The Swinging Sixties

Saturday 1st August 2020 - The Swinging Sixties

It is said that if you can remember The Swinging Sixties then you were not there !  I was there and I do remember the decade but how much of my memory has been formed in later years I can not say. Not a day in 2020 goes by without my listening to music from the 1960's. Yesterday, I drove through the centre of Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, as I passed places from my early youth the memories flooded back.

The decade began on Friday 1st January 1960, I was only nine years old and ended on Wednesday 31st December 1969. It began with rock and roll then ended with flower power. I am too old now but if younger I would love to write a thesis for a Phd debating how music reflects the society it is contained within.

On my tenth birthday in 1960 Elvis Presley was at number one with It's Now or Never. Fast forward to my nineteenth birthday on 3rd November 1969 at number one was Sugar by The Archies. Sugar a piece of music preparing us for the Disco 1970's.

Since lock down I have filled much of my time writing. I am now in the final editing stages of my book Milton Dreams The City That Never Was. Editing is the hardest stage in any writing, dead boring I can assure you. Milton Dreams is 60,324 words long. At 28,033 so far is the story I am writing Getting to Know my Granddad. 

I am loving writing this story. At the centre of this is Philip Johnson, a disaffected and underachieving fifteen year old who under his grandfather's influence becomes Pip Diamond the biggest rock and roll star there ever has been. He even eclipses Elvis Presley.

On my own 15th birthday Ken Dodd was at number one with Tears. Fifteen years old and I

just could not wait to escape school.

I have been worrying about my next writing project. What to do when I bring Pip's story to an end, that will probably at the end of this month. I now have it, THE SWINGING SIXTIES. This will be my own fun semi-Phd thesis of my life in the greatest decade history has ever seen.

I am trying hard to resist writing that entire Phd as this single diary entry. 

Do you recognise the picture I have selected for the cover. Woodstock August 1969. No, I was not there but on yes I do remember it, remember it so well. Half a million people celebrating the greatest decade history has ever seen

It's a Mad Mad World

It's a MAD MAD WORLD - Friday 31st July 2020

I began writing a diary on Google Blogger on 15th December 2016. This is my 1,188th edition. If you do the maths you will see that I have not been writing every day !

It was my intention when I started to write one hundred or so ages then publish them on Amazon under the title The Diary Of A Silly Old Man but that did not happen.

In March of this year I started to write a diary telling of my personal feelings during the corona virus pandemic. I deliberately wrote for one hundred days then published that on Amazon as ESCAPE FROM ARMAGEDDON - THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED DAYS.

Yes, I did write for one hundred days, never missed. Since I stopped I have missed the self-discipline needed to write every day. So here I am kicking off a new diary, one I will try to write an entry for every day. Every day until publication. I intend that to happen on Friday 21st January 2021. That is if this mad world is still here then !

It's A Mad Mad World - that is the title of a comedy film released in 1963. This mad world will not be a comedy I can assure you. In 1963 MAD was used in the film title to mean FUNNY. In 2020 I am using it to mean STUPID. I am going to write as I feel, I am going to tell you what happens in my day. I am not going to be politically correct, I am not going to tip toe around anyone's feelings. Ours is a stupid world and I intend to tell it as I see it !  If you don't like that then you should not be reading this should you !

I went shopping this morning to Morissons Supermarket to buy a few plants for the garden and as my wife and I had been blackberry picking I went to buy the ingredients for her to turn it into jam.  Morrissons is brilliant at organising social distancing, the staff are friends and go the extra mile to keep customers safe during this pandemic. Social distancing, yes that's fine (or is it) but what we need is a sanitiser to wipe out social ineptitude.

The government has been banging on about obesity ! Go to the sweet isle in Morrissons and you will see the fat bottoms stocking up on chocolate to make their fat bottoms even fatter. I do not drink alcohol but I am not against it as a matter of fact, what I am against is the alcoholic droves to be found in the booze isles. It's not the odd can here and there but crates of the stuff !

Social ineptitude.

But today there was an even greater social ineptitude than  an alcoholic with a seventy-five inch waist !

