Here I am at the edge

Chechnya  I put my wandering spirit down to coming from a family with connections to the sea, and fishing. Recently, a site on Facebook that researches  genealogy   gave me information to contradict this. My wife jokes that as my beard has red tinges, she says I have Nordic blood; recently we were watching a YouTube documentary on Attila the Hun , and a tribe called the Alans came into the conversation. It would be odd if that was were my nomadic urges came from, but they all but died out around 420 BC. A few of the people in  Chechnya trace their roots back to these nomads. To the older generation, Chechnya is the western section of what was Czechoslovakia .

 Does anybody read my posts? Starting now, I intend to block some people on Facebook , why? I have "supposedly" 120 people following my posts there, I wonder how many read what I write ? I know at least three people don't as two of them are dead, and I suspect less than 1% of the people who follow me will react when I block them, most have been on the list since I began writing over 12 years ago, and said nothing in the meantime.

 A change of cooking I was pleasantly surprised last night, I got weighed, and found that for the first time in over 20 years I am under 100Kg - 16 stones - the last time I was this weight was after my beloved dog, Bonnie, died. Back then, I got down to what the experts said my weight should be (12 stone). My family was so worried they had to force me to eat. I was so thin I was skin and bone. I put the loss down to a change of diet, and style of cooking.  The main factor, in my opinion, is we stopped cooling with fat, and use oil. Another large part of the loss is I have radically cut down my coffee intake, from 4 cups an hour, to 3 cups a day; this means I take in less sugars, and carbohydrates as I don't eat so many biscuits either.

 Damned if you don't   This film is fiction, but partially based on fact. The story of Kala Pani (Black Water) relates to the prison set up by the Raj after WW2 when India was seeking Independence . Back story -  In the late 1940's the British set up a prison on the Andaman Islands to house political prisoners from the INC - Indian National Congress - that part is true. The name Kala Pani comes from the fact that conditions were so bad many of the guards, and prisoners turned to cannibalism to survive as the nearest port was two days away in those days. The story is about a man who looks after his aged aunt who is waiting for her husband to return from the prison. His uncle was sent 15 years ago, and nothing was heard since. As his aunt is dying, and with no information, he decided to check the public records, only to find his uncle was one of the first to be shot 15 years ago. As a Hindu who believes in the after-life, what do you do? Tell your aunt the trut...

 Across the Alps  Yesterday, my blog reached another area in the EU , with a reader in Switzerland . I don't write much about the country because like the Netherlands , and Sweden I have little time for the state; my only visit left me under-whelmed to say the least. I found everything vastly over-priced, and of poorer quality than you get in the UK .

The Golden years   With the exceptions of Raveena Tandon , and Shefali Shah , ladies in Bollywood today are treated worse than their counterparts in the 1950's. The male was usually, not always, the headliner. In some of Raj Kapoor 's films he was listed third on the bill, even though he owned the studio, and produced the movie. The actresses in those days were treated with respect, even if they were not headliners; these days they are mostly eye-candy, or a name to put to a bad film.

   A land nobody wants Close to where the borders between Norway , Sweden , and Finland meet, there is an area of land - no larger than two football pitches - that has been a bone of contention for centuries. The argument arises because though none of the countries want it, they don't want anybody else to have it. The area is virtually impossible to reach as it is so far from any major city, or road network. The rows began in 1814, at the time Norway was fighting with Denmark against Great Britain ; the British won the war, and Denmark was forced to sign a treaty cedeing Norway to Sweden. The best way to end the row is to declare the area an independent state, the same as the Vatican , Singapore , or Hong Kong .

  An open invitation Several years ago, a friend in Seattle asked if I'd be interested in entering a Scrabble contest in the city? At the time, we played an online version called Words with Friends on Facebook . Julia often commented that she was amazed how good I was at the game; this was the reason for the invitation. I used to say, you are better qualified, but that doesn't imply that I am a slouch. All this implies is I am a failure at taking exams, which I am. I decided to poiltely refuse her inviation for several reasons, though she offered to pay for the flights, and put me up; I felt it was wrong to impose on her kindness as the contest, if you got beyond stage 1 could last for months. Thereby hangs the crunch, getting passed the opening round. At this time, I was playing several Facebook contacts on WWF, I would say out of each 10 games, I won 2, and lost 3, what about the rest? The remaining 5, I was forced to retire from, why? It is hard to play a game when the op...

