“Today, we present Love Begins at 50! with Nina and Bill broadcasting to you from the sunny isles of Bermuda! Romance, passion, adventure! Join us on our incredible journey.”

So began our first podcast. It was all because of the weather. It seemed to rain every day for the whole month of May, something I don’t remember ever happening in Bermuda.

Bill and I thrive in the sun and feel sad and uninspired when it rains too long. All my outdoor classes were cancelled. My spirits were low and I began looking for a new and exciting project.

I began to feel it was time to share our incredible life and love journey with other people in another media than print, using our voices and Bill’s original music. Many people have been reading our stories for years. I wanted them to actually hear us, to get to know us on a more personal level.

I grabbed Bill’s hands. Looking into his eyes I said with conviction, “Let’s create a podcast!”

Here are some excerpts from our first broadcast. I hope they inspire you to listen to us.

Nina

“I was born in Siberia, the great, great granddaughter of dissidents exiled by Lenin after the Great Revolution of 1917. They lost their big house, their art, their library, their friends and relatives. They lost everything. They were ordered on to a train and shipped like cattle in an empty boxcar from the Black Sea to an unknown destination 4,000 miles to the East.

Anton and Felexa were dropped in a barren field near Irkutsk, not far from the cobalt blue waters of mighty Lake Baikal, the deepest and the second largest lake in the world. They had two small suitcases and they walked into their future through a landscape more vast and empty than the moon.

Decades later, my father became a geologist and was sent on expeditions from Irkutsk to look for iron ore along the remote rocky shores of the lake and in the endless boreal forest of the Siberian taiga.

As a young girl, I camped with him and his small crew for months through the long days of summer. At night we sat in front of our tents around fires where the local shamans told us their stories of the spirit world, so real to them. At school in Irkutsk, I was a competitive swimmer, and I dreamt of escaping to the west.

For more than 20 years I tried my best to find a man there who would be in tune with me, who would understand and accept my rebellious Siberian soul; a partner I could joke and laugh with, be passionate and affectionate, talk for hours on end, and learn from.

Together, we would experience new and exciting adventures and travel endlessly. We would go to exotic countries and meet fascinating people, we would share our histories with each other and build a new and happy life. This man would not question and judge me; he would accept and love me.

I met many people, but never the man I was looking for.

I even started questioning myself, thinking perhaps something was wrong with me. In desperation, I asked my daughter, ‘If I meet someone, how will I know if he is the one?’

And she always replied, ‘You will know.’“

Bill

“After my divorce, I was living at the far west end of Bermuda in an old stone cottage on the turquoise sea. It sat on a sliver of land joined to the main island by a narrow, 200-foot causeway, and I was surrounded by the ocean on all sides.

It's hard to imagine a setting more remote, and I was at its edge; at times I thought it was not unlike my frame of mind.

At night, back at my cottage, I sank into despair and struggled with a future I could not imagine, and could not see. I no longer believed in love. My heart was broken, and I was sure no one could fix it. Every day I swam miles in the open ocean. It cleared my mind and made me feel alive. I pushed the boundaries of safety, but I did not care. I was in the best shape of my life, but I felt empty.

One night a mighty gale ripped through the island, and the wind howled and the sea around me raged. At midnight, I struggled out into the storm and walked hunched against its fury to the causeway. Why? I do not know.

Waves were crashing over the roadway and I heard a strange screeching above the roar. In astonishment, I saw a 50ft sailboat wrecked on the rocks in front of me, the wind in its rigging howling like a banshee. I stood, one foot forward, braced against the stinging rain that hit my face. No one was on-board. The boat had broken its mooring and was swept here to be battered to pieces. I was helpless to do anything but watch.

A sudden revelation flooded through me: Bill, this proud sailboat is you. You are wrecked here on this far-flung little spit of land, and unless you do something right now to change your life, you will be battered to pieces just like this lovely sailboat.

The next day, on a walk through Dockyard, I met Nina.“

It's never too late to find love, and Love Begins at 50! is here to remind you that the best chapters of your love story may still be unwritten.

Listen to Love Begins at 50! for free on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music or www.lovebeginsat50.com

• Nina London is the founder of Mermaid Wellness Centre for Women and a certified Chi Gong and Laughter Yoga teacher. Her mission is to support and inspire mature women to make positive changes in their bodies and minds. Contact her at www.ninalondon.com and on Instagram: @coachninalondon