Book excerpt: These tales from the author's life experiences are mostly light-hearted but they all true. They start with Nellie the dinghy who eventually became the long, red, sleek speedboat named The Phantom. Some of the tales also involve the caravan that the author's father bought when Borry was thirteen years old. The family spent almost every weekend from March to October at St. Lawrence Bay in the wilds and farmlands of Essex, by the River Blackwater with recurring battles against screaming winkles, the bog of eternal stench and the evil mud sucking monster. Fun and frolics ensued for over forty-eight years.