Here I am at the edge

 Exception to the rule My 1st rule of selling on eBay is if I can't play the DVD ; I won't sell it https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/lst/active . There are exceptions, when like today, I bought a pack of three because I wanted one of the films; I won't open the rest as I has no wish to view them. If I have the boxes, I will post them, but most of my sales are going to be DISC ONLY .

  Postage & Packing To keep costs down, and to help with the storage of the DVD selections, I am sending out my eBay choices    https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/lst/active mainly with the disc, and no cases.

 My eBay store                               Opening Today In a short time, I am re-opening my shop on eBay    https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/lst/active ; the main reasons for this action is that there are times when I cannot buy a film I want without getting some I am not interested in; so, I thought rather than throw them out I will try to sell them.

 Their loss will be greater than mine Two weeks ago, I returned a DVD to a seller on eBay ; the agreement was if I return the DVD I would be refunded. As yet, there is no signof my refund. So, I lost the cost of the DVD, the postage, and a DVD return. Their loss will be  incalculable, as I used spend more than that each month. The firm may think the won by not paying, and geting the DVD back, but I can guarantee you - they ARE the losers.

  What's new Pussycat? Here is a photo of my new BFF ;  Best Furry Friend , in her quiet time - which is not often.  Muggles ,  named not after the character in Harry Potter, but the doctor in Crossing Jordan . Usually, she is a racing torrent of energy, but even the wind needs a rest :) .

 Does Cybersecurity work? In the last two days, I spent mote time getting myself logged into the web, than time on sites, why? The issue was I got tired of Microsoft Edge , becaue it keeps sending my trending news which I have no interest n; so, I went back to Google . This meant I had to keep getting logged in several times to get online, yet six years ago, nobody at Horfield Health Centre cared they lost my family's medical history.

 Lost Medical Records The myth of Cybersecurity is a joke to my family. When ny son, and his partner moed from Bristol to Keynsham , their medical history was lost in the web. All my wife, my daughter, and I did was go from one area to another in Bristol, and our records were lost. When we asked why our records had not reached Hartcliffe Health Centre , the only response from Horfield Health Centre was, "The must have got lost in the server." No apology, or a sense of urgency to get them found, as if this was a regukar happening.

  Labour supported Terrorism I have no idea what Keir Starmer was thinking when he asked the Labour Party to help Israel ? As we'd say in the north "if brains were toilet paper, he's got not enough to wipe his bottom!" One thing is cerrtain, he may be the leader of the party, but he has no idea of how they think. The Labour party has supported various terroris t groups for as long as I can recall, from the IRA - to the PLO , and Hamas . I wouldn't ge surprised to know they backed the Mau Mau in Kenya in the 50s. or the rebels in Malaya in the 60s. My support for Isreal is well-known, if you read the blog , at the same time as a social historian, I like to give information, not my opinion - so here are some little-known facts on Hamas. In the 1970s, the people in the Gaza strip were given the choice - either get help from Israel, or stay with the PLO/Hamas - they chose to support the PLO. When you read about civillian casualties caused by rockets from Israel,

 Forward Planning When people talk about the decline of animal species, they tend to forget that animal behaviour is different to that of human s. At its most basic level, most people are capable of forward planing, I will save for tomorrow in case I run out. Whereas most animals will eat for as long as they are able to eat, with no thought of the future.

 The Bible Belt Most people associiate the term " The Bible Belt " to refer to either the deep south and the Methodist faith, or the middle America , and the Mormon faith spread by Brigham Young . Not many people realise their is a large proportion of people who have strong religious beliefs based around The Great Lakes , the people in this are are mainly children whose families came from Germany, and brough with their faith based on the words of Martin Luther with them.

  India Only Several months ago, I bought the film Vaastav  off eBay ; at the time, the lack of subtitles was not an issue, I have added them to other DVDs with ease. Today, I learned that as the DVD is marked For sale in India only , I cannot add the subtitles to the film, I can watch it with them on my computer, but I cannot add them to the disc. Though I stopped using the editing software Grammarly several months ago, the time I used had changed my stle of writing .

 Sea lion 1 - Sharks 0 Here is something you rarely read about; a shark being killed by a sea lion . I was watching a nature show on Disney+ about the decline in population of Killer Whales ; the problem is like many creatures, the whales are their own worst enemy as the need to eat at least one seal a day, and the seals need more time than that to breed.

