In the mood

 Connecting on WhatsApp

Only Fans

For the past three days I was chatting to two young ladies on Twitter; I was never in doubt of their intentions, they wanted me to sign up for their Only Fans pages.

I have also been chatting, occasionaly, to a young lady in Hong Kong, who is asking to join my WhatsApp page, this may happen; though I usually only have my children on this page.

Barbara Stanwyck

 Anna May Wong

I am not like my father

My father's spirit is probably going mad with me. I was watching some videos of Barbara Stanwyck, and  Anna May Wong a short while ago on YouTube.

My father had a thing against ladies called Barbara, Barbara Cartland, Barbara Castle, and even my wife's friend, Barbara Way, who was our maid of honour, who he only met at once, at the wedding.My mother said she only met his mother once, which makes me wonder if her name was Barbara, as he was illegitimate, and in the 1920's that was almost a crime.

I think Barbara is great actress from what I have seen, I admit it isn't a lot of her work, but some actors make a good impression on me, she is one of those

I need to sell 4 eBooks in a year

 Will I be paid by my 70th Birthday?

Alan Place - Award Winning Author

To get my next roalty fees from Draft2Digital, I need to sell 4 ebooks in a year, you may think for an award-winning writer such as me that would be a piece of cake, yet it has taken me three years to earn $6.30c.

The rerason for this is they use a library system were the reader payys a fee, and can take out as many books as theyy can read in a month. The writer gets their fees, if they sell a set number of products, but nobody knows the number of sales needed. Things were struggling before they joined with Smashwords, I had a bad feeling about SW from the time I read the founder makes more than Amazon, this was re-enforced when other writers told me they had not been paid for sales.

I doubt I will be paid by my 70th birthday, this time next year.

I think the UK could be in for a hard winter

 Too warm for October

Fall

As much as I am enjoying the warm spell, as a gardener, I am concerned the plants may come through thinking it is a "false spring."

This type of weather is uncommon in the UK for October. Last week, I said to one of our daughters "if it isn't raining, be grateful," at the time there was a terrible strong wind.

In the fall, I am grateful if it doesn't rain each day. The plants need the water, but too much is worse than too little, you can always add water, but it is hard to drain it off, this is the issue with the Somerset Levels, and the fens in Norfolk, UK.

North of Gloucester, and across the midlands, the problem is the opposite, from Cheltenham across to Coventry is an alluvial flood plain, an enormous expanse of dried mud which water cannot penetrate

The Fantastic Four

 The Curse of the Remake

I didn't believe it

I thought this remake had to be a joke.

When they brought out the Fanstatic Four before, even with Jessica Alba in, it bombed. At the time, she was in Sin City, two films I love. The second film was delayed as there was a disagreement over who should be in, some of the crew wanted Jessica, and other wished for Angelina Jolie. This discussion put the release back almost a year.

Vote Conservative

 Labour haven't changed

                                                        Remember the 70s

The older generation recalled the days of endless strikes, which is why we warned the new voters what Labour are like, but they were conned into thinking "New Labour" is different.

Look what Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper, and Rachel Reeves are doing to the economy of the UK.

The only difference is now Labour are run by the Muslim Brotherhood as well as the Unions. For the pleasure bestoyed upon us for thelast year, we can thank the voters who voted for Nigel Farage, and ReformUK. No doubt, when the next election comes, Labour will moan about the endless cuts made to services by the incoming government, they always do, while forgetting these cuts were forced on them by Labour policies of the past.

The WhatsApp trend

 Why would she want access?

Young ladies online

During last month, I was contacted on Twitter by several young ladies who wished to have my WhatsApp number. I didn't send the address as I only let friends I trust, and family have the private link. The odd thing is once they knew they would have to chat on Twitter to get to know me, they did not contact me again

How I learned a lot from an error

 Sandhya Shantaram

No Subtitles

When I begun buying Hindi movies from eBay, I thought I had got a bargain with this disc, three films on one disc, "what a find" I thought.

When it arrived, I found out that discs with three films have no room for subtitles.

I am able to buy the films, with subtitles, if I wish. However, one film I decided not to buy as it is too expensive for the cast involved, to my taste.

The two films I am getting are Sehra, and Navrang, both feature Sandhya Shantaram, who was the producer's wife - she is a good actress - who died this week. Sehra also featutes another of my Bollywood favourite actresses, Lalita Pawar. Unfortunately, it aslo has Mumtaz Askari in, and I am not a fan of the younger lady.

