Hello and welcome to Women’s Radio Station. I’m Dr Annette Greenwood, life coach and author. And on today’s show, Dr Annette talks.

We are opening up the topic about empowerment through creativity and how one man’s journey from the depths of despair to normality came through writing. My guest today is Kevin Keld. And in his own words, Kevin was born one Sunday, Sunday afternoon in 1961.

He has a more than passing obsession with motorcycles and was even blessed with his own business dismantling the two-wheeled machines for over 20 years. One-time freelance writer for the International Motorcycle Press and author of the Motorcycle Undertaker, which is a hilarious account of his 45 years surrounded by the two-wheeled roads. Life was rosy for Kevin until a serious motorcycle accident in 2020 left him fighting for his life, eventually emerging from hospital in a wheelchair.

This is Kevin’s journey from a world of pain and misery to leading a relatively normal life, losing himself in his writing and only occasionally coming up for air. Welcome, welcome. Kevin Keld.

So nice to have you on the show today. How are you? I’m not too bad. Thank you, Annette.

And it’s an absolute pleasure to be here. Thank you. That makes me feel very joyous when people say that.

So, I know we’ve had a couple of chats previously and we were talking about your one year of hell. So, this is really about your story and your journey from where you were to the motorcycle accident. We’re talking about mental health and men’s mental health in particular and also about your book and, you know, the contents of your book and where people can find it.

So, if you’re happy to share with me, shall we begin with your one year of hell in your story and what happened for you then? Yeah. To sort of make it brief, it was 2019 and I would imagine there were quite a few people out there who think, like I did, it gets around to the end of the year and you start to think, oh, I hope I don’t have another year like that. Oh, everything was dreadfully wrong.

Well, 2019 for me was that year. That was the year that I would prefer to forget about. It started off in January where a very good friend of mine just decided to commit suicide and there was nothing I could do about it.

I kind of saw it coming, but it’s like a lot of things you think, oh, I don’t think he’ll do it. I don’t think he’ll do it. And I did try my best to keep him afloat.

But then what happens behind closed doors, I have no control over. And it was just like a steam train. I know it’s not practical, but it’s almost thinking that if I kept him with me all the time, it wouldn’t have happened.

Someone who is determined to do that will find a way by hook or by hook no matter what anyone wants to do. It’s a sad thing. It is a sad thing.

And it’s a sad fact as well that there’s such a high rate of suicide from men. And the fact that you’re saying you wish you’d kept him with you, it would have been very difficult to live life like that. And it would have been unfair for you to take on that responsibility.

But did he have a history of mental health problems, Kevin, your friend, or was it something sudden, do you think? No, I think I think he had a history. It was a very colorful character, to say the least. Sixties, I think he did the hippie thing in the sixties and probably overindulged far too much.

And it seemed to haunt him for the rest of his life. But I don’t think there was anything anyone could have done to have stopped what he ultimately did. And, you know, a lot of people didn’t see it coming.

But it is such a massive problem, is the suicide amongst men. And it isn’t just young men. It’s like David was seventy three.

Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. And you think, you know, you think all sorts afterwards, you think, oh, that man should have been living out his life. And enjoying his time of life.

Twilight, it is. And he should be enjoying it, not living a life of torture. And you said it sounded like he was burning the candle at both ends back in his younger day.

Was he kind of drugs, alcohol, that kind of thing? Was it the whole hippie scene? The whole hippie thing, yeah. I mean, it was a colorful character, very interesting man. One that you could sit down and chat about stories in the past and never go over the same story twice.

You always have that many stories to tell. Absolutely fascinating in living just about every country in the world. And it was just a shame that his whole life being so interested and came to such an end like that.

Well, that was the first thing that sort of hit me on the 2019. That was, I think, January. And then I, through no fault of my own, I ended up being homeless that year, which I didn’t see coming.

And then in the August, I lost my wife, my second wife, she died of cancer, you know. So all the time, he had just been barraged by all this almost bad luck. It really tears your mind apart.

So, yeah, sorry, come on. So I was going to say with those examples there, Kevin, you know, so you’ve lost your friend to suicide, your wife’s died, and then you’ve got your own issues going on there. How was it for your mental health and how were you coping with all those three things going on? You know, the bit of homeless.

I mean, were you on the streets? And how did you become homeless? Yeah, I became homeless. I mean, I won’t go into the details. OK.

The part that I was actually with just sort of decided that I wasn’t to be there anymore. And so I went from living on a beautiful farm in the middle of the Oxford World to living in an office, because I did have an office on a little patch of land on an industrial estate. And I actually slept in my office for about six months.

And now I coped with it, coped like most people. I didn’t want to get up to simple. I don’t stay at any excuse.

