Mike Harris History & Photographs

I hope that all you ex-Blackpool Grammar Boys and Collegiate Girls are well. Here is a brief history of the adventures of Mike Harris after leaving with his tail between his legs at the Easter holiday of lower 6th having defied the school to turn me into a scholar.

I worked for two and a half years as a fashion agent, at first for a company in Manchester and then as an independent. I was fairly successful money wise but the business side drove me up the wall. It was inevitable that sooner or later I would make my way back to Israel where I spent the first 6 months after leaving school. There was something about living on Kibbutz that appealed to my inner self more then anything else. The truth is that Kibbutz is either something that talks to you or leaves you confused. The idea of a community where we all eat together, live together and work together drives some people mad. In theory we all work and put our money into a communal pool where we all receive the same amount irrelevant of our earning potential. In this way the guy that washes the dishes gets the same as the boss (Me). In this way we are able to keep all of us at the same standard of living, fairly middle class, and removes the rat race element. Obviously that is overly simplifying and if it was that hunky dory more then 4% of the community in Israel would be doing it but it works for me. There is a saying that Kibbutz is great for dogs, children and old people.

As for my accomplishments I was married to my first wife, Ruthie for 7 years and had 3 kids with her. Then we got divorced, I went back to GO, collected 200 pounds, remarried Sarai and had another 2 kids. They are called Aynat F20, Ayelet F18, Gil M15, Eli M7 and Carmi M3. Yes I went forth and was fruitful. Along the way I did 2 years in the Army as an combat infantry soldier serving in Lebanon and generally being miserable but survived. I then returned to my Kibbutz called Ketura which is situated 50 kms north of the resort town of Eilat. I ran the plastics factory for a while and have held various posts over the last 23 years. I also qualified in hairdressing which came as a shock but I have been keeping us in bowl cuts for over 10 years now. No seriously I do the lot, perms, colour streaks styling. At the moment I am taking a 2 year stint as the Boss of the Kibbutz which means that I deal with the well being of 450 people. An interesting job which we do on a rotational basis. The Kibbutz makes a living from Fish farming, Date growing, Dairy cows, Educational tourism, Technical writing and many people who work off the kibbutz in the free market who bring their salaries into the kitty.

All in all it is a great life and I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to give up on a certain level of independence and privacy for the rewards of community and purpose. The Kibbutz has a web page which can be found in any search engine under "KIBBUTZ KETURA".

I could go on for hours but I will let the information out a bit at a time.

Here are the pictures with descriptions.

Mike toilet is me in the guise of a kibbutz manager having his best thoughts.

Mike 16 is me as you probably remember me.

Mike Hairy Pollard is when I looked my most Maurice Gibb like.

Martyn garden is Martyn Howard in the garden at 49 North Park Drive.

Mike 17 is as I was fresh on Kibbutz looking to conquer.

Kids are my 5 delightful children, notice the 20 year old female soldier. I am so proud.

Martyn header is Mr Martyn Howard caught in mid air by some tricky photography, NOT.

Mike drums is me performing in the world renowned "Fabulous Penthouse Bunnies", that really is the name of the band.

Enjoy the pictures and keep up the good work, Shalom,

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