Mike Leaver

Mike Leaver is a single, retired, handyman aged 72. He lives in a self-converted, static, lorry on a small-town business park in Snowdonia – and writes autobiography and saga novels for pleasure.

Somewhat of an eccentric, Mike's truck has no electricity, mains water, or central-heating and he studiously lives on around £40 a week – most of which is launderette costs – even though his State Pension more than covers this!

As well as writing his first three novels and his two autobiographies – largely on a lap-top by candlelight in his truck or using free electric at the town sports centre – Mike is an active University Of The Third Age (U3A) member. Each week he enjoys table tennis, chess, and solo-walking.

Why Mike chose to live this lifestyle is quite a long and complicated tale; but it has evolved over about 60 years. He started with his parents in a childhood council house; then lived in a seaside caravan for a while; got a job and made a flat in an industrial warehouse; moved on to a houseboat; ended up sleeping and eating in an office kitchen; spent a few days in an estate car; bought and adapted another houseboat...and finally converted a lorry!

Mike spent a great deal of time and money converting boats into houses. But this caused problems with the authorities, and he could only sail them a few miles on waterways. He always had a motorbike, and then a three-wheeler car, to get around. But he gradually realised he wanted to be more comfortable while he travelled to do what he loves – mountaineering, rock climbing, potholing, and sailing. And to have somewhere safe to write about it.

So Mike bought a lorry and began converting it. And he just added extension and improvements over time. He has now lived in his immobile truck – which does have a kitchen, bed-sitting room, and even a roof-garden – for 30 years. The last 15 have been on an unused access road between a factory and a builders' merchant's yard. His truck broke down there and is still on that spot!

Like Alan Bennett's 'The Lady In The Van', Mike has become a well-known character around his adopted home of Porthmadog – a small, seaside, harbour town now renowned for tourism, but once famed for shipping mined Ffestiniog slate around the world.

Mike says he likes Porthmadog so much, mainly because it is a lovely friendly town and community, with easy access to walking and climbing in magnificent Snowdonia – but also the stunning coastline and sea on his doorstep.

It has a lively mix of local Welsh, resident English, and visitors from overseas, as well as a short but fascinating history of industrial heritage. And the Welsh language is still strong here which adds much to the area's distinctive culture, he adds.

Mike, originally from the West Midlands, came to Porthmadog, having discovered the charms of neighbouring Tremadog 20 years before on a walking/mountaineering holiday.

He had inhabited a self-adapted narrow-boat on English West Country rivers – until it eventually sank. Homeless, he survived in its recovered hulk by cannibalising it over three years!

Workwise, Mike has been a laboratory technician, business book-keeper, a boat captain and corporate events co-ordinator, and always a self-taught craftsman – able to do most engineering and construction trades to a high-quality standard.

He has also enjoyed three epic adventures overseas – motorbiking to the Alps, and taking his truck to wildernesses in North Africa and Scandinavia, to trek and climb mountains.

Somehow, Mike turned his life and fortunes around from being relatively destitute. After he resigned from his job as a company accountant and his self-employed business as a motorcycle dealer failed, he was homeless. He took advantage of the Government's Unemployment Re-Training Scheme to get a weekly grant to become a writer. This helped him pay off some debts and end his constant diet of just porridge and potatoes.

Then he got a few really tough manual jobs, before talking his way into a pleasure boat company to become a captain. When he eventually came to Porthmadog, he found plenty of work as a handyman and earned as much as he needed.

As a committed vegetarian and recycler – who has never owned a television and been tempted to consumerism – Mike keeps his living expenses extremely low. He hopes to persuade others to pursue this path to happiness, especially in harsh economic, social, and environmental times.

An only-child of single children, Mike's early-years were among the bomb sites of post-war Birmingham suburban council estates. Asthma and persistent chest-complaints persuaded his parents to let the local authority send him to a more rural state boarding school – a 'dumping ground' for weaklings.

But he hated the school's military-style discipline so much, his mum moved him down to a Somerset caravan, and back again, to finish his education in a comprehensive school's 'delicate' unit, mostly with girls.

Mike often reflects on what, if anything, running away from something teaches us. If it's escaping from state boarding school masters – who fervently believe that corporal punishment beatings or bully-boy boxing matches are the best form of discipline – then, he says, it avoids a great deal of physical pain! He endured many canings as a child and young teenager, so did his utmost to run away as often as possible.

In the end, the authorities sent him to a local comprehensive. Many girls there thought he was a freak, but his hormones made him fascinated with them, so he began to interact them in his own naïve way.

As Mike got older and started work, he realised how to stay and manage difficult situations – such as complex office politics in the 1980-1990s – rather than run away. Through that he built some excellent teams and strong friendships – but he still knew when it was time to get out of damaging confrontations.

As soon as he could, Mike had left home to began his 45-year life on the water and road – only a few times falling, but failing, in true-love – and ultimately becoming an adult-orphan handyman and writer.

Mike thinks that, despite such an interesting life, he remained a bachelor because he was only ever interested in sensible ladies – with short hair, proper shoes, and no painted nails or make-up. Apart from work, he also inhabited a male-dominated world of outdoor pursuits, where there were at least a dozen handsome young men for every lady climber.

And finally, although he became very close friends with several ladies, somehow his lack of confidence and romantic hormones meant he could never quite summon up the courage to ask the crucial question at the right moment. So, he convinced himself by his mid-forties he would remain romantically unattached – but write about it instead!

Mike's favourite authors, who most influence his style, are:

Maeve Binchy – female insight to, and perspective of, characters and narrative.
George Orwell – foresight of politics and struggle against repression by under-privileged.
Thomas Hardy – class/gender-based stories but told in old-fashioned and considered style.

His books explore the themes of: power, perversion, and coercion versus loyalty, friendliness and collaboration; adult, teenage and child relationships; destitute homelessness, unrequited love, and wider social mores.

He says three other people have inspired his fledgling writing career. Aside from all the ones he has met – who have obviously contributed bits of their real character to those he creates – three others are significant.

Firstly, there's the editor of the now-vintage 'High' Magazine for hill walkers and climbers. He commissioned Mike's first paid article about the struggles of trying to find a soulmate through personal ads. But more importantly, he recommended him to another published author of climbing and travel books. So, 35 years ago Mike drove his old three-wheeler car to spend a weekend in Snowdonia at the home of James Perrin. Jim's way of life and advice made him determined to become a creative writer.

And finally, more recently, Mike's literary agent Ian Spindley – a former Gwynedd journalist from Criccieth – found a leading UK publisher for his work, negotiated a deal with them, and is managing all his marketing and public relations.

Now Mike is a published author, in 10 years' time he sees himself still being able and healthy enough to live in a truck. He wishes for his perfect life in Porthmadog to continue unchanged. Anything to do with telephones or computers, though, he will still leave to Ian.

When writing, Mike imagines a friendly reader sitting in an armchair, laughing – and occasionally crying – while he tries to give them advice on how to start their own life of happiness. His top tip is to get rid of their television and learn, instead, to play board games such as Scrabble with family or friends.