 Places of no Interest to me in the USA If you read my blog , you may get the impression there are few places in the USA I'd wish NOT to visit, on this point, you'd be wrong. I have never wished to visit New York , I am not a city person, I'm a redneck . I like to live within reach of a city, yet far enough outside to have my freedom from city life.  I always fancied San Diego , until I went to Canada , and met my friend's eldest daughter who had just returned - she said it is smog central. Smog is the collection of smoke and fog that occurs in cities. I have never, nor would I wish to, had the inclination to visit Las Vegas ; not because of its MAFIA connection, I couldn't stand all the lights and sounds 24/7. I don't know about being the city that never sleeps, I can only think of one worse scenario for me - going to the West Indies and being in the heat, and sun most of the day. The only time you could see me in Miami is the first week of May for Daytona

 Going places I've never been                                             Minnesota I am always amazed at where people read my blog , a few mites ago I checked a site called TheOnlyColor.com from the spelling I knew it was probably in the USA ,I was right, the site is in Minnesota . I think I may have popped up there as a couple of recent posts of mine have been about the Bible , and the area is in what is known as " The Bible Belt ." This area of America has a large contingent of people with relatives in Germany . Most german immigrants can be found in the Great Lakes area, another point of interest is oitside Germany, and parts of  Western  Austria, this area has the largest number of German-speaking people.

 Broken Families I lay no claim to being an expert in the Cinema of India , yet there are things which I noticed this year. One thing is many films have the theme of lost brothers finding each other, just when one of them is about to kill the  other brother. In Dharam Veer it was Dharmendra and Jeetendra , last night I noticed the theme in the film Fakira with Shashi Kapoor and Danny Denzongpa . I am sure there are other, but they are for a later time.

 70's revision themes A comment I often get from my wife, when I complain there is NOBODY capable of WIRITING a story these days; hence the amount of remakes of old films is "But, young people today don't know the story." In recent years, The Clangers have been renewed, so why not bring back the Gonk ? To tose young enough not to know these cute dolls, they had smiling faces, open smiles, and long hair - few cars didn't have a gonk in the 70's

 The Gospels Not surprisingly, the Bible is the world's bestselling book . Despite the aspect of religion involved in its sales; the Bible is an old book which obviously adds to its sales. Among the experts in the field of Biblical research there is a debate as to the authenticity of the writer of some of the Gospels. I expect most of us can quote the writers associted with the Gospels, but the experts reckon that the Gospel according to Saint Mark was not written until years after the death of Jesus, and is not one Gospel , but a collection of writings from several writers, based on the style of writing involved. Not many people know, I once wished to study religion. Not that I wanted to become a priest, I did consider it at one time in my late 20's. I was interested in the variations of belief. This came about from my curiousity about the differences between the Baptist faith, and the Anabaptist church; this I did find out. The Baptist faith say I cahild has to be bapti

 Santiago de Compostela For many years, there was a place I wished I'd had the opportunity to visit; the church of  Santiago de Compostela . I am not a Catholic , nor a believer in miracles, I don't disbelieve in miracles if they could be proven, like ghosts . The miracle of life is a wonder in itself, when you think how a beautiful tree can grow from a small nut. I always wished to visit the church because I love the architecture of the old churches, and I admire the men who built them in the days before Health & Safety laws. I can add to this, I would love to have visited Spain , not the tourist traps. I would have loved to visit Toledo , and marvel at the skills needed to make the swords.

 I doubt more than a handful If you are a Catholic you will recall more than if you are brought up in another r eligion , especially as a Protestant . Some are known generally, Saint James is the Patron Saint of fishermen, Saint Christopher is the Patron Saint of those who travel. Each year, fireworks go off, and few people realise the significance of the Catherine Wheel . The wheel was an istrument of torture used by the Romans, among others, to break people who did not conform. In the 4th century, Catherine of Alexandia was put on the wheel and killed by Emperor Maxentius . Not withstanding, the Saint's Day festivities , I think the Roman Catholic faith is the correct faith . While the Protestant faith worship the Son of God, the Catholic church worship the mother; without the mother there would have been no Son of God.