Anyone who reads anything I write will know that I despise so called smart phones. One of my very early blog entries in 2016 was entitled Zombie Phones. Just in case you are not familiar with my philosophy on this subject let me explain that a Smart Phone is a compensatory aid. If you break a leg you are given a crutch to help you walk. If you lose your hearing you can have a hearing aid to help compensate. Less than twenty-twenty vision and a pair of glasses is your compensatory aid. A smart phone is a compensatory aid for this and stupid people.

Morrissons was busy this morning, the queue down the social distancing system was long and slow moving. It was long because there were a lot of customers. It was slow moving because all the thick and stupid people were playing on  their phones oblivious to the fact that the person had moved forward and they needed to follow on.

When people can not live without a zombie phone it is indeed a mad world !

Leaving the supermarket I looked for someone I had seen there yesterday. he was nowhere to be seen.

Yes, I am starting IT'S A MAD MAD WORLD on Friday 31st July 2020 but here is my blog page for yesterday, Thursday 30th July 2020.

Speak again tomorrow. For those who need to open their smart phones and check the date let me tell you that will be Saturday 1st August 2020 !

Today I Met A Man In A Terrible Situation - Thursday 30th July 2020
Today I went to Morrissons to do a bit of shopping - just a little bit - I spent £120.

Coming outside I found a man begging. He was obviously homeless and rough-sleeping. I found two one pound coins in my pocket and gave them to him. He thanked me with a smile and a with genuine gratitude.

Last year, speaking with teenagers in Oakgrove School I said I had never met a homeless person who was not genuine and polite. This fifteen year old replied saying: When you are homeless you do not have to hide your feelings or pretend to be something you are not, your real thoughts just come out. THAT FROM A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD.

Was this man a drug addict ?  Most certainly he was. He looked really ill. His face was so haggard I could not attempt to guess how old he was. This guy is a victim, a victim who nobody loves and nobody cares about. Metaphorically he does not have a life ahead of him. Physically and medically I suspect his life expectancy is short.

Pre lock down I was working with who I call my Pavement Buddies, working with a lunch of love every Saturday. That is all gone. It is said that our pavement buddies are safely being cared for in hotel accommodation. RUBBISH !  Some have accommodation but many, like my friend from yesterday do not.

Several times since lock down I have e-mailed the two organisations running the hotel accommodation asking: How is Richard ?  How is Barry ? Neither organisation answered any of my e-mails ! Please do not tell me they care. 

What chance of getting help does my new friend and so many others like him have of finding help ?  You can measure that in a minus number !

Today I will spend £20 on printing ink to print off the draft of my new book MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS. I have to check every word and phrase ahead of publication by the end of August. The book finished with these words.

A CITY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING: During the 2020 pandemic I was interviewed on a radio programme about the work I had been doing supporting homeless-rough sleepers, The Food Bank, vulnerable adults and families with a child sick in hospital. Much of the work I had been doing was at that time on hold due to government regulations. I replied to the radio host’s question saying: The more vulnerable a person is the harder it is for that person to access the help needed.

No matter how long I live I will never forget some words shared with me by former Mayoress of Milton Keynes. She said: It does not matter which good cause you support providing you do support one.

Every town and every city in every country of the world has issues with its government over the care it provides for vulnerable people. It is too easy to blame local government, but I would suggest blame should not be placed at the door of Milton Keynes Civic Offices. It should be placed at my front door and at your front door.

A successful young man, a businessman once told me about his childhood as a runaway, rough-sleeper and juvenile offender. The authorities took him into foster care. He said to me: My foster family loved me out of my situation and made me what I am today. Where would he have been without his adopted family ?

I have said that Milton Keynes Council should be void of politics.  What are my own politics ?  I am a Utopian. I believe that while it is impossible to be everything to everyone that should not stop you trying. I also believe that if we were to live in Utopia it would be Hell On Earth, Hell on earth as there would be nothing to do, no challenges to engage with.

If we could some how lift things in Milton Keynes, give more love and understanding, not by throwing money at charity shops and the like but on an individual basis just how much we could achieve towards becoming Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is.

