Why do you celebrate Halloween?

 Halloween

All Saints Day

Halloween, or to give it the proper title, All Hallows Eve, is a Roman Catholic festival which has nothing to do with Zombies, and the Undead.

The festival is to commerate those of our relatives who are no longer with us.

However, as most people will not be celebrating tomorrow - All Saints Day - I ask again, why are you celebrating Halloween?

Over 500 Twitter followers

 Alan Place - Sex Object?

What is the attraction?

Over the last two weeks, the number of followers I have on Twitter has jumped from 200 to 590. At one time, these could have been girls on sex chat lines, but these followers are young, or middle-aged ladies eager to know me, many have said they would like to meet me. Yet, the one lady who showed the most interest, my friend in Gloucester remains elusive

Possible writing projects

Alan Place - Indie Writer

                                                                     The growing WIP   

As my friend in Gloucester is a history teacher, I have time on my hads while she works, to expand some of my WIP (work in progress) projects, as I am going to contact her only during lunch time (12:00 - 2:00), and after 7:00 pm.    

I have a large number of projects I can expand, now I have a reason to resume my writing, as my friend is interested in what I write. I am writing for pleasure, not for sale these days. 

My two great flaws

 Overthinking and undervaluing my attraction to ladies

Was I an old fool?

I am far from a stable person, among my flaws are two major issues.

Last night was a classic case of my overthinking an issue. Instead of looking for a simple reason why my friend in Gloucester hadn't been in touch, I started looking for darker reasons.

My other great flaw, if you can call it a flaw, is I underestimate the attraction ladies find in me.

Years ago, as a writer, I did underestimate my capacity to write, that wasn't a flaw, it was a ploy to impress clients, I undersold myself to gain work

Was I an old fool?

 Second Thoughts

What is the attraction?

I am wondering if I made a fool of myself (again)

A lady in Gloucester, I had contact with on Twitter said she fell in love with me as soon as she saw my profile picture.

If that is the case, one of three things has happened in the last two days - she only mentioned her desires four days ago - either I upset her, she is feeling shy, or she has had second thoughts about me.

She knows if I did something to upset her, all she had to do is tell me, and I will do as much as possible to correct my ways.

I can't do anything about the other two situations as they are out of my hands. 

I would have liked to meet her as she doesn't live far from where I do in Bristol.

I have found out in the last two days, I have lady admirers, that I know of, on Twitter, Zangi, and Telegram. Why is beyond my understanding.

I am beginning to think I was an old fool, thinking an attractive lady in her 40's would fall for a man in his late 60's

Money offers

 Job offers

Trust is hard to earn

Almost weekly, I get offers from people on Twitter, saying they have money they wish to send to help me.

They could be genuine, but I treat it as a SCAM, why?

How would a person I have never heard of find out about me?

They never consider this offer maybe offensive to me.

Rather than being offered money, I would prefer to be offered a job of writing a story

Slamdunk!

 Another SCAM broken

                                                      The Chicago bust

For the last month, I had been chatting to a lady in Chicago, I had my suspicions about her, and last night they were proven true.

She tried to scam me for the price of a new screen for her phone, or a new phone.

How do I know it is a scam?

It is almost a day, and she hasn't contacted me, usually by now we are deep in chat

Recycling

 Come hell or high water

You have to be joking

No matter what the weather is today, I have to put out the recycling. I didn't do it last week, I was too tired when I returned from a shopping trip to buy something for a "friend",which turned out to be a SCAM

My life and Twitter

 A growing fan base

I am who I appear to be online

This weeks comments about me on Twitter have revealed a trend I never knew about, but why would I?

I didn't realise I had so many lady admirers. I always consedired myself plain, and unattractive.

It would appear several ladies have a crush on me, caused by my Twitter profile image, and my openess when chatting.

I often get asked, am I the person I appear online to be, the answer is YES! I can't be otherwise, I am not a man to create illusions about myself, love me or loathe me, I am how I appear online

Country Music

A new romance

The Cowboy and the Teacher

In part, my friendship with my new lady friend, Emma, resembles a song I heard in the 1970's about a cowboy and a teacher.

The cowboy was the best ranchhand, and his boss wanted him to become the head of the ranch, but he had little education, so the owner asked him to go to school to learn to read and write.

Reluctantly, he went.

While there, he fell in love with his teacher, but she was too rigid to see her beauty. 

In exchange for teaching him, she agreed to let him relax her appearance, and enhance her beauty.

The likeness between this song, and my friendship is I am the cowboy, and Emma is the beautiful teacher, that is as far as the likeness goes. Emma doesn't need any help with appearance, she is beautiful in my eyes

You have to be joking!

 Apple card SCAM

Game card SCAM

Last week I fell for a Game card scam, when a lady asked for a £25 card for her son (if he existed), so we could meet in peace.