 Hitting the Southern Hemisphere A week or two ago, I posted it was odd that I had few readers in the Southern Hemisphere ; this week that has changed. I now have blog readers in Brazil , Indonesia , and the Phillipines .

  The UK revolt Now is probably the worst time to be a Muslim in politics in the UK . London wishes to oust Sadiq Khan , Scotland wants to do the same with H umza Yousaf , and the Conservatives are out to oust Rishi Sunak .

  A new arena in Asia My blog readers in Asia are spreading south from Hong Kong , and Singapore into Indonesia now. It has been a long time since readers in Australia featured on my list of areas, but I did have some there once.

No longer in contact  All things have their time, and my friendship with my editor in Seattle has ended. Technically, we are friends of Facebook , but we rarely converse. Julia and I met when she asked to edit one of my eBook selection, the short story , Chronicles of Mark Johnson went on to win an award .  That was in 2012, since then Julia helped not only edit one project, but provided input for The Awakening . The beginning of the story of The Awakening started with a chance comment I made on LinkedIn . I was talking about the end of the Raj with a man in India, and I casually mentioned I was thinking of writing a story about the British in India ; at that stage, that is all it was - an idea - Julia thought it was a good plan, and coaxed me to begin. Part of the reason for the ending is Julia's age, and a large part is that I lost faith, not in my writing, but in the world of publishing years ago; this wasn't helped by finding out I had been scammed by Draft2Digital ...

I have nothing to lose  After being scammed for a decade by either Draft2Digital , and  Smashwords , I have nothing to lose from adding eBooks to my page on Amazon . I shall be brutally honest, after a decade with no sales on Amazon, this project has as much chance to succeed as an ice cube on a griddle.

My Charity connection  Though I have only one book for sale on Amazon , I am connected with several books because for several years I wrote for various charity organisations The money from sales of those books go to the charity concerned, none of the writers , and artists see any gain in their finances. Unlike one a nthology I have work in, I was asked by a publisher if he could add two of my short story selection to his anthology which went on sale in Phoenix , in 2012, naturally I felt honoured, and agreed; that is the last I heard, other than the books had been a success .

Something of a shock to me  I had a small shock a few moments ago, I found I have a book for sale on Amazon . I was certain as nothing had sold in almost a decade I had taken all my items off the site, but Aliyah slipped the net; probably because I was so depressed at nothing happening for so long I missed this link . 

Eat or Heat  It doesn't matter whether the Conservatives , or Labour are in government ; people living on pensions , and welfare benefits know we'll be the first to take a hit when spending cuts are needed. Many families have to make the choice of having a meal, or putting the heating on.  Global Warming is a joke; it is almost May , and to keep warm I have to put a sweater on. I have to laugh when the weather forecast says we're having a heatwave . I recall summers so hot it melted the bitumen on roads, and they talk of a heatwave if the UK goes a few days without rain.

 Twitter is bot heaven I agree with the trend on Twitter saying it was far superior before Elon Musk bought it. The site has now turned into  bot heaven , as I know from my recent experiences. Again proving the proverb, "If something is working don't try to improve it."  M ark Zuckerberg s crewed up Facebook .

 A big difference For a long time, I tried to convince my friend, and editor in Seattle theat I was not a bestseller , why? If you viewed my sales (?), on the front of my account, it says I have sold over 2,5000 eBooks over 14 years, which sounds a lot. Hence the reason my friend considered me a bestselling Indie writer . I said considered, as she now knows the reality of the lie. That total works out at around 170 items sold per month, which would mean I should have been paid royalties for my sales, at least once in three months.  The reality is if I got paid once in two years that was amazing. I only got paid last September as there was a ruch of sales on Apple the month before; if that hadn't happened, I would be waiting until Christmans next year, for payments from 2021, if I got them at all.

 Nursing staff Labour will cause an uproar about cuts made against the disabled and elderly , but they are as bad if they are in power. The next to be hit will be the Armed Forces, and the Nurses as these people are loyal to their services, and will not stop working no matter how bad they are treated.

 No change The head of the DWP department that deals with Disabled people has stood down, he doesn't approve of RIshi Sunkak 's new policy which will hit thise who are old or disabled. I have some news for the young man, this is NOT new, and despite what Labour may say about the policy it has nothing to do with the Conservatives as we are always the first to be hit when money neeeds to be saved, no matter who is in power.