Talking about trees and road signs, talking about raising the profile of our ley lines, even trying to remove politics from Milton Keynes Council, these are all practical things which we could write into a plan. To make Milton Keynes a city of love and understanding is nebulous. How many people live in Milton Keynes right now today in 2020 ? Two hundred and seventy odd thousand. If everyone from cradle to care home showed love and understanding during their everyday life we would not need a plan, it would just be natural.

A CITY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING ?  That's a dream too far

Yesterday I met a man in a terrible situation

Yesterday I went to Morrissons to do a bit of shopping - just a little bit - I spent £120.

Coming outside I found a man begging. He was obviously homeless and rough-sleeping. I found two one pound coins in my pocket and gave them to him. He thanked me with a smile and a with genuine gratitude.

Last year, speaking with teenagers in Oakgrove School I said I had never met a homeless person who was not genuine and polite. This fifteen year old replied saying: When you are homeless you do not have to hide your feelings or pretend to be something you are not, your real thoughts just come out. THAT FROM A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD.

Was this man a drug addict ?  Most certainly he was. He looked really ill. His face was so haggard I could not attempt to guess how old he was. This guy is a victim, a victim who nobody loves and nobody cares about. Metaphorically he does not have a life ahead of him. Physically and medically I suspect his life expectancy is short.

Pre lock down I was working with who I call my Pavement Buddies, working with a lunch of love every Saturday. That is all gone. It is said that our pavement buddies are safely being cared for in hotel accommodation. RUBBISH !  Some have accommodation but many, like my friend from yesterday do not.

Several times since lock down I have e-mailed the two organisations running the hotel accommodation asking: How is Richard ?  How is Barry ? Neither organisation answered any of my e-mails ! Please do not tell me they care. 

What chance of getting help does my new friend and so many others like him have of finding help ?  You can measure that in a minus number !

Today I will spend £20 on printing ink to print off the draft of my new book MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS. I have to check every word and phrase ahead of publication by the end of August. The book finished with these words.

A CITY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING: During the 2020 pandemic I was interviewed on a radio programme about the work I had been doing supporting homeless-rough sleepers, The Food Bank, vulnerable adults and families with a child sick in hospital. Much of the work I had been doing was at that time on hold due to government regulations. I replied to the radio host’s question saying: The more vulnerable a person is the harder it is for that person to access the help needed.

No matter how long I live I will never forget some words shared with me by former Mayoress of Milton Keynes. She said: It does not matter which good cause you support providing you do support one.

Every town and every city in every country of the world has issues with its government over the care it provides for vulnerable people. It is too easy to blame local government, but I would suggest blame should not be placed at the door of Milton Keynes Civic Offices. It should be placed at my front door and at your front door.

A successful young man, a businessman once told me about his childhood as a runaway, rough-sleeper and juvenile offender. The authorities took him into foster care. He said to me: My foster family loved me out of my situation and made me what I am today. Where would he have been without his adopted family ?

I have said that Milton Keynes Council should be void of politics.  What are my own politics ?  I am a Utopian. I believe that while it is impossible to be everything to everyone that should not stop you trying. I also believe that if we were to live in Utopia it would be Hell On Earth, Hell on earth as there would be nothing to do, no challenges to engage with.

If we could some how lift things in Milton Keynes, give more love and understanding, not by throwing money at charity shops and the like but on an individual basis just how much we could achieve towards becoming Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is.

Talking about trees and road signs, talking about raising the profile of our ley lines, even trying to remove politics from Milton Keynes Council, these are all practical things which we could write into a plan. To make Milton Keynes a city of love and understanding is nebulous. How many people live in Milton Keynes right now today in 2020 ? Two hundred and seventy odd thousand. If everyone from cradle to care home showed love and understanding during their everyday life we would not need a plan, it would just be natural.

A CITY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING ?  That's a dream too far

Complain to Microsoft

satyan@microsoft.com Take a note of that e-mail address.

Next time Microsoft hacks into your computer with its sad, pathetic downgrading upgrades send your complaint there.

I have just complained that cursed Microsoft has hacked into my laptop and screwed up Google as it tried to force me, against my will, to use its damn Microsoft Edge.