I could only stay back and try and shut everything out by going to sleep. You know, I would just go to sleep and just not bother with anything or anybody, and just put this big wall up. And I put that wall up because my thoughts were when I’m asleep, nothing bothers me.

Yeah. My second wife, although we worked together, we saw the party, we were still very, very good friends. To the point of she had said on numerous occasions to my daughter that she could honestly see us getting back together.

And I could, to be honest, I think what we needed was a little bit of a break in the marriage just six months apart and then go back and take another look at it. But we went the other way and then it got complicated. That sounds sad.

It sounds sad, obviously, that there was potential there for you to maybe make it work together and then suddenly she died. Yeah. Yeah.

But then towards the end of 2019, I did find accommodation. I mean, East Yorkshire Council were very kind in finding a place to live. So that was the basis.

That was a start. I’m thinking, I’ve got a place to live now. Start and pull yourself up.

I’m still spending half a day in bed. But the half of me wanted to stay in that bed. The other half was trying to slap myself across the face and say, come on, just pull yourself up.

And I remember going to a mind class. So I was referred to mind at York and I went to that place down Boulburn and it was a creative writing course. So I did I think about six sessions there.

And on the wall was pinned a notice for converge, which operates out of Yorkshire at John’s University, dealing with all creative courses. So I went went along there and signed up to that. So that was another room on the ladder.

And I was trying to get myself out of this pit of, I don’t know, it’s all pity or just pit of despair. And that was it towards the end of 2019. And that was probably one of the best things I did was joining converge.

Do you think there is just listening to what you’re saying there about not wanting to get out of bed? And it’s a common theme, isn’t it, when you have depression or anxiety? It’s difficult to motivate yourself to do anything because these feelings are so strong and so overriding that staying in bed and going to sleep is the obvious answer. Because you’re not having to deal with reality of life. Are you not having to deal with all these emotional emotional problems that arise? And do you think it’s it’s quite a stigma for men that men don’t feel confident or able to talk about it? That men are supposed to be strong when actually nothing could could be further from the truth, could it? That it’s not about.

It’s not about that much about self-preservation, really. And yes, of course, there is still that stigma that men are tough and they’re the dominant ones. And we can’t be seen to have mental health problems.

That’s that’s not for us. But I think it is changing slightly. It’s still there, but not as much as it used to be.

You’ll go back to the later notice and it would be definitely, you know, I’m not seeking any help at all. But at times I’ve changed, it’s getting easier and things are a lot more accessible. And it is perfectly fine to have a cry.

And I admit that, hey, I’m sorry, I just can’t cope with this. You know, it’s OK to do like it’s OK to seek help. I mean, personally, I don’t, you know, I don’t give a monkeys.

I’m quite happy to go and see anyone. If it’s concerning my betterment, I think, you know, hence the converge. It really does mean the world of good.

So I’ve kept to it. I’m stuck with it because it’s doing good. Absolutely.

And would you say converge, then, because converge is a project, isn’t it, run by York St. John University and it helps and supports people who have mental health problems or other challenges and difficulties in their life. And do you feel by joining converge in some small or big way that was they break through that you needed in your mental health or was there other things combined with converge and the support of converge that have helped you to overcome, which is what is a huge adversity. And we haven’t even spoken about the motorbike accident yet, have we? So you’ve had masses of adversity going on there and then this like an angel, if you like, in the form of converge comes into your life.

And so what happens then? What changes for you by going to converge? Well, for a set off, it was held on the courses are held on campus and there’s a wide range of creative courses from creative writing, theatre, performance, music, songwriting, music, art. And I went along because I used to be a writer, I went along to the creative writing and I absolutely loved it. And I actually managed to get onto campus and I’m mixed with other people.

I’m a little bit nervous at first, but it forced me out of the house to mix with other folks. And the best thing about the converge scenario was we’re all in the same boat. There is no judgment.

No one judges anyone else, maybe apart from the writing. But even then, you know, it’s absolutely full of encouragement and positivity. Everyone tries not to be negative and it really, really works.

And it was starting to work probably better than any of the therapists I went to see. The converged is much, much more. And to the point that we have what’s called a sharing day twice a year, where it’s in one of the theatres in the university and everyone will go along and share a piece of their work.

Well, I’m always scrabbling now to be front of queue and get on that stage and read some of my work that I’ve written. I love it. But go back 10 months.

I just wouldn’t have come in. I wouldn’t have even got out of bed for it. So, you know, it’s a real boost.

It’s a real boost. It’s built your confidence by the sounds of it, hasn’t it? And yourself and Steve and the fact that you were already writing and now you’ve written a book, haven’t you? I have, indeed. So before we even go to the Annas Oribles, as the Queen said, wasn’t it, dear? Tell me a bit more about your book and share something about that and then tell people where they can get your book.

