December 2011

A View from the Lodge: Reminiscences by Alan James

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These are the reminiscences of a Cambridge College Porter, all the more remarkable for being true, with only some of the names and places changed in the tradition of discretion.

Through Eric, we capture a hilarious glimpse of a college’s life from its true custodians, the porters. Cambridge porters exist at the fluid boundaries between the worlds of the tourists, the students and Fellows. Their life is therefore full of the unexpected and often bizarre as they manfully guard the continued existence of their college.

Consequently, it takes a special kind of person to become a porter. You might be dealing with a ticking parcel on one occasion and a famous Hollywood actress the next. In Eric’s case, his unique qualities also included a predisposition to being absent minded and accident prone.

We see how Eric learnt to adopt a philosophical and good humoured approach to his affliction – if mishaps such as exploding coffins were going to happen, and in his case they usually did, then this was simply due to fate.

The one positive outcome from Eric’s constant calamities and the unique nature of his fellow porters was that it often led to the most amusing situations.

The occasionally surreal anecdotes within this book describe events that actually occurred – proving that truth is often stranger than fiction. Read on!

ISBN: 9780956264985
Title: A View from the Lodge
Format: Paperback

RRP: £9.99

Copies of the book can be purchased from

The Author: contact alan@authoralanjames.co.uk