I HATE MICROSOFT

To FACE the book or just write it ?

I hate Facebook after what it has done to me !

But when I posted of my pain on 21st July guess how many people read the blog ?  TWENTY SEVEN !  Big deal. Shows how much people care.

It will soon be a month since I kicked facebook into touch. I have not logged in but have remotely put up my music and my writing. I will be doing so with this bit of writing.

In these weird times, times of uncertainty, I have been writing thousands of words every day. I am working on two books. Since the start of the pandemic I have published on Amazon SIX books. Numbers seven and eight will be joining the bookshelf somewhere in the middle

of August. 

I want to publish them together on the same day.

For Milton Dreams The City That Never Was I am currently half way through checking the text. I still have to finish the final chapter which I have given the title: MILTON KEYNES THE CITY THAT TRULY IS and I want to write a chapter which was not in my original plan: A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME which will celebrate the work of Milton Keynes Parks Trust.

Simultaneously I am writing a fun story all about the music of teenager Pip Diamond. I have been keeping a record over the past week of how many words I have been writing.

12,967    1,875 words written 19^th July

14,330    1,366 words written 20^th July

16,127     1,917 words written 21^st July  

18,359     2,232 words written 22^nd July

19,341     982 words written 23^rd July

20,526     915 words written 25^th July

21,987     1,461 words written 26^th July

23,350     1,363 words written 27^th July

24,872     1,522 words written 28^th July

Both books have a message behind the text. For Milton Dreams that is simple, take all the wonderful things in Milton Keynes - fix the bad things and turn the new city of Milton Keynes into a real city.

As for Pip's story - Getting to Know My Granddad you will have to wait until it is published to find out what its message is.

For this book I think I am only one third of the way through writing but turning out ten thousand and more words a week I am doing ok.

Today Amazon will pay out my royalties for May. Amazon works a couple of months in hand and YES I am taxed at source on my earnings. Amazon believes in everyone paying their dues to the government !

I am expecting my royalties to be around fifty quid.

I write for fun, I do not write for the money. Well I wouldn't mind making some proper money. Who wouldn't ?  

Not specifically for the money although the ten grand would be great to have in my bank

account, I am hoping MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS will sell ten thousand copies. However, when it comes to promoting anything I am completely useless.

In my book GETTING TO KNOW MY GRANDDAD Pip Diamond becomes the biggest pop music sensation ever. Trust me he would not have done that if it had been left up to me to promote his music.

So I know that promoting these two books for me is not going to be easy. Boycotting Facebook will add to that difficulty. Although many people on Facebook did not support me when I published my tribute to our NHS. I am grateful to those who did get behinds me THANK YOU but at the end of the day OUR REBEKAH A STORY OF LOVE FROM OUR NHS was a failure. The biggest failure when it came to support was the NHS itself !

Do I just write these books or do I go back to using Facebook and try to engage social media support for them ?

Honestly, life without Facebook is good but should I return ?

To FACE the book (s) or just write them ?

Fat Bottoms !

Writing a chapter yesterday for my book about teenage rock star Pip Diamond I needed a little comic relief.  I wrote this.

I needed to change the subject before Alex’s mathematical calculations sank in. “Oh my good god !  Will you take a look at the arse on that !”

A very fat object of the female variety crossed the road in front of us.

“I bet that’s wider than The Grand Canyon.”

“When did you go to  The  Grand Canyon  Alex ?” Richard asked. “If Dad ever had to operate on that he would need a JCB excavator.” (Dad is a surgeon.)

“Drugs, sex and I think I will join a monastery,”  I added to the conversation. See I am getting to be good at English, I hope that makes my blog readers smile.

“Perhaps I should write a paper on obesity and how it is influenced by popular music in society,” Richard said.

King of mixed messages Boris Whatshisname is mouthing off about obesity. This appeared on the website of MKFM !

OK but so did this !  Mixed messages or what ?

On Saturday I did my weekly shop in Morrissons and could not help but notice the hideous size of many backsides moving up and down the isles. I am not sure that inspiration is the right word but these fat bottoms gave me the idea for the comic relief in my story.