And then I’ll remind people at the end of this interview where they can get the book from. Yeah, yeah. The book came about, I’ll have to tell you how it came about this because I had a horrific motorcycle accident in June 2020.

It almost left me for a day. I was in hospital for three months and I came out in a wheelchair. But while I was actually in hospital, I had nothing to do all that because bear in mind, this was lockdown.

So none of my family could come. I didn’t get to see anyone who just laid in that bed and I couldn’t move for three months. And the thoughts going through my head were I’ve spent 20 odd years with a motorcycle shop.

I’ve spent 40 odd years being surrounded by the things. What a perfect thing to write about. So I came up with a story and just managed to took away some part of my memory that was actually working for future reference for when I came out.

And when I came out, I managed to start writing the book with the aid of a speech to text editor. And I just sort of worked through it and ended up one day looking down and thinking, I’ve got 100,000 words here. So after editing it a bit, I put together the whole book, which is it’s a book about motorcycles, but it’s about my life from that’s been involved with the two wheeled routes.

So I wrote the book and it’s been a huge success. And it tells of the 20 years amongst bikes because we used to import bikes from America, take them to bits and then send the bits around the world. So it was a story of that, a story of the customers, a story of the staff.

The silly, silly antics that we used to get up to. And my children look through that book now and just go, oh, God, you didn’t do that, did you? It’s really full of funny stories. The best place to get it is on eBay.

Because I chose to do the promotion myself rather than letting Amazon take over or another publisher take over. I chose to do it myself and then I gave a little bit of control on it. The idea was never to get rich doing it.

The idea was to leave a legacy for my children and to give me something to focus on as I was recovering at home. Because once I got back, I didn’t go home, I went to the dark system where I still am. It wasn’t just a case of going back to normal now.

It took about two years for me to get to where I am now. And I still struggled a bit to walk. But I was still in recovery for the first six months and again, I couldn’t move.

I just had to sit. I could get out of bed and sit in the chair and that’s it. That’s your lot, Kevin.

So that’s why I decided to put pen to paper. Your injuries must have been so, Kevin, from what you’re saying that in hospital all you were doing were laid in bed and you had all these thoughts running through your head. So the injuries must have been quite severe from the motorbike accident.

Yeah, yeah. If you’d like to hear them, I’ll run through them. Please do.

Oh, it reads like something out of math. Oh no. Go on.

Right. I was knocked off my bike at 20 miles an hour by a van that pulled out right in front of me. 20 miles an hour, but the bike landed on top of me.

I made the silly mistake of not wearing a full face crash helmet. It was one of the open face crashes. Which I’ve had for years and I hit the road with my face.

So I suffered fractured eye sockets, fractured roof of mouth, fractured right shoulder, fractured right elbow. I lost all my bottom teeth, which it’s not a funny story, but it’s quite unusual. I spoke to the paramedic who came out to me.

And he said, I mean, he didn’t think I was going to make it to Oscar. And he said, there was all little teeth embedded into the road and to tell him I couldn’t come out. So I lost my teeth.

I damaged my left knee. I dislodged my diaphragm, deflated my lung. So I couldn’t breathe for about 10 months out.

Struggled, really struggled breathing. Well, I was in hospital, I caught pneumonia and sepsis. And then I had a blood clot.

Oh, goodness me. Well, I mean, I must admit, I didn’t even know I had pneumonia or sepsis. They just kept putting these drips on me.

And I just thought it was something to do with the accident. If it wasn’t, it was pneumonia and sepsis. Well, I battled that off.

I managed to get that off. I mean, I have a dodgy heart. I have a pacemaker fitted.

But people kept saying to me, can’t be no wrong with your heart. If you can suffer all that long, you’re still here. So I suppose there is that.

That’s the good point. But yeah, the injuries were horrific. And so your rehabilitation, did that all take place prior to you going home? Because you left in a wheelchair, didn’t you? So at this point, are you not able to walk? So where is that will for you and that determination, which is part of recovery, isn’t it? There is that thing about I’m not going to give up.

I am going to walk. I am going to change my life round. So what point are you, you’ve come out of hospital then.

I don’t know what your mental health was like at this point. You’ve had all these things, you know, the sepsis, the blood clot and the injuries themselves. So how are you feeling at this point on a scale of one to 10 are you, you know, wow, God, have I got through this and have I got more to come? Are you really, are you really in a place where you’re sort of thinking, I have to fight.

I have to keep going and get through this. It’s funny because it’s a double edged sword really. Part of me thought, why me? You know, this freight train has run straight into my life and thrown all these things on me.

And it’s just, it’s just dragging me down. You know, if I thought 2019 was bad, then 2020 went through roof. So on that side, I had all that.

But the other side of the coin was the determination. I thought to myself, I thought, by hook or by hook, I am going to get out of this chair and I’m going to walk and I’m going to do everything that I used to do. But as it is, I can’t because my arms still badly damaged.

