WELCOME to my new blog "DANCES WITH DAFFODILS" - it will be launched fully (after a little tweaking) towards the end of this month (April).

ALL BLOG POSTS WILL APPEAR ON THE ATTACHED SUB-PAGE.

It is envisaged to include a wide variety of posts - ranging from previously untold 'deep dives' into a variety of highly revealing (and informative) chapters from my published autobiography "FLASHING LIGHTS" - to previews, extracts and updates from the in-writing sequel, and whatever else my charming little mind can dream up - it really could be anything...

The only caveat that I have given myself is that they have to be true stories - or are my honest unbiased opinions (on whatever).

We are going to start off with a 'deep dive' into why I decided to call the blog "DANCES WITH DAFFODILS".

And please remember throughout that my own brand of humour (sometimes cleverly satirical, sometimes schoolboy slapstick) is never that far away from anything I write... and that's the only warning you'll ever get from me - but please, please do not worry - I promise I will be gentle with you...honest...

Over a period of time I hope you will find "DANCES WITH DAFFODILS" (Blog) evolving into something that is both interesting and entertaining.

(APRIL 2026)...An INTRODUCTION to "DANCES WITH DAFFODILS"...

The very first time I met William Wordsworth I was 10 years old and it was in the dining room of The Royal Oak Hotel in Keswick - and had he still been alive he would indeed have been about 180. However, sadly he wasn't.

What I was looking at was his full length portrait on the wall overlooking our table.

It was a Sunday in the early autumn of 1963 and I was there with my family for lunch.

It was to become a monthly event throughout my school days that my mum, dad and little brother would pick myself and my big brother up from boarding school and take us out for Sunday lunch at the Royal Oak.

We always sat at the same table in the company of Mr Wordsworth.

On the walls throughout the restaurant there were also portrait paintings of other poets and writers including Tennyson, Southey - and by another strange coincidence there was also a painting of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Why this is a coincidence was that Keswick Grammar School was a mixed boarding school and our girls dormitory was located in Greta Hall the former long time home of a certain Mr S T Coleridge.

We boys were to be found nearby in our own riverside dormitory building called Greta Lodge with only gardens separating the girls from us.

During English Literature classes I was to take a special interest in the works of Mr W (and to a lesser extent Mr STC) and quickly learned that the way to understand literature was not to take the written word too literally - and William Wordsworth (and his portrait in The Royal Oak) became a bit of a guiding hand throughout my early learning years.

https://youtu.be/7cYumLkpRQk 'She' can be taken as both a person as well as a special place and in this context, it is mine and Mr Wordsworth's Lake District as well as my own mother - as composer Mike Batt points out that it was written with his mother in mind as well as a tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth for her Golden Jubilee celebrations.

From a very young age, I would jump on my bike and head off into the Fells surrounding our farm on the northern edge of The Lake District proper and would just sit there, letting my imagination run riot for hours on end - it was here that I always felt safe.

In the many years that followed, through life's ups and downs, it was always there for me - my very own place of secret solace, my sanctuary 'far from the Madding Crowd' (with thanks to Thomas Hardy).

The Lake District is indeed a very special place.

It is now 1971 ...and I have just recently turned 18 - it is Scamps Discotheque, Waterloo Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne ...and I am pressed rigidly against the office wall , standing on my tip toes with the humongously sized hands of my boss (and training manager) wrapped tightly around my puny neck...REALLY BIG Dave is not very happy with me ....

For some context to this (although you can pick up the full story either in Chapter (4) of the book - or alternatively you can read it (for free) straight away here in SHORT STORY #1 on https://www.facebook.com/jimwyllie98) the following passage has been lifted directly from 'FLASHING LIGHTS' and covers part of the previous night...

One night mid-session, he (Dave) said to me... "We have a rat problem on the dancefloor - I think they are getting in through the Tivoli lighting (surround)"... "Yes ,Dave and...?"... "Well I want you to sort it out, can you shoot an air rifle?"... "Yeah, I suppose so"... "OK, I'll go home and get it and you can stay behind after we close - it'll be very quiet and when they come out of their holes you can shoot the little sods"... "Okay Dave, I'd love to - as I don't have any plans for later tonight other than I now have to ask my drop dead gorgeous, fun NEW girlfriend (and Dave, I can't stress the NEW bit enough) to have sex with someone else tonight"..

I immediately told my drop dead gorgeous fun NEW girlfriend who on hearing my amended plans for later in the evening immediately wet herself - not the reaction I had expected...or wanted.

The previous night hadn't gone exactly to plan (you really must read the full story).

And now back to the next morning in the office with Dave eyeball to eyeball and him strangling the living daylights out of me when all of a sudden I noticed his eyes move down to my mouth which I then became aware that my bottom lip had developed a mind all of its own and no matter how I tried and what I thought of to disguise my current predicament...nice peaceful things like the words of one of my previous mentors (before Dave) William Wordsworth... "I wandered lonely as a cloud"... "and DANCES WITH the DAFFODILS "... but no, this hadn't worked either.

I have often used my own unique brand of humour (appearing out of nowhere) to simultaneously disguise and underline a serious point - and this was one such occasion .

I want to finish off this INTRODUCTION to my blog DANCES WITH DAFFODILS with this following little ditty, as a form of theme-tune, which in its own way I find quite charmingly apt - having trawled through hundreds of different links on YouTube - I especially like it, not only for its obvious relevance, but the fact that it appears to have been put together by 1 or 2 people who appear to genuinely care about their art - and no small amount of creativity and talent -all achieved without much money invested apart from what they have put in themselves (singer and tech)... I hope you also like the quietly understated result of their efforts - they can be rightfully proud of what they have achieved here https://youtu.be/YjXUuSQ2TuI

I'll be back with more once I have polished up this and the other pages in readiness for its full marketing launch at the end of the month (April 2026).

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this deep dive into the title DANCES WITH DAFFODILS and found it interesting.

NOTE: Having been highly complimentary about my adopted 'theme tune' and looked at it again in more detail, I have now come to the conclusion that it is the work of AI - which is a great shame.

Everything about this INTRODUCTION is very personalised - and so I think I just wanted it to have a human story behind it.