 Alan Place - The Puzzle solver For the last month, I had been trying to find out some information on a murder in the USA .  At the time, the murder was headline news in the papers; I could recall a man walking to a table, and shooting another man three times in front of about 100 people, but other than that I was shooting in the dark. The information, as I recalled was flawed; I thought the killing was in the 1920's - it was in 1908 - I thought it was at a rooftop party, it was at a revue for a show. The killer was Harry Kendall Thaw , the person he shot was Stanford White - I can't say White was a victim - with Shaw's reputation for raping young ladies the incident was "on the cards." The victim in this story is actress Evelyn Nesbit , who became Mrs. Thaw. White took her to a secret room, plied her with alcohol which was doped, and when she fell asleep, he raped her.  Thaw got off the murder charge, partially because his family had influence, but also he had a...

 An experiment in Writing I found using Draft2Digital is waste of time, and energy when trying to sell an eBook , so I am going back to the old ways' I am going to add some of my eBook stock to some sites without using their site. Hopefully this may gain some sales, I have nothing to lose, and possibly something to gain. Among the stories will be some previously unseen fantasy , horror , and romance  

 Non-related posts Should you view my Twitter pages, you will find many posts not related to this blog , and wonder what is their point? Their point is nothing suspicious, I like to post nice posts about nature if I can; I have been a nature lover for as long as I can recall, some of my best times are watching the waves crashing and the boats entering the harbour with the catch.

 A writing community? When I began writing , I knew it would be hard, and I would have more chance to fail than succeed , but I considered as an Indie Writer among other Indies if one did well the glory showed us all in a good light.  What a jerk I was! In only a few months, I learned, the hard way, there is NO writing community , it is dog eat dog for any scrap - and putting it politely, as Walter Winchell would say; "Be sure to step on as many fingers going up, because they'll be sure to kick your butt if you fall!" That is the polite version, to transfer to common terminology, "Anybody will shit on you, if they feel they can gain by putting you down." By the end of my tird year as a writer, promoter, I cut promoting other writers as nobody did me a favour. Several writers who gained from my help, didn't have the decency to even send a thank you note, or email. One got a book contract for a series, another got a magazine contract from me writing good b...

The growth of my Jewish readers  The thing to realise in this comparative study is not the number of readers for my blog , but the sizes of the countries involved. Yesterday, Israel had 50% more readers for my blog, than China , 100% more than Canada , and over 200% more than the USA . The fall in my US popularity could be down to two things, not writing much about the USA, or my support for Israel; my support for Israel will not change. I didn't include the UK because my blog has never had many readers here; half of the few readers I get is me checking to see how things are going.

 Other than Hong Kong My growing Jewish audience on the blog has grown so quickly this week, yesterday they were third behind Hong Kong , and the UK . Putting this in real terms, I discount Hong Kong, as I doubt anyone can overtake them; I have yet to find a reason for my popularity there, perhaps I never will know. I tend to cut my UK viewers by half, this accounts for me checking to see what is happening. So 37 yesterday is only 18, and Israel had 17.

 Golden Oldies Amassing any collection of films will entail some problems. In my case - collecting old Bollywood films - the main issue is subtitles . Before the 1960's there was no need for subtitles, most films made in India were for the audience in India who could speak Hindi - the major dialect - several areas had their own cinema, but for general release the language was HIndi . During the 60's, a new breed of Indian surfaced, children born in the UK , who were Indian, but spoke English more often, at this time, subtitles had to be readily available, yet you needed the technology to add them; this didn't happen until much later. If you are intrigued to know, though I have a growing selection of films from the 40's and 50's, there are some actors, and actresses I don't like to watch from the era. Why select film from this time, when Bollywood has a booming industry of modern films with subtitles? The answer to that question is I am not a fan of modern Boll...

The Virtual Tourist  I have written many posts on the subject of Israel , you may ask, do I have any Hebrew films? The answer is not many, they are hard to find, but a few. I did have one called Free Zone about three ladies travelling back to Israel from Palestine . Though it has one of my favourite actresses in, Hana Laszlo , I found I couldn't watch the film, why? The style of photography, shooting from one lady to another, and showing their reflection in the windscreen gave me a bad headache.

My appeal to the Jewish reader  I hoped for this day, and it has arrived; in the last 24 hours my blog had more readers in Israel than the USA , Canada , and China . I am not surprised, few of my posts are on religion, many are about the state of the country, and how the media shows Israel in a bad light when it is Hamas , and Palestine who should take the blame.