But seriously, why can Boris be saying what he is saying while encouraging McDonald's and every other junk food outlet to thrive ?

In my story Pip Diamond is a Vegan, I am a Vegetarian which I guess is half way there. Since I stopped eating meat two years ago I have lost more than two stones and yet I eat more than perhaps I should.

Did you know that sitting typing on a computer expends 120 calories an hour. I will probably be at my laptop for four, perhaps five hours. today.

So give up eating meat and start writing - My diet !

In my book Getting To Know My Granddad Pip tells the story in a blog. There you go, start writing a blog and lose weight. Give that a try Mr Boris.

Of course the simple way to cut obesity would be to install fixed width barriers in every single supermarket, cafe, restaurant and junk (fast) food outlet. Only arses of a certain width would be able to pass through.

Milton Dreams - an update

I am working my way through the 56,378 words for Milton Dreams The City That Never Was. I am still working towards publication w/b 24th August. I think the finished work will be about 62,000 long.

Quoting from my original book published in 1994 - Not The Concrete Cows, I was able to read from the pages and the laptop turned my words into text. You have no idea how many typo's I am now struggling to take out !

Last week my friend and former Mayor of Milton Keynes, Mike Barry, gave me lots of help for a chapter I have now completed about The Peace Pagoda. Following chatting with Mike I visited the pagoda and have written what I hope is a loving, peaceful part of the book.

While I was at the pagoda I decided that throughout the entire text I should turn up volume for The Milton Keynes Parks Trust and celebrate the work it does.  My original plan did not include The Milton Keynes Rose. I have been racking my brain as to where I could include this and have decided it merits a chapter of its own.

Last Friday was midsummer. Milton Keynes Development Corporation aligned Midsummer Boulevard so the dawn of midsummer would shine down this ley line. I was there at dawn with my camera but the low cloud and the rain hid the sunrise !

ALL of the grid road system of Milton Keynes is built round the location of Midsummer Boulevard. Then within the grid road system we have all of Milton Keynes. Everything aligned round the Midsummer Boulevard ley line. How tragic that some planner, somewhere trashed the most important location within all of Milton Keynes by cutting the road to build The Intu aka The Intruder !

The book is a kaleidoscope through the legends, culture and history of Milton Keynes wrapped in my own personal memories of my adopted home.

Taking my original text from 1994 I have built on this to tell of the wartime Milton Keynes. Much of this story is centred on Bletchley but with the help of former Mayor David Hopkins I have been able to reach out into some villages and tell personal stories of those whose name now appear on the war memorials.

I hope there is a lot of fun for my future readers as I explore how Bletchley became the home for the invention of the TEA BAG. I am able to speak personally about Bletchley Park, I lived there for three years - no I was not a spy, but my Dad had an intelligence association with the park. Bletchley, of course, is home to The Lord of Loud without whom pop music all round the world would not be the same.

There is a major chapter about the history of education in our area. I look forward to a time when today's teenagers are in charge.

When Milton Keynes Development Corporation was in existence the area had a corporate identity as the country's first new city. It had a corporate identity but those living here did not, we were a mix of people from all over the country and nobody admitted to being from Milton Keynes. That has changed, the people of Milton Keynes now have an identity but the area does not. Milton Keynes The City That Never Was.

Milton Keynes has much of its origins in the Saxons who lived here so long ago. However, before then there were the Romans and Queen Boodica is significant in our history. In my book I bring together an argument that Milton Keynes should, indeed must, achieve city status. We have far more in our favour than almost every other city in the country,

Not The Concrete Cows was published in 1994, twenty-six years ago. Milton Dreams The City That Never Was will be published this year, 2020. Looking ahead twenty-six years to 2046 I want too publish a third book to complete the trilogy, Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is. I hope that everyone who reads my book will help make that happen and our dream become reality.

