Christopher was educated at Bradfield College in Berkshire and at The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.After a brief but very worthwhile spell in the Army, he chose a change in career to become a chartered surveyor – thereafter spending the next 47 years writing condition reports on such properties as Georgian rectories, 17th century farmhouses and period cottages, for dewy-eyed clients intending to buy them!Now, in his early seventies, Christopher has finally realised that writing children’s stories is far more fun and much more interesting – beautifully illustrated by his wife, Sandy.However, this was interrupted in December 2020 when their much-loved whippet-cross Scallywag died suddenly.Christopher and Sandy were grief-stricken, and Christopher found that the only way of dealing with his grief was to write about her, revisiting happy memories.This book is the result, a tribute to honour a beloved friend who came into Christopher’s life at a critical time for him, likewise for Scallywag who was in need of a loving home. It is also to safeguard many precious memories of happy times together at home and aboard their narrowboat “Bluebell” on the Kennet & Avon Canal – and later on March Hare.From the age of 16, Christopher spent much leisure time during his life on boats, crewing on a variety of yachts belonging to friends of his – sailing to the Channel Islands, to the north coast of Brittany, to the Scilly Isles and along the south-west coast of England, also taking part in the “Round the Island Race”, circumnavigating the Isle of Wight.These days, it is the gentler pace of the Kennet & Avon Canal and the beauty of its surrounding countryside that tempt Christopher to leave his laptop in favour of spending time on his cabin cruiser in the Somerset Coal Canal, one of the loveliest linear marinas in the south of England, just off the K&A.