Zen and the art of Hip-Joint Maintenance: A curmudgeon's journey from Land's End to John O'Groats

What happens when you hit fifty-five and discover you’ve turned into a grumpy and obsessive old git? For a post-war baby-boomer and member of the ageless rock generation, this represented a desperate situation in need of a radical solution.The author’s answer to his affliction was to take on a new challenge, a trip on footpaths and minor roads from Land’s End to John O’Groats that might give him the chance to sort himself out and recover the spirit of his lost youth. Zen and the Art of Hip-Joint Maintenance is a wry and comical account of his bumbling progress through Britain, with his undersized walking boots, oversized cycling shorts and outsized collection of hobby-horses. Along the way, he reflects upon the people, places and experiences of the journey, the engaging as well as the enraging, and attempts to grapple with some of the great questions of life – why do starlings drop dead on supermarket forecourts, and what is the precise biological function of ear-hair in mid-fifties males?WARNING: Don’t buy this book if you are hoping to learn about Zen or hip-joints.This e-book edition of the original 2003 paperback, marks the author’s twenty years as a curmudgeonly old codger.