If you think that SCAM was bad, today's topped it LOL.

I was attempting to arrange to meet two ladies, seperately, but both asked for a £100 Apple card, so we could meet in peace. LMAO, not a snowball's chance in hell

How many more?

 This week has been an eye-opener for me

What is the attraction?

This week is full of revelations which astound me

I have learned that three ladies have fallen for me. Having seen my Twitter profile, they fell in love with me, which makes me wonder how many more have hidden feelings for me?

This week has been an eye-opener for me

 What is the attraction?

I never considered myself attractive to ladies

This week on Twitter has proven to be an eye-opener for me.

I have never considered that ladies would find me attractive, perhaps that is my charm, this week on a daily basis I have had several ladies asking if I  had considered a new relationship now my wife has passed away.

These are ladies genuinaly interested in me, not just young girls on sex chat lines.

One lady who is taking a keen interest in me is a teacher of history from the USA, who lives in Gloucester.  We have truly clicked in the last few days.

I asked the question, what do you see in me, and I keep getting the same answer, you are a handsome man for your age (69), and you show me respect

Silver Surfer

 50+ ladies

Friendship first

If there are ladies on the Silver Surfer website seeking a 50+ male companion, I am free to chat to, I am willing to chat about most things as we build our friendship

Happy Birthday

 Silver Surfer

Only the Lonely

Today, I reached the grand age of 69. This will be the first birthday in 40 without my lovely, she passed away in January.

If there are any ladies who are 50+ on the Silver Surfer site, looking for a companion, I am available to chat to, and see where it goes.

I could be flattered

 Fake Twitter profiles

Fake Profiles

If I was to believe what turns up on my Twitter page, I am being followed byJennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, and now Kaley Cuoco.

These are probably "fake" accounts, as how, and why, would an actress like these know about me?

My YouTube channel thinks it has been discontinued

 My favourite channel on YouTube

Buying goods from YouTube channels

I think my television thinks I have gone AWOL this week, from watching YouTube for several hours a day, I have hardly watched it for that time in thelast three days.

One of the reasons is I have become popular, again with some ladies on Twitter.

Another reason is I have to go out two or three days a week shopping, and often I forget to turn the television on.

A burning question

Ladies on Twitter

                                      I never considered myself attractive to ladies

Recently on Twitter, Telegram, Zangi, and WhatsApp, I have been approached by several ladies asking if I am interested in starting a relationship?

As my wife died in January, I hadn't given the idea the slightest thought for several reasons.

Respect for my wife's memory, the love I have for her, the memory of our 39 year marriage.

How would my family feel if I had another relationship?

I thought at me age, a lady wouldn't be interested in me.

I didn't consider the prospect because at 69, my time is limited

I am NOT an exclusive item

 What is the attraction?

Alan Place - Sex Object?

This week an old issue raised its head again

I have become popular , again,with ladies online. This has lead to one.or two getting concerned I am not chatting to them only. I am willing to chat to anyone, so long as they are polite, and respectful.

I never considred myself attractive, this could be my charm. SOme men try to push their sex appeal, other see ladies online as fair game for sex chats. I am neither.

Unlike some men, my public profile images show no nudity, not even semi-clothed, yes I put the occasional post on with my body on show.

When I chat to a lady,I make it clear she is in charge of what we talk about, my rule is I usually do not lead the chat to matters of sex, if the lady chooses to talk about it, that is her choice

The Danielle Lam SCAM

 How can you win if you don't enter?

Scambusted

Several times on Twitter, I have been contacted by a lady called Danielle Lam, telling me I have won a sum in a lottery held in the USA.

I know this is a SCAM for several reasons; I've never heard of the lottery, I never entered the lottery, and she never tells me how she came across my name

What is the attraction?

A new romance 

A love that will last

I have not been looking for a lady companion so soon after the death of my wife. Yet, I have been approached for dates by several ladies on Twitter who find both me, and my manners attractive, and wish to meet me.

At a later date, I would have no objection, now I am not in the correct mindset to consider another serious relationship, I am happy to chat on Twitter, WhatsApp, or Telegram.

I think my style of not pushing myself is the attraction, along with my old-fashioned show of respect for a lady's choice of subject to talk about

AI will NEVER replace speech

The main reason

                                                         Monotonic performance

For all the good points of AI, it will NEVER replace speech for several reasons.

The main reason is AI cannot differentiate betweeen a period to end a sentence, and a period to shorten a title such as Dr. Often, this flaw makes watching YouTube a hard task.

One of the other flaws is that AI is monotonic, with no speech inflections, and pauses mid-sentence, rather than at a normal pause

How to lose my friendship

 Don't break the rules

I am usually easy going

Yesterday on WhatsApp, a young Asian lady broke two of my basic rules. I don't have many rules as I am known to be a nice man to chat to, ladies have often said they don't feel threatened by me.

