Kicking the Bucket

Kicking the Bucket has two definitions. It’s a vulgar euphemism for dropping dead, or a literal description of your life support system being involuntarily dispensed with on the gallows, i.e., by kicking away the bucket you may be standing on with the rope around your neck, or by voluntarily removing yourself from the felicitations and care of your family, the NHS, ‘and Social Services. Charles Fenemore, faced with his inevitable decline into senility like most of his friends, chose the latter with unforeseen outcomes.

Leaving his ultimate fate to chance and circumstance, he buys an old boat and sails into ‘the setting sun’, informing no-one of his intentions except his son who reluctantly aids his plans, and arousing the interest of a washed-up journalist who senses an ulterior motive behind his escapade. Subsequent events cause him to query his own feelings and those of his family left behind.

David spent his formative years as a Subaltern on the Hohne Artillery ranges in Germany and the back streets of the Bogside. He had his first brush with computers on FACE in the back of a Land Rover, entering the profession on leaving the army, and skilfully avoiding stepping on any passing bandwagon. At the end of the millennium, he was diagnosed with cancer and bought a derelict barn, simultaneously. His remission period was spent labouring whilst his wife, Jan, adeptly managed the rebuild, subsequently running it for 20 years as a B&B. As a freelancer he now writes and edits a computer magazine for the construction industry, covering subjects like AI, augmented reality in the industrial Metaverse, drone technology, and the industry’s challenges with climate change, sustainability and Net Zero carbon processes.