Bless Up - Paperback

This book is about the origin of a scientist, born into unpromising conditions in Glasgow. Raised by his divorced mother, the author witnessed her hardship and the appalling effects of multiple sclerosis on three family members. Set against those tragedies were the uplifting examples of generosity and humour of fellow Glaswegians. This account charts the course of the author's education at school and university. At school he underwent a dramatic shift from laziness to diligence, the spur being a drive to offset his mother's suffering from divorce. It was a shift that also shaped his academic future. Running in parallel with the author's school and university education was a train of lowly jobs starting at the age of twelve. He learned valuable lessons about human nature as a dishwasher, barman and tram conductor. Indeed, the value of those lessons outdid and outlasted the academic benefits of his lectures at Glasgow University. The theme of this book is that we are often stamped by the others we meet. And those "others" are usually unaware of the unending influence they create in our lives. Sometimes minor events lodge in our memory with their allied emotional tones bringing good or ill. Examples in this book illustrate the paradox that now and again the absence of someone, who should be in your life, has a more profound effect than the presence of most people in your daily life. And those absentees may be totally unaware of their significance. The title and chapter headings come from the author's life in Grenada in the West Indies. Grenada, however, is not discussed in the book but its benign influence on the author is there between the lines in his writing.