Am I going deaf?

 Hearing loss

A lump on my neck

For several months, I have had a lump on the right side of my neck, I didn't consider it a cause for concern until this week. This week, I have noted a huge loss of hearing, I can put the televison to full volume, and yet hardly hea what is being said. Am I going deaf, or is the lump the cause of the loss of my hearing?

Taking care of the invalid

 Olha Bihar

From the Ukraine

It was a nice gesture by my friend, Olha Bihar, who lives in the Ukraine to offer to come over to care for me as I am struggling to cope with the loss of my wife in January, but it is for no reason. 

It would cost Olha a lot of money, and take her away from her son, all she would be able to do to ease my pain is rub some creams into my joints. 

Her plan was to fly over in August, but that is the month of my wedding anniversary, and this year it is still too close to my wife's death for me to cope; add to that it would upset my children to know another lady was in the house so soon after their mother's death. Also, we have only been chatting, occasionaly, for two months, and I don't feel comfortable with her coming

What is the point?

 June's Journey

The Gold is useless

Many posts on the game, June's Journey, focus on the use of gold you accumalate by playing side games.

When the game began, you could your pilot, Jack, in gold to fly to collect items, but you cannot do that now, everyone agrees the gold is useless

Coney Island

 June's Journey 

A reality check 

Playing June's Journey on my phone this week, I have been playing scenes based around Coney Island, which has me thinking how close to reality are the drawings?

The fairground scenes remind me of the finale to the classic story, The Third Man, by Graeme Greene, there is little doubt in my mind he is a writer, even if I don't agree with his treatment of ladies. One mystery he wrote is based on a plane, a passenger booked two seats, the second seat is taken by a holdall, which is big enough to hold a bowling ball, or a head, we are never told

How Prophetic is the Google title?

 Housebound

Here's to the end of my days

When my children bought me a new laptop five years ago, I decied to use the login code Housebound; the reason being the government had changed how I was paid from DLA to PIP, which meant I lost £15 a week, which was my travel allowance per month.

With the passing of my wife in January, the title took on a new meaning. This week, I realised 13 months after I gave the name, my wife became housebound to, and within two years, she has passed away 💔💔💔💔😢😢😢🙏🙏

What are my plans for the future?

 October 18th

Ruby anniversary

My plans for the near future are simple, I would like to see my birthday next year.

By my birthday next year I shall be 70, and had my wife lived, August of 2026, would have been the Ruby Anniversary (40 years) of our marriage. 

My friend, Olha Bihar, who lives in Kyev, Ukraine asked if she could come to take care of me in August. I declined her offer, we don't know each other, and I am certain it would upset the family so close to their mother's death; also August is our wedding anniversary.

Meeting Olha Bihar in London

 Olha Bihar

From the Ukraine

My friend, Olha Bihar, who is fighting troops from Russia, in her home town of Kyiv, Ukraine suggested we could meet one day. She said she wished to fly to the UK.

Olha sugested meeting in August, but I said it was a bad time for me; I suggeested if we were still talking on Signal next year, June would suit me

How many unfinished stories are in my files?

 The Writer Writes

I have no idea

I have perhaps two dozen unfinished stories on this blog I can coninue writing. If I inclue the ones on my other blog which are available for me to download, I would hazzard a guess at the total being clost to 200, I used the other blog for over 12 years. This figure could be further expanded by stories I could edit better, or enlarge.

In the end, it comes down to two factors, why bother, and who cares?

I'm leaving Twitter

 Connecting on WhatsApp

Connecting on Signal

From next week, my Twitter account will be used to promote this blog, and hopefully my writing; I have no contacts on Twitter, other than my family who contact me via WhatsApp, my only friend is Olha Bihar in the Ukraine. Olha contacts me, when she can using her Signal account.

Alan Place - man of mystery

The enigma which is Alan

Yahoo

Even people I knew for years didn't know I have a Yahoo email address, the reason is i rarely use it. This information is known to less than a dozen people, most of who I have not been in touch with for 13 years. 

The Yahoo address did cause a laugh, many years ago, a writer I used to chat to, I wouldn't say we were friends, we shared a dislike for certain writers in a group on the Bookrix site, this site was baded in Munich, Germany.

