Grabbing Life with Four Hands: 1991–2026

What happens when two people decide to stop simply getting through life and start building it together?

In 1991, Peter’s life takes an unexpected turn when he meets Michele. What begins with a reluctant invitation to a corporate Christmas dance becomes the start of a partnership that will take them far beyond anything they could have imagined.

Together, they leave the corporate world and begin a new life in South Africa’s Garden Route, discovering hospitality almost by accident. From country inns and restaurants to international hotels and private households, each new opportunity brings challenges, setbacks and lessons. Their determination eventually takes them across Scotland, England and Spain before an extraordinary opportunity leads them to the Caribbean.

In Grenada, they take over the management of a struggling beach resort and dive centre, facing financial problems, staff challenges, political tensions and unexpected dangers. Their adventures continue through the Caribbean and Venezuela, where work, travel, friendship and uncertainty repeatedly push them outside their comfort zone.

But this is more than a story of travel and career changes. It is a story about starting again, adapting to change, taking risks and combining two people’s strengths to create a life together.

Peter and Michele continue reinventing themselves, moving from hospitality into private service and professional butler training, before eventually volunteering in Cambodia and discovering another rewarding chapter in their lives.

Grabbing Life with Four Hands is a true-life memoir about love, partnership, adventure, work and the courage to keep moving forward when life takes an unexpected turn.

A life with no rehearsals.
A lifetime of change.
Two people facing it together.