Contents for Milton Dreams The City That Never Was:

I have to work out where to slot in A rose by any other name would smell as sweet - this chapter will be more than an obscure reference to Shakespeare but will take the fundamental thinking of Juliette as she speaks these words and will apply them to The Milton Keynes Rose

• What Is That Smell ?
• Dirty New City
• Where No Birds sing
• Milton Keynes London’s Third Airport
• Iconic Music
• Cows And Dinosaurs
• Education A Gift For Life
• Ley Lines
• The Oldest Living Thing In Milton Dreams
• Enigmatic Memories Of Bletchley Park
• The Great Train Robbery
• Better By Design
• Hidden And Now Forgotten Landmark
• A Beautiful But Tragic Landmark
• A City Of Trees
• Wartime Milton Keynes
• Maggie Came To Milton Keynes The Queen Came To Bletchley
• Newporto Pagnellio
• Legends Revisited
• This Will Never Catch On
• Lost Names
• A Trilogy Of Tragedy
• Let’s Revisit A Folly Or Two
• Lost Peace
• Transport Planning
• What Would Our Ancestors Make Of Milton Keynes
• Milton Keynes Worthies
• Three Helicopters An Atomic Bomb And A Naked Sunbather
• Cover Photograph A Dream Come True
• Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is

Publishing Milton Dreams

Milton Dreams - The City That Never Was - I had been anticipating publication week beginning Monday 10th August but think I am now looking at week beginning Monday 24th August. 

I am actually writing what I thought would be the final chapter - Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is. Well it was the final chapter until I had a "ZOOM" chat yesterday with my friend and former Mayor of Milton Keynes Mike Barry.

I had wanted to pick Mike's brains from when he was our mayor and include his memories of a couple of specific things within the text. However, Mike gave me so much information I am going to need to expand the length of the book.

We talked about his year as Mayor and The Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda, Mike was Mayor in 2007 - 2008. I knew that Mike had seen The Dalai Lama when he came to Milton Keynes and assumed this was during his year of office but no, this was in 1984 so this will need to be written as a separate feature.

Within the draft text as it stands I am a little less than kind writing about Campbell Park and the memory of Lord (Jock) Campbell after whom the park is named. It is, sadly, a notorious meeting place for drug dealers which I feel so seriously discredits the memory of Milton Keynes Development Corporation's chairman, Lord Campbell. Mike spoke about The Milton Keynes Rose which is, of course, located in Campbell Park. I have not included this in my current text which is a serious omission I need to put right and give a positive slant to my review of the area.

I only make a fleeting mention of Bletchley being the home to the Tea Bag. Was the tea bag invented at Tetley Tea Bag actually invented in Bletchey ?  In all likelihood it was but if not it is a legend I must include in the text.

My writing is NOT to be equated with the historical accounts of Sir Frank Markham. It is NOT a comprehensive account of our new, now slightly ageing, city. AH BUT WE ARE NOT A CITY ARE WE ?  That is the point of the book. I use the word KALEIDOSCOPE.  I used it in my 1994 book Not The Concrete Cows written during the adolescent years of Milton Keynes. I use it again as I take my readers through what I am putting forward are arguments why Milton Keynes should achieve city status and why every single resident needs to keep alive the dream that one day we will truly become The City of Milton Keynes.

The cover for Milton Dreams The City That Never Was comes from Milton Keynes Hospital Action Group's campaign to bring forward the building within Milton Keynes Development Corporation's strategic plan a hospital. What was intended to be the final chapter explains how that happened and celebrates the wonderful hospital we have today.

However, that will no longer be the final chapter. This is the introduction to a post script.

Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is

• ·       Not The Concrete Cows - published in 1994
• ·       Milton Dreams The City That Never Was – published in 2020
• ·       Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is – to be published in 2046 (?)

I would so much love my writing to be the second book in a trilogy.

There are parts of this book where my tongue has been firmly in my cheek, you will have found such in different chapters. There are parts of my writing where you have wondered where my tongue was, could it have been in my cheek or was it poking out of my mouth in scorn ?  Right now, as I type these words my metaphorical tongue is still.

History- Culture – Legends - Icons ?!?  Together these surely give enough weight to the case that as Milton Keynes was planned as a city a city it should become. However, history

– culture – legends – icons obviously are not enough. In this final chapter and post script I want to suggest what more we need to secure our dream. Twenty-six years between Not The Concrete Cows and Milton Dreams The City That Never Was. In another twenty-six years I will be 96 years old. My family has a tradition of longevity so please can I then write the third book in a trilogy ?  MILTON KEYNES THE CITY THAT TRULY IS.

