To start with, they were really very isolated, such that getting a telephone line put in revolutionized their lives. By this time, his first book had become something of a literary sensation, so he reflects on its composition and early reception, remembering when the Mail sent a clueless reporter out to find him. Spanish bureaucracy becomes a key element, especially when it looks like their land might be flooded by the building of a dam. Despite that vague sense of dread, this was good fun. Christopher 'Chris' Stewart (born 1951), was the original drummer and a founding member of Genesis. He is now a farmer and an author. A classmate of Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel at Charterhouse School, Stewart joined them in a school band called The Garden Wall, and they later formed another band with schoolmates Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, called Anon. This band eventually became Genesis in January 1967. Stewart appears on the band's first two singles, "The Silent Sun"/"That's Me" and "A Winter's Tale"/"One-Eyed Hound." Although several demos from Stewart's time with Genesis appear on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 box set, he is not credited with playing on any of them. (Peter Gabriel seems to have played drums on a couple, and the rest do not feature drums.) In this book, he writes about life with his family on their remote Andalusian farm where a misanthropic parrot joins their home and WWOOFers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) come to stay. It’s at least 10 years ago, probably nearer 15, that I read Driving over Lemons, the first in Stewart’s eventual trilogy about buying an isolated farm in Andalusia. His books are in the Peter Mayle vein, low-key and humorous: an Englishman finds the good life abroad and tells amusing anecdotes about the locals and his own mishaps.

Papagailis piparu kokā" lasīsanas pieredze ir salīdzināma ar vienu no tām situācijām, kad satiec nepazīstamu cilvēku, kas uzsāk sarunu, un pašam nemanot, sarunai beidzoties jūs esat kas līdzīgs draugiem. Kriss ir cilvēks kā visi mēs, kas ir dzīves gaitā saskāries gan ar bēdīgākām, gan ar priecīgākām notikumiem. Manuprāt, Kriss ir samēra impulsīvs un ekspresīvs, memuārā aprakstītās pieredzes man ir svešas. Bija interesanti kaut uz brīdi izprast kā domā cits cilvēks un kas virza viņu. Pirmais memuārs, ko esmu izlasījis. As these books go, this is pretty good. He is an engaging writer, and his life and adventures are interesting enough to be worth reading about. He tells us more about his past, and how he came to choose Spain as a destination. His relationship with the local population is generally very good - although some of them are actually incomers too - and they seem to have accepted him.

Summary

Under the warm, funny and self-deprecating writing of Chris Stewart, there moves a man of granite. Life at El Valero ain’t for wossies. Whether he’s describing the climb to admire the fields of gentian flowers on the on the high slopes of the Mulhacén, or the rigours of enduring a deeply uncomfortable wet Christmas in a house and a valley designed for sunshine, it is obvious that he and his family are hugely stoic and enduring. I'm definitely not a fan of 'we escaped the rat race and bought a run down property' books but this is more than just one of those. Stewart has a fascinating past including a stint with a very early Genesis line up (which didn't last long). He dips into those early memories throughout the book and that works well. Then, when I finish the book of this author's adventures on his own farm in Spain, I bought his 2 other books. A Parrot In The Pepper Tree” is what Stewart describes as a “sort of” sequel and it delves into — a little bit — about how “Driving Over Lemons” came into being; it also touches briefly on Stewart’s short tenure with the band, Genesis, as one of its founding members. What marks Stewart out from similar writers is that this is not the life of an Englishman remaining English abroad, as in the Provence of Peter Mayle, but that of an intrepid man having to survive in a primitive part of Spain where making a living is a struggle. Hence the need to supplement his erratic income with trips to snowy Sweden to shear sheep.

With this one reservation, the book is very readable. Yes, it’s light entertainment. But with some fun stories, and a few interesting thoughts about home, life, work and where we all fit in. I read the first book in this trilogy years ago (Driving over lemons) and enjoyed it, so I am not really sure why it took me so long to read this second one. His neighbours continue to delight: one day, while waiting for the school bus to arrive, Chris encounters Bernardo, a local farmer also waiting for his children, gazing forlornly up at a tree. In its branches, there's a small dead dog. "He died last night," Bernardo explains. "I didn't want the children to see him, so I swung him round and round... and then I let him go... but I think I got the timing wrong." They start to laugh, but as they hear the bus chugging up the hill, their laughter gives away to panic, and stones are hurled at the offending corpse. It is to no avail. Chris makes a split-second decision and runs off down to the road to meet Chloe off the bus before it turns the fatal corner, thus sparing his daughter the gruesome sight.This volume is the second book by Chris Stewart charting his continuing struggles after deciding to go and live a partly self-sufficient life in one of the more remote areas of Andalucia. With his wife Ana, and now his daughter Chloe, he lives in a traditional small farm called El Valero. In the first book in the series – Driving over Lemons – he introduced himself and something of his life. In book two, we find him more settled, continuing to develop the farm, and building his new life. Me. Yes, that is true. And you just wait till I read your 3rd story. I will find my way into it somehow. I see right now though, there is no talking to you, so I will ask you no more questions. All in all people were very nice about the book. Somebody was even good enough to say they thought my style was maturing, which gave me a bit of a boost as you may imagine. “The Parrot” didn’t sell as well as “Lemons”, but apparently this is often the case… unless you happen to be JK Rowlings. When you read over his bio, you can’t help but be a little jealous because this is a guy who has really lived. He’s done all sorts of interesting things and he’s pretty good at writing about them.

Christopher 'Chris' Stewart (born 1951), was the original drummer and a founding member of Genesis. He is now a farmer and an author. A classmate of Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel at Charterhouse School, Stewart joined them in a school band called The Garden Wall, and they later formed another band with schoolmates Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, called Anon. This band eventually became Genesis in January 1967. Stewart appears on the band's first two singles, "The Silent Sun"/"That's Me" and "A Winter's Tale"/"One-Eyed Hound." Although several demos from Stewart's time with Genesis appear on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 box set, he is not credited with playing on any of them. (Peter Gabriel seems to have played drums on a couple, and the Christopher 'Chris' Stewart (born 1951), was the original drummer and a founding member of Genesis. He is now a farmer and an author. A classmate of Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel at Charterhouse School, Stewart joined them in a school band called The Garden Wall, and they later formed another band with schoolmates Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, called Anon. This band eventually became Genesis in January 1967. Stewart appears on the band's first two singles, "The Silent Sun"/"That's Me" and "A Winter's Tale"/"One-Eyed Hound." Although several demos from Stewart's time with Genesis appear on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 box set, he is not credited with playing on any of them. (Peter Gabriel seems to have played drums on a couple, and the rest do not feature drums.)

http://imonbinning.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Parrot-in-pepper-tree.m4a A Parrot in the Pepper Tree by Chris Stewart Krisa Stjuarta otrais memuārs. Kriss dalās ar lasītāju ar stāstiem no jaunības, - kā viņš mācījās spēlēt spāņu ģitāru, kā viņš spēlēja grupā "Genesis", kā izlēma uzsākt dzīvi Andalūzijā, - un ar jauniem atgadījumiem, laika periodā pēc pirmās grāmatas izdošanas. Grāmatas ir sarakstīta no vairākiem epizodiskiem ierakstiem, kas sarindoti bez hronoloģiskas secības. Teksts tulkots sarunvalodā.