What made the incodent funny was my colleague, Rick Carufel, got an email "supposedly" from my Yahoo address. The first thing Rick did was email me saying "Al, do you have an email in Spain?"

To which I replied, "I have a Yahoo email address, but as I have not been to Spain, nor know anyone there, it is obviously not from me," we didn't need to do any research to know who sent the false email, there was one writer on the site who had targetted us with hate mail for months, mainly because most people on the site, including upcoming writer, turned to us for honest advice

Olha Bihar

 From the Ukraine

Bleak House

I was only in contact with my friend in the Ukraine for a few weeks, before we lost touch - temporarily I hope, but she brightend my life up immensely with lively chatter each night.

Now, all I have is what I had before Olha Bihar came into my life, nothing but endless days of nothing to look forward to, but meeting my wife in the afterlife

Pearl's Peril

 June's Journey

Not to my taste

This month, to take my mind of the loss of my wife in January, I have been playing June's Journey on my Android phone. I find the game is both pleasant to play, and has good graphics which are pleasing on the eye.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for a side game entitled Pearl's Peril. Pearl's graphics are chunky, and the quest list to progress is intrusive, and very off putting. I did try the app for a short time, but found it unpleasnt to play

From the Ukraine

 Olha Bihar

                                                                     Lost in Space

Last night, I lost contact with my friend, Olha Bihar, in the Ukraine, she wasn't killed. I lost contact because I tried to put the Signal app on my laptop, and all my information was deleted.

We only talked for an hour or two each night, ove the last month, but we were able to keep each others spirits up during our times of stress.

Buyer cancelled the order from eBay after getting the DVDs

 The Curse of online shopping

An eBay issue

Again, I have been hit with the curse of online shopping, the need to trust the buyer.

I sent these DVDs to a buyer on eBay over a week ago, and he has cancelled the order without paying for the goods.

How do I know he cancelled the order? There is no record of the sale in my sales record, so, he has my DVD selection, but refuses to pay, and there is nothing I can do, without the sales link I can't ask eBay to chase up the missing order

I am not a serious gamer

 June's Journey

Not the fanatical player

I can see how people can get drawn into games like June's Journey, and spend a lot of money buying items, but to me it is only a game; a way to relax my mind from thinking of my late wife.

For the last two years of her life, it was as much as she could do to walk, after a series of illnesses, and injuries made her housebound, and bedridden, she would have loved this game

I am in SHOCK

 Will I be paid by my 70th Birthday?

Draft2Digital

I sold an eBook on Draft2Digital today, while that may not appear odd as I have been writing for over a decade, this is the first sale this year.

The image on the cover does not relate directly to the story, but it does relate indirectly. The story is about a flood which occured while I was living in Clevedon, North Somerset.

The cover is a photograph I took in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 2010, five years earlier Scarborough suffered a severe storm similiar to the one in my short story which tore the sea front open.

Though I have many ebook on the site, I doubt I shall be paid by my 70th birthday, in two years time.

Welcome to readers in Ieland

 A big welcome to readers in Ireland

Many thanks to my readers

I wish to thank readers in Ireland for reading the blog, it is your support which keeps me writing.

I was posted to Ireland during The Troubles, in 1979. I was one of the last servicemen to be awarded the General Service Medal for the campaign. Until recently, when a man pointed out anywhere in Northern Ireland at the time was classed as a war zone, I desputed my medal as I was stationed 15 miles behind the action.

Northern Ireland was not the only war zone I was posted to, earlier, I was posted to Germany, you may not consider Germany as a war zone, but I was posted there months after the Red Army Faction were jailed, and NATO was on full alert, expecting a terrorist attack at any moment

Lana Pawcel - Gothic Writer

 June's Journey

                                                     Lana's Lounge

On the app June's Journey, I have created a chatroom called Lana's Lounge, on here I will drop some book links by my alter ego, Lana Pawcel.

Lana's person has had moments of both humour, and confusion for me. I was asked by a writer I once knew, was I male or female? This was funny as we'd been in contact for months at the time.