But most of the things I can do, I never used to be able to run a marathon before of the accident and I still can’t for more, you know. But I, there was that determination there when I came out. But as far as the mental health goes, that went into overdrive because what had happened was at the scene of the accident, I was given ketamine, which is an hallucinogenic.

And the hallucinations I had for that were just unbelievable. Absolutely petrifying. I have never been so scared in my life.

And yet it was the most basic of things. And I actually thought I’d died. And I wrote about the hallucinations.

And quite, I can’t bring myself to read them back. And I spoke to the therapist about it. And she said, yeah, well, it’s PTSD, you know.

But it was horrible. I wouldn’t wish it on the worst enemy that, terrible. So the hallucinations brought on by the medication, they probably seemed quite real to you, did they? I mean, I’ve not experienced that myself.

I mean, I’ve had mental health problems in the past. And I know how your head feels messed up, doesn’t it, on so many different levels. You can’t explain it unless you’ve been through it.

But to have that, it’s almost induced, isn’t it, by the medication. You have no control over what’s happening. Do you remember being frightened? Was it a fearful experience? I can only imagine it must be.

Yeah, absolutely. I just can’t put into words how frightening it was, because it was so realistic. Absolutely.

I was there. And I mean, one of the scenes that I actually saw was, I was actually in a hospital bed. And there was a character in a bed a bit further along who was threatening to kill my children.

And it was just so lifelike. So they sent the police in, and a policewoman was sat next to me, sat on a stool next to my bed. And she said, don’t worry, look at this.

And she had a gun fastened to her waistband. And I even touched the gun. And it was just so lifelike.

It was unbelievable. And the fear, I could actually feel the fear. And even when I eventually came up, there was, I think, three different episodes of hallucinations.

When I did eventually come round, I kissed the nurses. I just couldn’t believe them. I couldn’t believe I was alive.

I really couldn’t believe it. And it’s a total nightmare. So when you shared with the nurses or the therapists about these hallucinations, did they say, you know, did you have to have some special kind of therapy for it, or was it a case of that? It was just a case of your mind healing and coming out the other side of it.

Yeah. It’s a cliché, and it’s said a thousand times, but time is a great healer. And time was and is.

However, I still get these awful, awful times nowhere. I’m absolutely petrified. So I’ve just been issued with another set of therapies, another course of therapy to see if we can sort of do something about that.

But yeah, it’s just the fear, that the mental health application from that, that the hallucinations alone is terrible. Absolutely terrible. And I can’t, I just can’t explain enough, really.

You’ve got to have been there. And now there, how on earth people take ketamine as a recreational drug? I’ll never know. I just can’t understand that.

And the damage that must cause? Yeah, yeah. Just based on what you’re saying here, and you’ve been given it for a serious accident, but if you’re taking it without having an accident and just taking it, as you say, as a recreational drug, what damage can that be doing? Yeah, it’s terrible. It’s horrific.

But again, something in my inner being must have said, we’re going to get him out of this. And I’m sort of far through it. And touch wood, I’m okay.

I’ve got as bad as what I was. I’ve got some more therapy, but it’s nothing to what I was like. When I first came out of hospital.

Do you have a faith or something like that, Kevin? Because I mean, a lot of people who are in crisis and in hospitals, and they see things, they have visions, and I know you had the experience with the drugs and everything, but did you have a faith or like a God or a universe or anything that you may or may not have prayed to? Everybody has different ways of dealing with things. I mean, a family member of mine was in a coma. And I remember getting all my friends from all over the world just to say prayers.

The power of prayer is meant to be really positive. And I was just coming up with things that I thought might be helpful. Do you have a faith or anything? I’m not saying you do what you’re doing.

It doesn’t really matter either way, but I’m just interested to know. And for people listening, because some people don’t believe in anything. Others have so many different things in their lives to cling to in times of crisis.

Yeah, yeah. I’ve never been a religious person. I never have.

But when I was in the hospital, I didn’t have anyone to talk to at all. The only person that would come around would be the priest or the vicar who came out. And I used to enjoy talking to him.

He never, never once tried to force religion onto me. It was just really nice to talk to, a really interesting man to talk to. So part of me would think, yes, I’d love to be able to have something to cling to, something from religion, if I could gain something from religion then.

But part of me thought, well, you’re just being a bit of a hypocrite there. The fact that God is good when you’re not very well, and then he doesn’t matter any other time. So I sort of, no, I stuck to myself, and I still appreciate what people did, because certain people were lighting candles for me.

Which the very fact that they’ve done that was a boast. I’m not saying the candle did anything, but the very thought that they’d taken time to do this was a real boast. It’s the intention behind it, isn’t it, Kevin? The intention of a group of people who get together and who are sending good wishes out.

