Talk - Steve Haywood

Steve Haywood is is talking today about his book ‘Fruit Flies Like a Banana’, a title which can have two different meanings, when you think about it. “It’s a travel book,” he says. “It’s studiously light-hearted. It’s about this character who has something of a nervous breakdown when he turns 50 and decides to make a journey.” So it isn’t autobiographical? “It is,” he says. “But the whole thing is a profound exaggeration. It’s me with spin. It tells of how I gained respite from the urban maelstrom by taking a journey in my narrowboat.”

The journey Haywood makes isn’t a very dramatic one. “I don’t go white-water rafting in New Zealand or climb Everest,” he says. “I make a journey very befitting to a guy my age. We all need adventure, and this was my adventure. I travelled from Oxford to Bristol. By boat. But it’s more than that. I first got into narrowboats when the canals were full of hippies who liked heavy music and heavy drugs. Now there are boats going for £150,000. With Jacuzzis and central heating. In a way my journey is a tongue in cheek way of standing back and saying ‘hey, let’s look at what’s happened.’ And whether you want it to be a yarn or a book about the state we’ve got ourselves into in the 20th century is up to you. It’s your choice.” Hence the title? “Hence the title.” AL