By Chris Cornford
A retired English teacher and lecturer has just had her first book published chronicling her 40 years of teaching around the world.
Travel Mementos: Personal Stories about Faraway Places is by Julie Watson, from Cowes, and recounts her memories in flashbacks of times, places and personal encounters.
Julie said: “Initially, I wanted to create something out of my travel memories to recall some of the places, people and events in my rather nomadic life.
“During my teaching career, I lived and travelled overseas a lot. Once I started writing down my recollections, new ones came to mind and the collection of stories in Travel Mementos just grew and grew. Recent lockdowns were the perfect time to complete the book and find a publisher!
“I did very little recording of my travel experiences at the actual time but each of the stories is built around a particular incident or encounter involving a place or person that left a strong impression on me for one reason or another. I started the stories from memory fragments and pieced together a more complete recollection using photos and slides, annotated old guidebooks and research.”
Among the stories there is an argument in an Italian ice cream queue, a bumpy becak ride in Indonesia, African migrants washing up on a Spanish beach and venomous scorpions dancing in the Mexican sun.
Travel Mementos: Personal Stories about Faraway Places by Julie Watson costs £6.99 and is published by Beachy Books Partner Publishing. It is available at Medina Books in Cowes or via links on the Beachy Books website.
Isle of Wight Observer