You know, we always have them in this country, when there’s ever a crisis, to say prayers and light candles. It’s like the whole country together sending good wishes. And there’s something about that positive energy, if you like, that the person can feel.

So, you know, perhaps that’s what was happening for you. But it’s interesting, isn’t it, that you say you would have felt, it wouldn’t have felt right by you saying all of a sudden, I’m going to turn to God or whatever source you might believe in. Because you didn’t feel it was the right thing to do.

But there’s something somewhere, somebody was watching over you saying, it’s not your time, Kevin, is it? You might have had all these challenges and you might have had all this adversity. But between, you know, Converge, I’m guessing the NHS nursing staff were a huge help and all the other things you’re doing, the therapist, you are starting to come through the other side of it. Or do you feel you are kind of still stuck in the middle of it and moving forward almost like walking through treacle, if you like? Yeah, I feel as though I am getting towards the edge of the field now where I am coming through it.

I do have the odd relapse, but I enlarge. Like I said, time’s a great healer. And I do feel as though I’m almost getting to where I want to be.

Which, although having said that, I’ll never be like I was pre-accident because this right arm is just, I can’t really do anything with it. So that’s sort of out of the question. It’s unlikely I’ll ever get on a motorbike again.

Simply because I am not putting my family through all that again. What they went through was absolute torture. Because they thought I was going to die and there was nowhere they could see me because of Covid.

And they went to hell and back. So I thought, no, I’ve had 45 years on motorbikes. I’ve had the most serious accident ever.

Cut and run while you’re in front. So I have a trike, I have a three wheeler motorbike. Which I may or may not put back on the road.

So after two wheels, I’m done. You’re still a bit of a Hell’s Angel in there then, aren’t you? Because that was Harley Davison’s and all that kind of stuff you were tinkering with. And the fact that you were writing for freelance magazines and things like that.

That must have been really at the heyday of what you were doing. Because, wow, I was always fascinated with bikes and Hell’s Angels and things. But for you to be living that life, is it a life that we would imagine it to be? Is it all drugs, rock and roll, you know, parties? Or is it the complete opposite and you’re all sat meditating on a beach somewhere nice? I don’t think so, somehow.

In diplomacy, it’s maybe halfway between. I mean, unfortunately, I can’t do the partying like I used to. I don’t drink anymore.

To be fair, I’ve never really taken drugs. Well, I’ve never had. I’ve never taken drugs.

But I could drink. Boy, could I drink. I would think nothing of drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels at a party.

Oh, wow. And, yeah, a big baker party. Drinking while six at morning.

I’ve done it all, been there, and now I just prefer to write about it. And I don’t get that nasty head on the morning. But choppers and holidays.

Yeah, that’s what I was sort of brought up with. Yeah, if I had another bike up road, it’d be holidays and choppers. Well, I’ve got one, but it won’t go up road.

It’s going in my flat. But, you know, it’s, again, things like that have kept me going, you know. Because I’ve done that many things in my life.

I can just lay there, or I could just lay there when I was in hospital. It just reminisce, reminisce about all the things I’ve done. And they were all ideas for the book.

You know, all the parties I’ve been to, all the funny stories, all the people I’ve met. It was great. And then I had ten years in Spain where I was with a similar group to the Hell’s Angels over in Spain.

And I was with that book. It’s a very structured life. Oh, is it? Yeah, it’s been part of a club like that.

It’s very, it’s very, run almost with military precision. Oh, is it really? I wouldn’t have even thought that. Yeah, almost the two wheeled version of the, I’ve forgotten their name now.

Ah, forgotten. It’ll come back. Yeah, the two wheeled version of, oh, I wouldn’t make two in secret and shapes.

Oh, I know what you mean, yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean, yeah. I don’t know, it either came in at the minute.

No, but you know what I mean, yeah. I do, I do. And you know all that, yeah.

So, it is, and to be honest, I wouldn’t even dive old about it anyway. No. In the books, yeah.

Yeah. But suffice it to say then that as part of your journey in a part, well, specifically this part of your journey, a Hell’s Angels gone to hell and coming back and coming back a bit like a Phoenix rising from the ashes in some ways and that, you know, you’re not done by any way you’ve done and dusted and so you have, you’ve now got this. You’re volunteering for Converge, you don’t actually get paid for this role.

You volunteer your time, am I correct in thinking that? You are absolutely correct. And yeah, it’s all voluntary. I’ve taken a few classes and I’m just there to help out on this sharing day or if the creative writing conference was a few weeks ago and I took a couple of classes there and was just on hand to help out.

And my thoughts are Converge has helped me so much. It would be just nice to put back a little of what I’ve taken out because all these courses are free of charge. There’s no payment.