Lana is known for her short story, Sexual Explosions; this steamy romance, is also a true crime story, how? At the core of the story is a crime I reported while working for Bristol City Council. I reported the theft in the story, but when I left the service over a decade later, there had been no investigation into the incident, why? The majority of the staff are ex-policemen, and the link to the Freemason society allows any crime, other than Treason to be left unquestioned.

Who was Lana Pawcel?

I set up Lana's persona as a pen-name a long time ago, during a time when I wrote for a charity, and I didn't wish for this type of story to be linked to the charity.

What is coming?

I envisage the new Lana to be a writer in the Gothic mode, both of horror, and romance. I have started two stories so far in this genre, tbh, I prefer to write old-fashioned stories, they go back to a time of mystery, when writing was valued

The Dark Side of Mark Johnson

 The Chronicles of Mark Johnson

No room for romance

If I write a new version of The Chronicles of Mark Johnson, the new version will have a darker, edgier feel, than the published version on sale, not that anyone bought the original.

The crux of the story is about a man fighting his demons loses control of his reality as he tackles otherworldy entities. One big difference will be a lack of the softer, romantic Mark, the lady I was writing that part for left my life a long time ago

The New Chronicles of Mark Johnson

 Improving older stories

The Extended Edition

A crazy, yet viable, idea came to me.

Instead of only editing my eBook short story, The Chrocicles of Mark Johnson, why don't I extend the original concept by adding the two sections which were also written, I did plan for a four-part story, but that idea fell through when part I didn't sell. The cause of that was the jealousy of a person I kne who claimed to be an editor, and did nothing but ruin the book online. This selection, if not destroyed, could have launched me as a writer; a science fiction magazine called Abandoned Towers wished to publish it.

Improving older stories

 My Return to Amazon

The Chronicles of Mark Johnson

My plans to change my eBook content from Draft2Digital to Amazon will involve editing some of my older stock, such as my award winning short story selection, The Chronicles of Mark Johnson, which needs fine tuning. Now I am a better editor, I see flaws in the style I used back in 2010 when the story earned it's award, who knows, we may see a new story emerge, if I can get back in the mindset; even if many things have changed in my life in the time since I wrote the story

My Return to Amazon

 Nothing to lose

Draft2Digital / Smashwords

If you read this blog, or my other blog years ago; you may find it hard to comprehend why I am returning to Amazon to promote my writing, when I never sold a lot there.

The truth is while Draft2Digital were good for my sales for several years, the joining with Smashwords - a site I never trusted - combined with two of their policies, the Lending Library scheme, and not paying out until I reach the $10.00 point means I have not been paid in almost THREE YEARS for my eBook sales.

I don't have anything to lose as my sales on D2D have only been six eBooks in the last 18 months, most of my sales came through Barnes & Noble.

My new account on Amazon has not yielded any sales yet, I am hoping this will change.

Return of the Scammer

 You can't hide!

Beware of this lady

How do I know this person is a scammer?

She contacted me claiming she lives in Bristol, yet several Facebook profiles she raised say she is either in the USA, or a small village in Italy.

She can change he name, her city of residence, the one thing she cannot change, without a lot of pain, and money is the distinctive tattoo.

I reported her several time to Facebook for having fake profiles, I don't know if anything happened

The new age of Alan

 Alan Place - Indie Writer

The writer returns

From today, I hope to be able to write more to some of my unfished short story section, beginning with Wild Child, the story of a lady, who in her 40's decided to quit the sex trade to try and find her identity.

If I finish my story, I aim to add it to my page on Amazon, rather than adding it to my Draft2Digital page, as D2D have not paid me in years for my sales, I have nothing to lose by adding the futre books to Amazon, and possibly I have something to gain.

eBay complaints

 Mehmood

DVD Bundles

This morning, I received another complaint for the Hindi DVDs I sell on eBay, from the same person, I think who complained about the Mehmood box set shown here.

I think it is the same person because they used the same terms as the previous set, "I should be ashamamed to make money from DVDs of dead actors."

Today's complaint is because some of the discs in this set have Rishi Kapoor in, he died in 2020.

Self Promotion Time

 Here I go Spamming!

The Spam fight back

I don't approve of spam, sending a mass of blind links to people you dont know, but from this week I am doing this each time I get some on Twitter.