Mae West  Years before Caitlin Jenner made her name with a gender change , there was a film about the subject. The film, Myra Beckinbridge , features Mae West , and Raquel Welch . Ms. Welch played the title role of a man who has a sex change to try to get a family fortune. Director John Houston, said it was one of the worst films he directed, and the clash between two ladies who were considered  sex icons almost ruined the film. From my view, the contest is a no-brainer. Despite being in her mid-70's at the time, as the image shows Mae was still a real beauty.

I always thought he didn't  This week, I had to change my view, slightly of Richard iii , historical proof turned up that he did kill, or have killed the Princes in the Tower , but he had a good reason. The same document that said he killed the boys, gave us the reason why. They were illegitimate as he had claimed. At the time of their conception, their father, Edward iv , was fighting a war far to the west of where his wife was staying. Many years ago, it was proved the most recognisable portrait of Richard had been tampered with to please the Tudor family. Richard killed the princes to protect the line of the realm, not that it did much good, he died two years later at Bosworth Field , and the family h fought to keep off the throne had their foot in the door; the Beaufort family married into the Woodville family to become one of the worst reigns the UK knew. Then other Tudor lie spread by William Shakespeare are the final words he spoke; he is claimed to have "A horse, a...

I don't believe I read it  Several years ago, my son bought me a book by Bernard Cornwell , the author of the Shapre series. This book was set during the Hundred Years War, I was amazed to read in the prologue that Mr. Cornwell said that nobody knew why Edward, the eldest son Edward iii was known as the The Black Prince ? I assumed, obviously wrongly, it was common knowledge he was known as the Black Prince as he went to war in black armour.

 I have seen several in my Bollywood selection  As I have written a lot about Bollywood films I intend to get rid of this week, mainly ones with Govinda in. I have to admit I don't want to, most have Raveena Tandon in, but I can't watch Govinda. You could ask, are there films I didn't think I'd enjoy, but ended up enjoying? The answer is yes, there are several, one of which is the mini-series on Netflix which I based my short story - above - on. My story extends the original plot lines. Many of the films featuring Raj Kapoor , and Lalita Pawar I had doubts about but ended up liking them.  There are some films - such as Badaltey Rishtey - which I will get, even though I dislike the lead actor Rishi Kapoor ; the reason is the films usually have some of my favourite ladies in such as Reena Roy , and Rekha . I have several with Aruna Irani which I need to view, mainly to see what part she has in the story; a lot of the time, the film has her name, but she has a very...

Japanese earthquakes  The news of another earthquake in Japan is harrowing, but the Japanese people live with this fear as the Pacific Rim on which they live is also known as the Ring of Fire . The Pacific Islands are a large area of islands mainly formed from volcanic activity millions of years ago; like the San Andreas Faul t, you know one day it will crack but what can you do?

  Govinda leaves me cold Over the next month, I am going through a selection of films I bought from eBay , before I start my quest to sort what films from India I wish to keep; I know at least six Bollywood films will be binned without being watched, why? The lady in the centre of the above image is Raveena Tandon , in my opinion, one of the most capable actresses in Indis, as well as being among the most attractive; I bought several films with Govinda in because Ms Tandon was in them, sadly she is only in them as eye-candy . I tried to watch the films, but Govinda's comedy does nothing for me, unlike Raj Kapoor, Mehmood , and Kishore Kumar to name a few.

  How many will I keep? I saw no point in holding on for rwo weeks, in the hope of sale sales for my Bollywood selection on eBay ; so, I closed my section. I won't miss the small amount of money they brought in. but it does mean there will be reprucussions as I have less to spend now. The question arises, as I watch the films I hoped to sell, how many, if any, will I be keeping?

 I am left with little choice I don't want to close my shop on eBay , but I have no option. I would prefer to keep the shop open , but it is not selling many of my dvd selection. The reprecussions of my closure will be minimal. as the income genertaed from my sales in slight, but still, this will mean less spending capacity for me to buy from other eBay sellers.

 I can't help worrying  I am not apologising for my anti-Labour posts; I have lived through several Labour governments in my 67 years. The only things which go up are the National Debt , Unemployment , Immigration , and Inflation . I can't help worrying if the young voters are going to be scammed into thinking entering the EU will benefit the UK . The only people who benefit are those with bank accounts in Europe , and people living in Germany . Remember this Before 1972, we were NOT dependent on Europe; we have NO ALLIES in the Eu. Europe despises the UK.