Oh. And I’m just thinking, well, I’ll put a little back and the way I can put it back is to offer my services either just to do whatever, just help out whatever. I can take the classes and just help out.

And I think again, it’s great for the mind. It gives me a sense of purpose. It gives me something to do.

I’ve got something to work towards. And then there’s the social thing as well. I’m big on the social thing.

I’ve got a university on the Wednesday and it is great to see everyone. And over the past three years, I’ve got to know everyone and it’s a tight-knit little family, rather like, and you’re going to laugh at this, rather like my slimming world class on a Tuesday night. Kevin Kells, are you going to Slimming World as well? So there’s no end to this? Oh, absolutely no end at all.

I think I’ve been with Slimming World since I was born. It seems like that. But all told, I’ve lost five stone over the years.

And again, it’s a social thing. I’m going to Tuesday night and get Wade another chat with all the ladies there. There is one or two fellas.

But it’s just nice to sit there and talk about recipes, what you’re going to be doing next week, what we’ve done last week. And again, it’s a boost to your confidence as well. So between that and Converge, it’s really good.

Because I don’t go into pubs. I haven’t gone for about three years. I don’t drink.

So I’ll never get that social side of it. Sorry. I’m going to say the Slimming World thing.

Again, that’s a thing a lot of guys wouldn’t go to, is it? Because it’s not cool. But for you to openly admit and share that on a radio show that other men might be listening to is really positive and insightful. Because some men just wouldn’t go there because they’d be like, oh, it’s all for women.

It’s just a girly thing. But actually, you’re saying the opposite. You’ve lost five stone.

You’re making friends. You’ve got a social circle mixed in with Converge. And look at you, because it sounds like you’ll be surrounded by more women than you are men.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Honestly, there are two or three men going. And I would recommend it if you’re finding yourself just a little bit on the partly side. Just go along and give it a try.

It’s a wonderful way of meeting people and almost getting yourself back to fitness because you don’t have to go to gym every day and be hot and sweaty. You can go to your Slimming World class and not eat as much or eat healthier. You can’t actually.

That’s wrong. You can eat as much, but it’s the way it’s cooked. It’s the way it’s prepared.

And if you are good at preparing things, then it will work. But you have got to have a bit of time on your hands, but it’s paid dividends for me. It doesn’t work for everybody, but it does for me.

Yeah. And if it works for you, I think that’s the thing. And I wouldn’t be surprised then to see you in my Pilates class one of these days, because it sounds like you’re quite open to trying lots and lots of things.

But in terms of the writing, that’s been your savior, hasn’t it? And so I would ask you to, what would you say? What advice would you offer somebody wanting to begin writing that’s too scared to try? Because I know myself, you know, I’ve written a book, I’ve written articles and done things for magazines, and it’s so exciting and uplifting when you’re putting your words down on paper, that for some people to actually just picking up that pen or using a laptop or whatever to start to write, the first thing they say is, I can’t write, there’s nothing I’ve got to write about. What would you say to that? Nothing could be further than the truth. The first thing is to believe in yourself.

You may think, oh, I can’t do that, but you can. You really can do that. Just put pen to paper.

And as far as content goes, I suppose the older you are, the more content you’ve got, but there are a thousand and one things that you can write about in your everyday life. You don’t have to write about events that have happened. You can go into a garden and write about how that garden appeals to you.

There are so many things that you can write about. You can go up next to our neighbor’s car. I’ll tell you what I meant.

Well, I’ll tell you. I have a book, and it’s called 642 Things to Write About. Now, if you’re ever stuck on what to write about, if you think, oh, I can’t do that, I don’t have anything to write about.

This book has 642 prompts. For example, and what it does, it gives you the question at the top, and then it gives you a few lines, so you can actually write it in the book. Here’s one.

Describe the face of someone you love. Just simply describe their face. It only has to be ten lines, but I’m sure anyone can do that.

There’s another. You, a grown adult, are afraid of the dark. Explain why this is a legitimate concern so friends will laugh at you.

So, really, sort of… Yeah, it is. Think about it. Look, I’ve got to read you this.

You’ve been evicted from your home, but rather than live on the street, you go to Ikea. At night, you hide you in the bathroom until the janitor leaves, write about your life. So, you know, that’s just three examples of what you can write about.

So you don’t have to be a J.K. Rowling, do you? You can put pen to paper, and you can use your imagination. Do you think part of it is because as adults, you know, you’ve lost the ability to connect in with your imagination because as a child, isn’t it, you make up fantasies and you have your imaginary friends and all those kind of things. And as an adult, you’ve been to school, or maybe university or not, and you’ve gone to work, and it’s the daily grind of the nine to five or whatever, and that imagination just disappears.

But when you… And I know you’ve told me, when you start to write, you just lose yourself. You just lose yourself in that writing, and you can’t help but concentrate. You can’t help but focus on the here and now because that’s what you’re focusing your mind on.