From now on, when I get some spam, I will send back an Amazon link from my eBook page. As I have time on my hands most days, I am considering writing again, if only to occupy my mind

Are people reading my Twitter posts?

 Coincidence or realisation?

The Spam fight back

I realise there is no definite way of proving yesterday's post about being spammed on Twitter, is related to the drop off of people trying to spam me on Twitter. The one thing definite is since I posted my warning about spamming anybody who spams me, I have had one tag, instead of dozens per day

Occam's razor

 The K.I.S.S. Principle

Don't look for a complex reason to a simple solution

The theory behind Occam's razor is easy to understand, most mysteries have a simple reason behind them, why make a large case for something straight forward.

Two Curses?

Here are two examples.

The Curse of Tutankhamun

Since Howard Carter opened the tomb in 1923, a lot has been said about the deaths of the three men involved in the opening; there is no curse.

Howard Carter died shartly after opening the tomb, what did you expect, the tomb hadn't been opened in all the time, Lord knows what bacteria had evolved in the 2,000 years since his burial.

His assistant died from an infection he got from a cut, even now, the medical knowledge in Egypt is abbysmal, back then it was almost unknown.

The third person died after being hit by a bus in London, if he hadn't been part of the expedition nobody would have known about his death.

The Kennedy Curse

Most people would say the curse began with JFK being shot in Dallas, but his elder brother died in WW2.

Joe Kennedy Jnr died in WW2, he was the pilot of a drone bomb, the bombs were notorious for failing. The theory was a bomb would be attached to a bomber, and flown close to its target were it would be releaded, to be guided to its final destination where the pilot would bail out as the bomb flew on. 

However, there were many flaws in the plan. First, the bombs were electrically connected to their guide, which meant the pilot had to turn the power off to release the bomb.

People forgot, once the bomb is released it became a dead weight with no momentum, and would plummet to earth. very few got more than a few miles from their release point.

Then, you have the pilot's escape, very few pilots escaped. Mainly because the down draught of the falling bomb stopped the canopy from opening so they could escape.

John Fitzpatrick Kennedy.

Thories to both the killer, and the reason for the murder of JFK are as many as summer flies in a heatwave. I am certain of two things, Lee Harvey Oswald was a "patsy," a stool-pigeon to take the fall, that is why he was killed by Jack Ruby, who died a few days later, was silenced before he could say who gave him the job. From is position, LHO would have had little sight of his target, and only for a brief moment.

To me, the killer was the man on the knoll. For him, the target was moving to him in full view. The mystery for me is who paid for the killing? There were many possibles, JFK had annoyed people from far and near, including his family. My view is it was LBJ, at the time of the shoooting JFK was investigating his vice-President for misappropriation of party funds. The evidence is there, but in the furore of the shooting it was forgotten, and LBJ walked free.

Robert Kennedy

Robert Kennedy, Attorney General, was killed by someone he knew, and probably trusted, why do I say that? He was ushered from his route at the hotel into the kitchen, where Sirhan Sirhan was waiting gun-in-hand. At the time, it was well-known that LBJ had a strong dislike for the Kennedy family. RFK had made a lot of enemies as AG, among them the teamsters, and unions, it is not beyond belief they had a hand in his death, I never thought until this post, the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa could be linked to these cases, as the leader of the Teamster Union disappeared not long after RFK's death, did he know something?

I put down Hoffa's disappearance to crossing swords with the MAFIA, not long before he vanished he was known to have seen the Dockworkers boss, Vito Genovese. The dockers are the vital link in any orginisation, the seamen transport the goods across the seas, and the teamsters deliver the goods around the country, but neither union is allowed to load the trucks. Crossing swords with the Genovese family usually had one end, you died.

Why I think they had nothing to do with his disappearance, it isn't the style of the mob to hide a killing, especially if it's as high-profile as Hoffa was. However, after being to jail, and pardoned, on the grounds he stayed out of politics, Hoffa was in no position to be a threat.

Where is Jimmy Hoffa?

In my mind, he didn't move far from where he was last seen in Detroit, why?

Theories as to the location of the body abound, from the end-zone of the New York Giants stadium ,to the Nevada desert. I have no doubt the "family" has the power, and connections to bury a body in the stadium, but why?

