A former soldier who spent months in a coma after a crash has written a book inspired by the experience.
Martin Etheridge, of Isleworth , joined the Army aged 16 in 1978 and was on duty in West Germany with the Royal Artillery four years later when the truck in which he was travelling crashed.
Five soldiers and the driver were killed, and he only regained consciousness several months later, on his 21st birthday.
The 53-year-old father-of-two, who also has two grandchildren, endured a long and difficult recovery.
He can now swim, walk with the aid of crutches and ride a tricycle, but he has a disability called ataxia, which affects his balance and speech, and causes muscle spasms.
He remembers nothing of the crash itself but harnessed his experience of the recovery to pen 'What a Load of Rubbish', a comic novel which he describes as "a story for children and childish adults".
Its hero is a street cleaner called Malcolm, who drinks himself into unconsciousness after being replaced by mechanical sweeper the All-in-One-der.
After waking from his near-death experience, he challenges the machine's inventor to a contest in a bid to win back his old job and impress his sweetheart.
Mr Etheridge began writing when his parents and uncle gave him a typewriter after his injuries initially left him unable to speak.
His book, published by Clink Street Publishing, opens with a dedication to all those who supported him through his recovery.
"Although I'm not better - you don't get better from a disability like ataxia - you can overcome it if you have the right kind of mind and are willing to work at it," he says.
"I have been 'working at it' since I woke up on my 21st birthday, and, as I maintain, disability of any kind is conquerable but you must be prepared to forsake a few pleasures."
Mr Etheridge, who describes himself as "terminally untidy", says he chose to write about street cleaners because he often stops to talk to them when he is out on his tricycle.
He is also fascinated by and a little afraid of the way machines and computers are increasingly changing the way we work.
"I was born in 1962 and I've seen a lot of change where a machine takes over the job that was before done by a person," he says.
"If people don't start thinking for themselves rather than letting machines do their thinking for them we had better look out.
"The opportunity to be an individual is becoming less and less. Dementia is becoming more common. Kids are becoming more robotised by television and video games."
* What a Load of Rubbish, published by Clink Street Publishing, is available via amazon.co.uk and other booksellers, priced £5.99.