That’s right, yeah. As far as the imagination goes, I have never, ever lost mine. In fact, people say now, you act like a 12-year-old.

I will think like… And I have such a vivid imagination. I’m really proud of my imagination. And if you’ve got that… I mean, you don’t have to have it, but if you’ve got that, then it makes it a whole lot easier.

But you can… The thing is, you can lose yourself in your own little world. Draw the door. Draw the door in words.

Describe this door, and describe yourself going through it, and beyond that door is the whole world that you want. You can be whoever you want. You can do whatever you want, and you just write it down.

Write it down what you have. And say you’re doing that for two hours. That’s two hours that’s taking your mind off anything bad that’s going on.

I mean, it’s not going to cure you overnight, but it will just give you some sort of relief. I was writing quite a lot actually when I was doing the recovery when I come out of the hospital. I was doing like six or seven hours a day.

But I lost myself in it. And then next thing I know, oh, look at the time, you know, that’s it. But while I was writing, I wasn’t thinking about the things that could hurt me.

So I think a bit of the mental health comes… And that’s the thing, isn’t it? That’s the whole thing about part of that healing journey with the mental health. Yeah, there’s the therapy and all that, but you’re not with a therapist 24 hours a day. So doing things to help yourself like writing, you know, creative writing, painting, or whatever it might be, so therapeutic.

And at one point, correct me if I’m wrong, Kevin, you were earning money from writing short stories and things or articles for magazines, weren’t you? Oh, yes, I had my own regular column. And what I used to do was people would build a motivate, build a special chopper and motivate, and I would go along with a photographer. They’d take the pictures, and I would interview the person and then come back and write the whole story.

And then I progressed to having my own column, which was a technical column. I would get letters at the office. Oh, how do you change the brakes on the back of the Yamaha XS650 or something like that? And I would make it funny.

I would make the answer funny. And I remember speaking to a chap in York, and he said, do you know, I read your column every month, and I have the clue about bikes. He said, it’s so funny.

We just read it for laughs. And that was the general consensus with it, was the humor that came through the writing, which, funnily enough, when I used to interview the people who had the bikes, one of the questions I would say is, what makes you laugh? And then I would write that into the story and again make it funny. So yeah, I was very fortunate to be paid for that, alongside when I had the motorcycle business.

So what better advert than being in an international magazine whilst I had the business? Absolutely. I mean, that must have been quite an amazing part of your journey. And I know you’ve said to me that your sense of humor has been the thing that’s kept you kind of grounded and solid.

Do you have something or one of your humorous stories that you want to share with us, or am I putting you on the spot here by asking? No, you’re not. I can tell you a quick one from book one. Oh, good to do.

From book one. So I’m writing a certain book now. I’ve always had it.

I won’t read it to you. I’ll tell you like it is because all the stories in my book are true. Okay.

I’ve always had this obsession with boxes, cardboard boxes, wooden boxes, any boxes. And in the showroom at the shop, we had a big glass cabinet that was full of shiny bits for the customers to look at. Ooh, yeah, shiny bits.

I love that. And one day I decided to clean it out. So I removed everything.

It had a green base floor in it, vacuumed the base out. And I thought, that looks really comfy. So I got in this cabinet.

It’s a glass cabinet. And there was a worktop on top of it with the phone and everything. It was a counter.

And I’m loading that cabinet. And next thing I hear the door open. And they’re chopping a soap water.

And it’s going, hello, hello. Oh, no, no, no, no. Please don’t look this way.

Please don’t look this way. He took a workshop. And he saw my workshop manager.

And he said, is the boss at all? Is this cabinet at all? And my manager sat alone. He saw me leading that cabinet. And then he just went, yeah, he’s now leading that cabinet.

So I’m leading this cabinet. And this chap comes over himself. And he goes, ah, my name’s Mr. Freer.

From HM Customs and Excise. It’s about your returns. You’re always £6.87. Could I fill out the check? And I’m holding this conversation with that man while I’m leading a glass cabinet.

And it was as though it was the most normal thing in the world. I’d love to have been a fly-up while when he went back to his office and then said to his friends, you’re not going to believe this. So that’s one of the stories from the first book.

Did you lose a bit of colour when he said where he was from, Kevin? I did. Just a guess. Just a guess.

Yes, yes, yes. I thought, oh, no, he was going to hit me with like £10, but it wasn’t. It was £6.87 by the old.

Oh, gosh. I’ve been up quick enough to write that check out. You wonder why he was coming after you for £6.50 or whatever.

I knew they probably didn’t have email and things back in the day there. It would have been a visit, wouldn’t it? I think it was before all that. I remember a VAT man and inspector once came round and he asked me to go and play golf with it.

And I often think, I hate golf. I can’t stand it and I won’t do it. I’m not interested in it.