 Trick or Treat I have always thought we should celebrate All Saints Day ( November 1st) rather than Halloween . Halloween is one Americanism I would happily forget. I watched an episode of Will & Grace where the father told his children not to eat too many sweets as he didn't wish to spend his money on dental fees; I didn't realise how true this was until recently. For a long time, a dentist was regarded as a failed doctor ; I stopped going to the dentist for medical, rather than financial reasons, but seeing the prices dentists charge health care will soon be a thing only the wealthy can afford; back to the Dark Ages .

 Genealogy A few weeks ago, I joined an Armed Forces group on Facebook ; my aim was to try to trace my grandfather's military career during WW1 . Coming from Middlesborough , I presumed, correctly, he joined the East Yorkshire Regiment , beyond that is a blank sheet. The East Yorks formed several brigades, so without further info, which at one time I had, the trail coulbn't tell where he fought. In the group is a man whose interest include  Genealogy which was useful, he asked what else would I like to know? I asked him if he could trace my grandmother, as I never knew her, or her name. Her name was Agnes Bell, and she was born not far from Middlesborough. One thing which did come as a surprise to me, why I don't know, is I thought my mother's generation died in their mid-80's - apart from uncle John, who I knew died in his early 60's through cancer - it turned out they died in their late-60s to mid 70's the age I am now. I do have one thing in my favour,

The four stories  For several weeks, I have pondered the possibility of bringing out some of my ghost stories in an anthology . Last night, while considering what to put in the book, I realised I already have an anthology out, of sorts, as the book on this post traces the history of my popular ghost story from the original short story , that I never liked. Through two edited version, and ending up with my revised edition, which I do like.  I considered doing a humerous short story featurng more about the people than setting, but the ebook has not sold. All the stories are available as individuals, or you can get the bargain buy of four for the price of one. I wrote the first story in 2010; in 2011 I sent a copy to my friend Emma Louise Oram who was the editor of Vintage Times at the time; Emma said my story gave her the idea for a Halloween edition of her magazine, available to read online for the end of that October . This version is on sale under the title The Unseen Version,

 He who pays the piper calls the tune I have lots of ideas for stories , some short, others longer; but there is no use writing if nobody will be reading them. One solution would be if you want me to write a story , ask me. The price is as always negotionable, and never a lot for the time it takes.  I did earn a good rep, years ago, for writing ghost stories - I prefert the term Spiritual - to me, a ghost story is meant to scare the reader, I have written some. My stories are mainly about souls trying to cross to the other side; you can, with justification, say a spirit is a ghost .

 Victory for the few who read my blog                              Alan Place - Indie Writer To the few people a day who read my blog , I say this, you are in some way the fortunate ones. I am not putting any ebook for sale, other than those out now. I can earn as much selling by myself as I do from Amazon & Draft2Digital combined. I will not miss the $10 a years I earned from Draft2Digital as they are more concerned with giving the work away to lending libraries who see the benefit. As a writer I saw nothing for 1,000+ ebooks they lent out over the years.

 Do NOT apply Each week I get dozens of writing job opportunities offered via Gmail , but I never apply, why? I have all the qualifications, none other than to be able to write English are required, but not the most important qualification . Instead of being at the bottom of the opening paragraph, this note should be at the top - do NOT apply if you don't live in the USA .

 Double Standards If you listened, but not even the Labour Party does, to Jeremy Corbyn ; Communism is the greatest thing on the planet, this from a man who has seven houses. How is that for Capitalism ? He, and his friend, Michael Eavis ran the Glastonbury Festival for years. There you have two millionaires telling people willing to pay over £200 a ticket that Capitalism does NOT work. The only time Communism works is in the hive mentality, or for people who have no desires. If it is so good, why are so many people from former Communist states fleeing to the west? I see Shamina Begum is still trying to come back; I WOULD allow her to come back to the UK, then try for for TREASON as a terrorist . this crime is the only Crime still punishable by death. If you believe she was the victim of trafficking, why did she enlist three more girls? Don't forget, she went to one of the top schools in her area, so she is NOT the innocent girl she plays to be for the press. The man she ma

 The way things are Last night, I watched the film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan   starring Govinda and A mitabh Bachchan ; I did this for two reasons. Reason A was to watch the film , and move from the To Watch to the Watched folder. Reason B was to see if my previous judgement of the ability of Govinda's acting was flawed. In my opinion it wasn't; having seen 3/4 of the film - I started to watch, then fell asleep - I can say his acting is passable, but if this in comedy in India , I am stumped as I found the comic element puerile. I won't deny I wanted to see the film watch Raveena Tandon ; I think she is one of the most attractive actresses in Bollywood today, and a great actress too. In watching the film, I came across another actress to look up - Divya Dutta - again an attractive lady, and a good actress.

