On turning fifty, Marion Dunn had a sudden desire to try out boxing. Despite the immense effort this required – the relentless, bone-sapping exhaustion of training with endless circuits and repeats – her whim quickly became a love affair with this most precise, disciplined of sports. Her account of a quest to master its essential techniques is a story of obsession, determination and sheer graft. It is also a story of the small-town amateur boxing gym – its unique camaraderie, triumphs and setbacks – and a routine of punishing fitness training, a laser focus on balance, intense willpower. From the sweat and toil in shabby youth clubs and chilly old drill halls, Marion takes us through the three years’ preparation before she is ready to step into the ring and spar for real against opponents. Every movement, each micro-improvement, every emotion, is revelatory and inspirational.

Boxing Training Log and Diary - This training journal is the perfect gift for any boxer who is serious about their training. Use it to keep a record of training sessions and to keep as a reminder of technique and drills worked on. Keeping a record will help track your progress and keep you motivated. Ideal for a coach, dad, son, daughter or anyone that simply loves boxing. Makes a great Father's day, Christmas or Birthday gift. Use for note taking, keeping competition results, as a training diary or journal, fitness record, recording competition stats, journaling, writing, doodling, drawing, making lists and recording ideas. Click on the author link to see our other boxing logs and diaries in the series - Strength and Conditioning Log, to record strength and aerobic exercises worked on, and Nutrition Log, to record dietary intake. Size: 6 x 9 in. 120 Pages Glossy soft cover Printed on white paper

‘It won’t happen to me. That’s what I thought when I got on the plane to Venezuela. But it did – I got caught.’ Caught smuggling half a million euros’ worth of cocaine, Paul Keany was sexually assaulted by Venezuelan anti-drugs officers before being sentenced to eight years in the notorious Los Teques prison outside Caracas. There he was plunged into a nightmarish world of coke-fuelled killings, gun battles, stabbings, extortion and forced hunger strikes until finally, just over two years into his sentence, he gained early parole and embarked on a daring escape from South America . . . Aided by his extensive prison diaries, Keany reveals the true horror of life inside Los Teques: a shocking underworld behind bars where inmates pay protection money to stay alive, prostitutes do the rounds and vast amounts of cocaine are smuggled in for cell-block bosses to sell on to prisoners for huge profits. The Cocaine Diaries is a remarkable story, told by Keany with honesty, courage and even humour, despite knowing that every day behind bars might have been his last.

They come into our homes. They see us in our most fragile moments. Plumbers are a fixture in our lives. When a toilet clogs, a faucet leaks, or a sewer line plugs, we call those unsung heroes, desperately seeking help. They scoop out our poop and pull underwear, toothbrushes and cotton balls out of our toilets, doing whatever it takes to get the job done. On a late Wednesday evening, after my toilet clogged, I asked our plumber to share his top five “greatest hits.” The stories were so hilarious, I had to share them with the world. The Poop Diaries features true stories told by my plumber, and many other plumbers, about the most memorable service jobs they have worked on and most unique people they have helped. Whether it’s nudity, rats, fake vaginas, dildos, snakes, weapons and so much more, these plumbers have seen and smelled it all.

PAPERBACK and DOWNLOAD The Peking (Beijing) diaries (1900-06) of the great Victorian-Edwardian diplomat Sir Ernest Satow, published for the first time ever on lulu.com, by permission of the National Archives (UK) on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, with an introduction by China expert J.E. Hoare. Satow was Britain's top diplomat in China when he wrote this journal, as he called it. He replaced Sir Claude MacDonald after the Siege of the Peking Legations which occurred during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and he observed the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) from Peking. Volume One of two volumes (total 812 pages). 420 pages in this volume with many footnotes, and a 73-page index of names in Volume Two.Also now sold in the National Archives (UK) bookshop and on all amazon websites.

The wartime diaries of Fred Lodge underscore his perilous passage through World War 2 including the Dieppe Raid and three years as a POW in Germany. Fred was a quiet, kind, considerate and courageous young Canadian who trained in Canada as an infantry soldier; practiced his military skills in England; waded onshore at Pourville, France on August 19th, 1942; survived intense German gunfire; saw his buddies killed, maimed, indeed slaughtered. Somehow he survived that awful day at Dieppe and was transported to Stalag VIIIB and later to Stalag IIC in eastern Germany. As a POW he was often hungry, bored, shamed, shackled, witnessed summary executions and was forced to participate in a death march in early, 1945. Through it all Fred Lodge was courageous and true to his beliefs no matter what obstacles, temptations or mistreatment came his way. He always did his best and the "right" thing. Fred didn't hate Germans although he had no respect for inhumane NAZI zealots. With the Russian Army fast approaching, Canadian POWs were evacuated westwards in January,1945 in bone-chilling cold and snow. Over four months they were marched west with little food, no warm clothing, little shelter and no reason to think they might survive. However, Fred and most of his fellow POWs did survive and in late April, 1945 they were liberated and returned to England. Somehow Fred Lodge remained the same quiet, kind, considerate and courageous man he was at the beginning. This story, as told by Fred Lodge himself, is a gripping tale. He passed through the hell of war and emerged whole, could you do the same?

The diary of David Watson, who rose through the officer ranks to command one of the four divisions in the Great War, is an exceptional document that details with candid insight the responsibilities of senior command and shows the talent required to rise through the CEF to divisional command. The only published diary of a Canadian who held this rank in the last two (critical) years of the war, it focuses on the evolution of military leadership and associated challenges that Watson (and his peers) faced during the Great War. It recounts how he navigated not only the military battlefield in France and Belgium but also the political battlefield of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and larger British Expeditionary Force. The divisional commanders played a central role in the Corps’ transformation into a first-rate professional army, a transformation that coincided with Watson’s tenure at the 4th Division. Major-General David Watson’s personal accounts offer valuable insights into the innermost workings of the Canadian Corps at various stages during the war and in particular its emergence as an elite fighting force and the pride of a nation