and work with the disabled but concentrates more closely on the physical and emotional needs a caregiver might feel. Guatemala, a country nearing the end of a bitter civil war, is the subject of the next chapter. Dealing in turn with time spent with a local family learning Spanish and then a couple of stints with a group of internally displaced refugees in the country's remote Petén jungle, again it becomes clear that all can be 'marginalised' in their way, that all need and deserve care. Chapter eleven is set in Mobile, Alabama and like many sections before it, especially the Manila chapter, throws up 'the two sides of the coin' that is the caregiving vocation. The penultimate chapter twelve introduces Jesús, another long-term pen pal, met for the first time on a 2009 visit to Cuba. Jacksonville's Harbor House comprises the last chapter, specifically focusing on the endearing personalities and ways of the many residents met and lived with over the course of repeat spells with the community in the years 1998 to 2009. Care giving, it seems, once commenced can never be stopped; it must be applied across the board. If the lessons learnt in intentional communities are truly taken to heart they will last a lifetime and encompass all in need. And, inevitably, in caring, one is cared for.