Navrang is a film shared by Sandhya Shantaram, along with another actress who appears in Pinjara, Vatsala Deshmukh. I have seen Ms. Deshmukh in other films, such as Suhaag with Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, and Nirupa Roy. Pinjara is the movie I am not getting, the lowest price I have seen is £24.00, way too high for a film in my books, especially when the lead is a little-known actress

Am I going mad?

 R.I.P. Linda

I am losing what is left of my sanity

Since my lovely wife passed away, I have had trouble recalling the days, mostly because most days are the same, also my depression deepens as the days pass. I may not cry as much, but the heartbreak never goes.

Today is Sunday, October 5th, all day I have thought it was a Monday

The Curse of the white lady

 Scarborough

Yorkshire Ghosts

Among sea captains in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, there is a story that if three men see the ghost of a white lady on the same night, one of the men will die that night.

That story is the base of my eBook short story, The Rocking Lantern.

Many of my stories feature the Yorkshire coast, though I left, with my parents in 1963, I still consider myself a Yorkshireman.

One of my wishes when I was a writer, was to have a ghost story published in The Dalesman magazine

Is it better to have loved and lost?

 What becomes of the broken-hearted?

R.I.P. Linda

I cannot recall who said it, but a writer wrote, "It is far better to have loved, and lost, than not to have loved at all."

For my part, I disagree, I had nearly 40 years of love, and happiness with my wonderful wife, Linda, who died in January 2025. Now, what is left?

I don't live, I exist, my life is now one of being here so my family has some stability. I am left feeling empty, lonely, and suffering from a growing sense of depression

Why Labour won't block the immigrants

 Why enter the UK illegally?

Labour need the Illegals as voters

While Labour are in power nothing will be done about the illegal immigrants, the Labour Party need these people, or the party will cease to exist.

Don't think things will change if Reform UK get power, most of them are Labour rejects. Farage, and his cohorts, are in the pockets of Russia.Since the late 70's, Labour has been run by the Union bosses, they regularly held the UK hostage to their demands; if it hadn't been for Margaret Thatcher standing against the miners, I hate to think what could have happened, that is why the UK needs Penny Mordaunt to lead the Conservative Party.

Why enter the UK illegally?

 Illegal Immigrants

A high price to pay

Last month, two men were charged with aiding illegal immigrants, apparently, they were charging £15,000 per person. This raises the question, if you can afford that much, why risk crossing the English Channel in a boat fit only for a small river?

Menage-a-trois

 The Duels

Barbara Payton

Actor Franchot Tone, from France, was involved in two notable Menage-a-trois incidents; they had very different endings though.

The most notable trio was when he was the center of the row between Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford. The rows between Bette and Joan were relentless, and only ended when Joan died. The rows did no serious damage to the careers of either lady.

Several years later, he was involved in another Menage-a-trois, this time the outcome was very different. This trio involved Franchot, and actor Tom Neal over rising starlet, Barbara Payton. This row got so violent Franchot ended up in hospital with a broken nose, and fractured jaw, and labelled Barbara as box-office poison. Tom Neal is best kown for the movie Detour, with Ann Savage.

From rising star to box-office poison.

The glamourous starlet, who months earlier studios raged for had now become known as too much trouble, and was rejected. In her later years, she was more often seen on police bulletins, than in Hollywood. Apparently, months before her death, a former colleague saw her selling herself to get money for a meal

You thought Stalinism was DEAD

 Nigel "The Weasel" Farage

Putin

I expect this post to be blocked by Twitter, as two more were for critisising Nigel Farage; but here goes nothing.

I have said for a long time I think Farage would run the UK the way Stalin ran Russia, the latest news about the Reform UK leader has prove me correct.

Not only does he follow Stalin's tactics of telling the MPs to either follow his lead, or shut up! Those like Rupert Lowe who stand against him are expelled. Not only does he think Putin is one of the best Premiers, the party regulary gets money from Russia.

Anti-EU, that's a good joke.

No sooner had Brexit been approved, Farage applied for a passport from Germany. The only qualification, this writer knows for the application being accepted is that as an MEP he worked in Germany for years.

His track record is second-to-none, he's a three-time-loser. The only way he got to be an MP is he sat for Clacton-on-the-Sea, a seat nobody wanted, and a place the majority of the UK couldn't place if asked.

Reform UK is another name for Labour.

The rise of Reform UK MPs is down to one factor, the majority of the people left the Labour Party after Starmer sank the party. All they care about is their cushy job, and big pay packets.