 On the back burner If you are wondering, which I doubt anyone even cares, what has happened to my writing projects, the answer is easy. My projects are on HOLD, why? I see no point in continuing to write short stories for Draft2Digital , when the ones for sale are not selling. I have 30 stories for sale on 11 channels, so that is a possible sale of 330 ebooks . If I sell an ebook a month that is a wonder - tell me, why continue - when what is for sale isn't selling?

 Galaxy bar My wife and I were discussing what people are concerned, for no reason, about this morning.  Items on the list include an ID card - this is silly to be concerned over as most people have either a driving license , or a passport , or both. People who worry about CCTV are worrying over nothing, unless you draw attention to yourself - I know as I worked security for a museum for over a decade. The same can be said for people who are concerned about drones in the sky, unless you draw attention to yourself you will go unnoticed, a drone passes the same spot about every six months. The talk reminded of an amusing happening from the years just after we got married, and lived in Easton , Bristol . At the time we didn't work on a Sunday , so I used to visit our Post Office / newsagents to buy a paper - usually the Daily Telegraph - it wasn't until my wife went one day when I was ill, and the shopkeeper asked if she wanted my bar of galaxy that I realised the habit I form

 They are back It is enevitable, in this age of the  remake s, that with the rise in the concerns about conservation  the children's TV show The Wombles should make a comeback. But, it is 50 years since they left the BBC , you cannot tell me writing has not died when all we see is remake after remake.

 Hot Chocolate Last week, in the search for a remedy for my insomnia, I tried a Bounty hot chocolate drink for my bedtime drink. It was probably the reaction to my medication that made my mouth feel like the bottom of a bird's cage when I woke. I cannot drink hot chocolate as a drink, but I can if the chocolate has an added ingredient. The reason for this action is the subject of another post, if there is anybody interested.

 The Growing List I decided to change the focus of a list I aim to compile. Instead of listing films I would like;, the more I delve into films from India , the harder it is to decide, I am going to list the films I have to avoid too much overlap. Readers may be surprised to know there are some romance films, as the film on this post is, on my list. I tend to go for a story rather than the cast; though I do have people I like to watch (the list is growing), and people I dislike.

Hacked  Many years ago, I was contacted by my bank to clarify some transactions. The first was from someone in Wigan , Greater Manchester , who tried to buy hundreds of pounds worth of disco equipment. I ponted out, that not only did I not know anybody in Wigan, but as I had no record player , why would I buy disco goods. The other incident was when a person in Hungary tried to buy a meal using my credentials.  I expained the nearest to Hungary I had been was either Austria , or Switzerland , and that was over 30 years earlier. I was contqcted today about a transaction from MS Ents , in the USA , as the bank questioned the unkown origin of the request for funds; this time it was genuine, the request was from the DVD Lady site I often use.

Bird Migration  On my Google news highlights I track bird migration; apparently there has been little solar activity this month which makes me wonder why so many of the bird population come to the UK when their homes are far away? The latest to land on our shores is a Brindled Tern , its home in usually south of the equator, and in Australia ; the nearest location to the UK is in the West Indies .

 Time to slow down                                Dimple Kapadia The time has come for me to slow down my buying of films from India on eBay ; and take the time to watch the ones I have already bought as my sjelf space is filling up quickly.

  Looking into the box sets I have made a point of checking the films in the box set I am seeking, not only to check the price of buying the individual films Vs the set, but which films I would like; and how that affects the value of the set.

  A feel good weekend                                     Cathy Cotten Last night completed a true feel-good weekend for me. The weekend began with my birthday, continued with fixing my bedroom, and ended with finding some photos of a lady I was in contact with many years ago, who lives in Edmonton , Alberta , that I thought I had got rid of, but the turned up on an old cd . It was Cathy who introduced my friend Faye Dupre to me, that is close to 15 years ago. In the middle of the weekend, I found some of the films from India I wanted to buy for sale on DVD Lady several dollars cheaper than on eBay . For an unbeliable weekend, some ebook    https://author.amazon.com/books sales would have been nice, but I am more than happy with the weekend.