Why go to Nevada?

Trucks even then had large ice coolers, and could have taken the body to the desert, but why go to Nevada, when you have states closer?

Why do I think he's close to Detroit?

There is a large body of water not far from the area, ideal for a "quick dump" of a body. The body never turned up because it was probably attacked by fish, as they tore the flesh, any gas build up would have escaped, causing the body not to rise.

An interesting aspect of this scenario is after his disappearance, nobody took his place, fear or threat?

Edward Kennedy Jnr.

The death of Mary Jo Kopechne while in the car with Kennedy is no more a curse, it is a case of drunken driving causing a fatal accident.

True, they have had a series of mishaps, but consider this; if they were not so well-known, would we have heard of them?

Who were the Jueues?

 Jack the Ripper

Did Police know Jack the Ripper?

Since the 1980's when I came across the term Jueues in a replica of the Illustrated Police Times, at the time of Jack the Ripper, I have searched for information on the term Jueues.

The only connection I have found is the Jueues were a 16th Century secret society in Spain.

There is evidence the police tampered with the crime scene, the "original" photo of the scene clearly shows the term Jueues, but the official release in the paper shows were it has been erased, and replaced with Jews, as Jews were despised in many cities in Europe for their business accumen.

It came as no surprise, to me, to find a theory that supported the original claim the murders were done by a Jew. However, this claim has been negated as the blood sample was so weak it could not be truly examined, and the man who proposed the theory was discreditted as an author.

What is not told is around this time there were a series of similiar murders in Mexico, and later in Russia. Which is why I think the crimes were done by a sailor, if he'd been working on a whaler, he'd know how to quickly dissect a body

The death of Natalie Wood

 My Theory

A Fatal Accident

The death of actress Natalie Wood has foxed many people over the years, mainly because the forgot the K.I.S.S. Principle.

What does K.I.S.S.  stand for?

Keep It Simple Stupid.

My theory, which is open to debate, is her death was no more than a fatal accident. Yes, they owned a yacht, and had basic training in seamanship, but many sailors would have called the group "Martini Sailors," meaning weekend sailors who used the boat for showing off, with disregard to the sea.

I think what happened was there was either a large swell, or a change in the wind which caused the boom to swing, not being a sailor, she wouldn't have been watching the boom, and got hit and winded.

Being winded, and struggling to breathe, even wearing a lifejacket it would be easy to drown

The Spam fight back

 June's Journey

Partners in Crime

From now on, each time I get spammed by people on Twitter, I am returning the favour with a blog post link. I don't expect anything from this, but it such good fun to post to a group, then leave 🤣🤣🤣🤣

My eBay store has many viewers

 Few buyers

Some of my DVDs I am not selling

My pages on eBay attract a lot of attention.

Many of my Hindi DVD selection I am willing to sell, but there are some movies I am not selling.

A prime candidate for me to keep is the film on this post. 

You can keep Marilyn Munroe, and Brigette Bardot, I am more into Jane Russell and Ava Gardner. When people go on about the sexual attrtaction of BB, it does nothing for me; to me the blond beauty of the cinema is Catherine Deneuve.

Part of the reason I prefer CD is I am not into the light comedy of the 1960's such as the films of Audrey Hepburn. My films of the era were from the French New Wave, gritty crime movies with ladies with raw sexual appeal, another favourite of mine is Jeanne Moreau.

eBay shop run down

Adding DVDs to eBay 

Final call

As my store on eBay hardly makes it worth my while adding to the page, I earned less than £3.00 a week this month. I shall be deleting stock over 6 months old that hasn't raised any interest. If it hasn't sold by now, it probably won't.

Why do I bother?

 eBay

Blogger

Gone are the days when my eBay pages thrived, this month I earmed less than £0.50p a day.

The blog gets fewer than 100 readers a day these days.

Twitter

Some of my posts on Twitter get several readers, but few, if any find their way to the blog. Most of the contact on Twitter is from young girls on sex sites, or people trying to scam me into joining their Crypto pyramid

World of Books

 eBay seller

WeBuyGanes

For the same reasons as I qouted in the post on WeBuyGames, I won't buy again from the eBay seller World of Books, this is another site whose customer service needs to be seriously reviewed

WeBuyGames

eBay seller

An eBay Issue

Over my years on eBay, I have come across few sites I would not trust.

