Cola Cowboys.

I’ve owned this book since I was in my teens.

From the age of eleven or twelve I used to spend my Saturday afternoons in a laundrette in Bridlington washing and drying all my Dad's clothes and bedding from that week. He was a captain on VLCCs, only home from sea a few months each year, so he never bought a washing machine.

And if you own a dog, no need to bark yourself!

He'd leave me some change for the washers and dryers and a bit extra for the Space Invaders in the corner but I wasn't very good and the money ran out long before I'd finished the laundry.

In desperation I would read the shitty, often heavily creased and wet magazines people had left behind and in one I found under a bench there were some book reviews. One of the books was Cola Cowboys... 

At that age I dreamed of being a long distance lorry driver and I tore out the page and promised myself I would buy the book which I did some years later. I've parted with almost all my books but I can't let this one go!

It reminds me of what it was like to be young and full of excitement with big plans but also the man I loved and hated in equal measures.