 Readers in the Vatican City Something that I would find amusing is if one day, I checked my blog readers, to find readers from the Vatican City ; I rarely get readers in Italy as it is. I have no way of knowing the religion of my readers , but I am certain I have no Catholic readers in Italy.

I get around these days   Yesterday, I had a blog visit from readers in  Lithuania ; Lithuania is a small state Northeast of Poland , bordering the Baltic Sea . Like many states in the area, until recently it was under the control of Russia . I would imagine with the internal turmoil in the the old motherland, Russia is glad to not have to worry about its satellite states. The age of the Empire does not last long, they cost too much to keep, and there is always conflict with the country you occupy; it doesn't matter if you talk about the Inca , the Aztec , Roman , or British Empire , the troubles are the same .

  Meena Kumari and Dilip Kumar  If you follow my blog. you may ask the question, where do I get some of my Hindi DVDs from? I have several UK business contacts, but I also have two or three in India . Today, I pondered the idea of buying two box sets from India; one has three Meena Kumari DVDs in; one of which I want, and one I already have, but could put for sale . The third I am not sure about. The other is a set of six films featuring Dilip Kumar . This set has one film which makes the price of the set worth it on its own, there is another I want to buy. There are two I already have, but could put for sale, one I didn't like at all; and the others I have no views on at the present.

 How they were made  I have nothing against colour films; but I prefer to watch a B&W movie as as it was recorded, even if the film is scratched. The most galling thing for me to watch is a colourised movie, I can appreciate the art of the person who added the colour, but it is so false.

 Officially read in the South I wasn't planning on writing a blog today, but something happened to spur me to write . Yesterday, my blog was officially recognised in the Southern Hemisphere with two readers in South Africa . I can delete South Africa from the "other" category now.

The Actor within  Something few people, even in my family know about me, I appeared on stage in a school play. I only had a very minor role at the end of the play, and I never made another stage appearance - not that I wanted to - my only connection to the stage was as a photographer for the Drama Club at RAF Lossiemouth , when I was in Scotland .

Alan Place - The Dreamer  I had a strange dream this morning; it was odd not for its weirdness, but for its content. In my dream, I was contacted by someone from the Royal Air Force who wished for me to arrange a reunion for the men in my flight. I recall saying, "That is impossible, we enlisted nearly 50 years ago, and we were never close even then." I woke, not because of the dream, went to the toilet; and returned to my sleep, as I turned over, I thought that was an odd dream; I did enlist almost 50 years ago. This November 6th is the 50th Anniversary .

 A Shiver down my spine  I was watching an episode of the series Digging for Britain a few minutes which sent a tingle up my spine, why? It wasn't anything to do with the digs, it was to do with where the presenter, Alice Roberts , was doing the show. The show was partially shot in the Bristol City Museum and Art Galleries , where I worked for 14 years. One of the people she talked to, Gail Boyle , I used to know. DfB is great as it is like Time Team used to be, were they let the artifacts tell the story. The new version is more about showing off the CGI ability of the presenter, who comes from one of the richest families in Ghana . To demonstrate the uselessness of the new series, here is the best example; they went to a site in Cornwall that the original crew visited over a decade ago, and with all the modern technology available would did they do? Nothing, that's true, with all the drones and CGI available they added nothing to the knowledge the original team did with t...

 A load of bull Most people have heard, or read about the Pamplona Bull run , where stupid people try to outrun charging bulls. The bulls are from Andalucia , and are bred to be extra-aggresive. Andalucia is also the home of the terrorist group ETA who are campaigning for Andalucian independence, the same as  the Catalan are. The two areas could not be more different if they tried;  Catalonia has a marvelous infrastructure, and could easily support itself as most people who visit Spain visit either Barcelona , or the Costa del Sol . The raods stretch down to Cadiz , and Toledo in the south. Andalucia, on the border with France , is great if you are a nature lover , but could never support itself, the area is full of mountains, and deep gorges.

 Odessa The blog now has readers in Moldova ; yes, I didn't know where it is either. The nearest city of any size in the Black Sea port of Odessa . Years ago, the blog had a large following in Russia , I put this down to I can relate more to the struggles of the people of Russia, than the wealth of either the USA , or the states in the AEU .