One of the worst is WeBuyGames, there sales attitude, to put it politely, stinks of condesention. I've had several discs sent which I didn't order, the rerason being they didn't have what was on the site. One disc had the image of a film, but the write-up of another on the site; I had no objection, as I wanted both films, but as they couldn't tell me what they were sending, I didn't get the mystery DVD.

There are a few others, but I can't recall their names for now; I would say 90% of the sites are reliable. 

Adding DVDs to eBay

 Non-Hindi DVDs are being added from this month

An experiment in expansion

Though most of the DVD selection I am selling on eBay is Hindi, from this month, I am going to add more non-Hindi dvds to the pages. This is not a new expansion for my stock, I already have a lot for sale, my wife's Quincy M.E. sets went like wildfire.

The Book Fair SCAM

 A ploy that cannot fail

The easiest SCAM

One of the easiest scam projects is the Book Fair SCAM.

I was approached by several vanity publishers, with regards to putting my books in book fairs.

This may seem a great opportunity for sales, but it is the easiest, and most successful way to scam a writer.

The usual approach is they give you a list of fairs they "say" they will put your book in, knowing well you cannot prove they did nothing, but take your money. You cannot get to all the fairs, and if you go to one, all they'd say is either we were there, but you couldn't find us, or we were somewhere else.

What is a Vanity Publisher?

The usual ploy of a vanity publisher is to say, "if you pay for the first book to be published, we may give you a contract for the sequel."

If you have to pay for the first book, which does well, why give someone the credit of publishing a sequel, when they had no faith in you?

Did Police know Jack the Ripper?

 Freemasons

                                                          Tampering with the Crime Scene

I have my suspicions the Police knew Jack the Ripper.

Certain aspects of the case have given me concerns over the years; mainly they tampered with the crime scene, before releasing the drawing of one of the victims.

The "original" drawing clearly displays the term Jueues, but the "official" release has the term changed to Jews, and you can see where the chalk was erased.

I have searched for decades, and the only connection I can find for Jueues is to a secret organistion based in 16th Century Spain. But, if you are a secret society there would be no trace of you.

Another aspect is whoever did the killings knew a lot about the time it would take the police to get to a crime scene, something a police officer would know.

I have witnessed how police cover crimes up, to protect their friends; in 1984, I reported a crime in Bristol City Museum, this crime is central to my eBook short story, Sexual Explosions.

There were other aspects of me being constantly passed for promotion, but, I have been adamant over the years since I reported the crime, still unsolved, I was passed over because the police knew if I was permitted to go to security meetings, I WOULD bring the matter up, and it would go on record. Meaning some of their colleagues would come under suspicion of theft.

I slept with 16 men in one night

 Armed Forces

Read the story not the headline

By reading the headline, you would get the impression I am a rampant homosexual, I am not. now read on.

I was watching a video on YouTube about the sexual appetites of the stars of the Golden age of Hollywood, and I realised something; it depends on how you read the news, as to what you understand.

Anyone who served in the Armed Forces can say they slept with numerous people in one night, we had no choice sleeping in barracks.

Some of the claims of multiple encounters in a night I consider tongue-in-cheek, they were for publicity; however, there are some I am not sure of such as Tallulah Bankhead who was known for her wild lifestyle; having multiple lovers of both sexes

Why do ladies feel safe with me?

 I treat people with respect

Respect to me is not always forthcoming

When I begin a chat, whether on Facebook, Twitter, or WhatsApp, I treat people with the respect I expect in return.

The respect is not always returned, at times I have been offended, and that takes a lot for me; especially when the rudeness is at the beginning of the chat.

Last year, I had two coloured young ladies expecting me to want to go out with as they were young, coloured, and had large breasts. They had no idea what I liked, but assumed, wrongly, I was into large breasts and bottoms. Large breasts, within reason, are attrractive to me, but these were oversize, and turned me off.

I have nothing against, colour, race, or religion as long as the lady is respectful to me.

I have been told ladies prefer chatting to me as I don't force myself on them. and never expect a lady online is looking for no more than a pleasant chat.