But I often think that would have probably done now if that returns the world of golf. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I’ve gone to play golf with it.

Yeah. Yeah. For how long? For how long? Yeah.

Yeah. So the book’s full of stories like that. So it’s not just about motor life.

It’s about life or about retail. You know, anybody who’s in retail, whether it be selling clothes or anything else, they will relate to some of the stories. It’s the stories about the customers.

And it’s nice that, isn’t it, that you’ve got that balance between writing about bikes and all that kind of thing and writing about the customers. And I bet it’s really amusing and funny reading the fact that you’ve got your second book coming out as well. But just remind us again about the name of your book, your book now, where we can get it from.

Right. The book is called The Motorcycle Undertaker. I’ll tell you why it’s called that because my place was where all the bikes came to be dismantled.

So in effect, they came to a funeral parlor who were all dismantled. So I called the book The Motorcycle Undertaker. And it’s available.

The easiest way to get it is available on eBay. I’ll just put it on there and it can be bought and I would send a signed copy out to anybody who’s interested. The one thing I must say is I have had such a good response as well.

People have come up to me and said, oh, I’ve read your book, Kevin, it was absolutely brilliant. And as a writer, that is fantastic. It’s fantastic to hear that.

And you’ve promoted it yourself, thanks. I know you were saying earlier that you’ve done all the work behind it. So have you ever had any experience of promoting books or that kind of thing? Because for writers, it can be a bit daunting, can’t it? So the idea of you’ve written this book, now what happens? Because most people, myself included, had an agent which didn’t really work out because it turned out the agent wasn’t actually promoting the book and she’d had it about three years, something like that.

So it was really not a good time. So I ended up publishing mine on Amazon. But I haven’t had that much time to do any more promotion work.

So for you, I guess you must have put a lot of effort into that to be able to get it to where it is, the success it’s achieved. Yeah, because I had nothing else to do. To go in recovery, the book had been printed, published.

I didn’t have anything else to do. So I just sent emails to people who I knew, put it on the first book, put it in various different adverts, sent leaflets to cafes, biker cafes all around the country, asking them if they’d just put the leaflets up on the wall. And it trickles away.

I’m happy with how it goes. Like I said, I’ve never wanted it to be a big bestseller. I’m quite happy for it just to trickle away and pay for itself.

So, yeah, that kept me occupied in that. But I have got control over the booklet. And would you say no if somebody came and offered you a book deal, a publishing house, or if somebody were to make it into a mini movie or something like that? Would you say no to that? No, I wouldn’t say no to that.

And I would be quite interested in playing myself. Yeah, I can imagine. And I would be really good at it, actually, because to converge at St John’s, I’m doing a course called Working Towards Performance, which is theatre performance.

So I’m also trying to be an actor. So for me to act myself, it should be really good. I think that’s an amazing thing.

I mean, we’ve got about three minutes left or two and a half minutes left. I’m going to ask you, what is your next aspiration? Now, you’ve just said there about acting. So what is your next aspiration for what, maybe the next year or two? Is it writing your book? Is it something else? Is it doing more work with converge? Or do you see yourself? Because I know you’re on Facebook, aren’t you? I do know that.

And I know you were doing little videos and things before. So where do you see yourself going over the next year or two? Well, I’d like to continue with converge. And I would also like to progress from the Working Towards Performance classes to what’s called, and it’s gone out of my mind now, there is another class after that.

It’s a little theatre group based at York University. I would like to join that, which you can only do if you’ve done the Working Towards Performance. So I’m perhaps looking towards that.

I’d like to do lots more writing, perhaps for magazines again. But to be quite fair, I’m not even bothered whether I get paid for it or not. You’re just doing the writing out.

It’s a good therapy. Yeah, and that is the thing, isn’t it? For you, that has become your go-to therapy, the thing that will keep getting you through your dark times, your tough times and your difficult times, and it must be a blessing to your family to know that you’re actually starting to come through the other side of it, Kevin, and how your life, it’s probably changed for some people immeasurably, listening to this, and I’m sure people listening to this will be inspired by what you’ve had to say. Yeah, yeah.

Well, where I put myself at the moment is, the Grand National, I’ve just got over that last fence on a horse. I’ve just got over that last fence, and I can see that finish line in the distance. That’s where I am now, and I like to think I’m running towards that finish line.

And you are, and we’re running towards the finish line on this show as well, and it’s been such a joy and a pleasure to have you on. So thank you to everybody for tuning in to Doctor Annette Talks with Kevin Keld. Please check us out at womensradiostation.com, and you can find us on all the usual social media channels, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all the rest of it, and I do hope that people will tune in to this and be inspired by this story of triumph over adversity, and remember, it’s never too late.

Thank you for listening, and I’ll see you next time.