No disc image   I wanted the film Days and nights in the forest  with Shamira Tagore, but I wasn't willing to pay the £35.00 asking price on eBay; over half of that was for postage from Greece; so, again I checked with the site DVD Lady in the USA , and found I can get the film for only $12.00 because it has no image or container - I am not bothered so long as I have the film. I have found she also has copies of the film Madhumati which is a good ghost story with Dilip Kumar , and  Vyjayanthimala .

  Sometimes it is better to hunt the single films I want this box set of films by Dilip Kumar set in India from eBay , unless the other set comes back on sale it is cheaper by 10% for me to buy the single films; even with the added postage. There is a film I saw on YouTube last eek with Sharmila Tagore I would like to get, but I cannot justify to myself spending £35 on one film.

 A growing box set collection My interest in the cinema of India could create an issue for me; a pleasant problem for solving. If I keep collecting box sets of films, they are often as good for value as indiidual films, I will need to extend my storage capacity. I am not, yet, at the point were sets ounumber films, but the day may arrive.  One thing is certain, I need to be more careful what I get from eBay as many of the sets contain films I have.

  A long time to wait Three years ago, I sold two of my eBook selection on Smashwords earning $6.00, there has been no sign of the money either in my account, or in he money earned via Draft2Digital (who are part of the same firm now). Two months ago, I was notified my tax information was incorect which is why they hadn't been able to pay me, a ploy also used by D2D to avoid paying the writer . I corrected the information, but nothing has changed. When SW began, I warned some of th e writing community I was "chattin" to at the time that I didn't trust the site, I said how I was suspicious how a new firm could compete with Amazon , and the owner become a millionare? If he was a millionare that meant he was keeping the royalties, it appears my concerns then, are valid now.

 Value for money With box sets of films set in India , it is rare for me to find I would like all the films; therefore, I look for value, as with this set. The price is very good as there is one film I want, and another may be of interest.

 Tomorrow is the day I'd like to thank eBay   sellers for refunding 3 DVDs for me; this will make next month a little easier as I have some box sets of films set in India in mind to buy. One was faulty, one I bought in error thinking it was a DVD when it was a VCD , and the third I bought without realising a few months ago I bought another copy of it.

 A firm favourite? Anyone watching the films I buy from eBay could be mislead to believe my current favourite actress is Sharmila Tagore . I am not disputing I find her very attractive, but she is also an excellent actress; as you will know - if you read this blog - I am more interested in the film story than buying because an attractive lady is in the film, There are some actresses I find attractive, but thier acting does nothing for me - Maduri Dixit , Huma Qureshi , Lara Dutta , and Esha Doel to name a few. Sharmila proves to me, beauty is not the domain of the young.

 Almost like September Today is so different here in South Bristol , to what it was yesterday. Yesterday, I thought it was cold enough for snow , today it could be late September not mid- October . Knowing the weather , this could be the lull befoe the storm including a sudden winter snap of icy winds, but we're enjoying the warmth now.

 The end of the line The saga of Bees Saal Baad has come to an end; the sellers checked their stocks of the film, and found there were several more copies with the fault I reported. I am being refunded, which means I can buy the film from DVD Lady    https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/04/dvd-lady.html   with the Dilip Kumar /  Vyjayanthimala film Madhumati . Madhumati is another ghost story with a good twist in the tail. I wonder how long the faulty film has gone unnoticed? If I hadn't decided to buy it, the film would not have been founf to be faulty.

  A distinct possibility I realise we are in mid- October but the drop in temperature today, along with the dryness of the air does make me think it could snow before the month is out. It did snow early in October when I was in Alberta , Canada , but our house (above) was situated on the landward side of the Rockies . Several years ago, we had snow in mid- May in the area of Bristol we used to live in.

 A Return to low readers With reader numbers falling each day writing this blog is now taking me back 14 years, to the days when I wrote my short stories for three ladies I used to contact online who loved to read what I wrote. I have been told, by my friend in Seattle , she loves to read this blog, with readers falling I think she is the only person I am writing for now.