This young lady broke TWO rules.

1) - Though she had only known for less than a day, she asked for money.

2) - When she learned I am a pensioner with little money, she accused me of lying. 

I thought about giving her the opportunity to apologise, and try to gain my friendship again, but changed my mind and blocked her on Twitter too, so she had no way to contact me

Writing Requests

 Ladies on Twitter

Pleasing the ladies

Yesterday on Twitter, I had several requests from ladies to write a story for them. As a gentleman, it is my pleasure to give a lady what she pleases.

This will also give me something to occupy my mind as I have a bad series of months ahead beginning next week with my birthday, this will be the first time in 40 years my lovely wife won't be with me. Then follows Halloween, that was always my wife's delight, she used to enjoy the sweets the children didn't get, over the next weeks.

Then there is Christmas, last year was the best my wife had for many years, she was taken to see the lights on the houses, she helped prepare our dinner, and a few days later, we saw our fox cubs close. Less than two weeks later (Jan 17th), she passed away.

The pain doesn't lessen there, there is Valentine's day, and then my wife's birthday in March

Do you know how to use your phone camera?

My Twitter Policy

                                                     Look for the Circle

I get asked to chat to many young ladies on Twitter, mostly to try to join Only Fans, from now on I am adopting a new policy. I won't contact anyone who I can't see their face. Many girls take a photo, but all I see in the back of the camera. It isn't hard to swivel the camera, all you need do is look for the circle emblem, usuall in the top corner of the phone.

Another annoying thing is girls who use an emoji, put simply, if I can't see who I am expected to talk to, I will block them.

Covid

 Classical Music

Germany

Last night, I was watching a classical music video on YouTube,taped in Germany five years ago. The effects of Covid were never more clear, with the 2 meter restriction on closeness, the hall was almost half-empty.

I wondered if the musicians seeing the spaces considered the concert like a rehearsal? Mind, the Gerrmans take things to an extreme, I read a report of a man who had over 200 vaccinations, where can you find a spot that hasn't been used with that number of injections, and it can't be good for you?

Covid claimed my wife this year, but she had been seriously ill for several years. I had a bout of Covid too, to the surprise of my family, with my health issues, which are many, I survived. I have only had the original booster, my view is if the booster didn't work that time, what is the point of the next one?

I view Covid as a scam. Each year, there are several new variations "claimed" to have been discovered, Covid can kill, but it is NOT the cause, you need to consider other factors.

There are diseases which killed many more people, even within my life of 69 years, Smallpox was a killer, until the 1960's when a vaccine was made; however, with the influx of illegal immigrants from the Middle East, cases have returned in Scotland.In the last century, there was the Spanish flu epidemic which killed millions of people

How would you like to be paid to do nothing?

 Lost in Space

Professor Brian Cox

Sounds too good to be true, but that is what Professor Brian Cox is being paid by Manchester University to do. His thoery is there is no sentient life in the universe, other than on Earth.

So he sits, and watches for nothing to happen, the irony is there have been signals in space picked up by the Hubble Telescope from distant stars

Do you know the meaning of All Souls Day?

 All Saints Day

Halloween is almost here

Many people know about Halloween from the dressing up, to giving of sweets in "Trick or Treat." The correct term is All Hallows Eve, the following day is sometimes celebrated as All Saints Day, but few people know of the meaning of the first Sunday in November, All Souls Day.

This is the day when people who died, and had no burials are rememberred

Bangladesh readers welcome

 Indian History

Spreading my Wings

Yesterday saw a new region for readers of the blog, Bangladesh. This area of what was India, during the days of the Raj, covers mainly the Bengal region.

Pre-1948 the area was under the control of the British Empire, as part of the agreement to aid the UK in World War 2, India became independent when the war ended. It was at this time the state of Pakistan was founded, as the Muslim community was split on either side of the sub-continent, it became East Pakistan, and West Pakistan.

In 1971, East Pakistan grew tired of being run by West Pakistan, as they were on opposite sides of India, hundreds of miles apart, and had different needs. So, the Bangladesh Liberation War began. Like the Indo-Pakistan war, Pakistan came out worse, how can you control troops, when you have no communication with them.

Pakistan and Bangladesh are not even close when it comes to weather, and land. Pakistan is an arid dry land, whereas Bangladesh is prone to floods

Brazil readers welcome

 Spreading my Wings

I have arrived in South America

The largest group of readers for my blog yesterday, outside of HongKong and Singapore, came from Brazil. The strangeness of where I get rid was never clearer, I had twice as many readers in Brazil as I did from the USA yesterday

Fake Profiles

 Jennifer Aniston

Matt Le Blanc

Last night, I was contacted on Twitter, by what I think is a fake profile of Jennifer Aniston. Why do I think it is fake?

Considering how many fans she has in the USA, why would she contact me?

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.