When published this will be my 24th book on the Amazon Bookshelf of Max Robinson. (My Pen Name).  Until the dawn of 2020 the last time I published anything was 12th June 2018. However, with lock down and much of the work I was previously doing on hold, I have been writing in excess of 3,000 words a day.

Just ahead of lock down on 22nd February I published THE RAMBLINGS OF A SILLY OLD MAN. I have actually sold a few copies of this nonsense !

Then came on 22nd March THE FANTASIES OF A GERIATRIC DJ. I began writing this two years ago but set aside the manuscript.

Yes, I am The Geriatric DJ, most definitely. Yes, this is a fantasy and fiction throughout.

Yep, I have made a few pennies in royalties from this book. PENNIES I said not pounds !

What next ?

31st March and THE LOTTERY OF EVIL, a new case for my fictional detective Dave McDermott. 

Again a few pennies made it into my bank account.

As members of The National Trust Maureen and I go to the trust's jewel in its crown as often as we can, Stowe Gardens near Buckingham. The former home of The Duke of Buckingham and the first project of Lancelot Capability Brown. For several years I have promised myself that I would write a book centred round Stowe's Gothic Folly and call this THE LONELY GHOST.

I wrote this for my two granddaughters, Katherine and Frances, publishing it on 19th April.

Soon after it was published and lock down was relaxed slightly I took Katherine and Frances round Stowe showing them were their story is set.

OUR REBEKAH published on 13th May was my personal tribute to our NHS. While the book has sold a lot of copies I am hurt that I could not engage the media with what I feel is the biggest celebration of our NHS during these difficult times. 

I do not write for profit, simply for pleasure but I hoped and failed to make this book a profit for our NHS. I have been a very vocal supporter of our National Health Service for almost 40 years, sadly the NHS failed at every turn to engage and support me when writing this highly personal account of my late daughter's life.

Moving on. The next book is one I do not want anyone to buy !

Shortly after lock down I began writing a daily diary. ESCAPE FROM ARMAGEDDON is a compilation of my diary entries for the first one hundred days of lock down.

It is not written for people alive today to read. It is for historians and sociologists to pick up in one, two, three hundred years time and understand how an ordinary person was feeling during the pandemic.

That brings me to Milton Dreams The City That Never Was. 

But.....................

I am also writing Getting To Know My Granddad. I want to publish this on the same day as Milton Dreams.

Note: The Concrete Cows, if I remember correctly, sold about five thousand copies in the adolescent new city. I hope that Milton Dreams will sell more. I want Getting To Know My Granddad to ride on the back of this and sell more copies than my books usually do at their time of publication.

Philip Johnson is a disaffected and under achieving fifteen year old living in a wealthy and successful family. His father is an eminent surgeon, his mother a successful writer, his two brothers enjoying promising career times at university. Philip, he likes to be called Pip, is just a failure.

He learns that his grandfather in his teens was a national rock and roll sensation about whom it is said if it was not for The Beatles would have been bigger than Elvis Presley. Granddad - Trickie Dickie And The Diamonds !

Grandson Pip Diamond inherits his grandfather's singing voice and ability to play the guitar. Trickie Dickie has a plan to make Pip Diamond the biggest pop music singer ever, dwarfing the fame of Elvis Presley and The Beatles but this is not what granddad is all

about. You will have to wait until I have finished writing and published the story to understand what he is cunningly putting together with young Pip at the centre.  All being well this will be before the end of next month.

What then ?

I have yet to write a science fiction story. Love creeps into many of my stories, particularly what I consider to be my best piece of writing THE BRIDGE HOUSE. Once I have Milton Dreams and Granddad firmly available on the bookshelf I plan to combine the two genre in AN ALIEN IN LOVE,

On the 29th July Amazon will credit my bank account with royalties earned in May. May was a good month for me. Not so far July and there's just a couple of days in the month left.

Fingers crossed that September with Milton Dreams The City That Never Was and Getting To Know My Granddad are my most popular works yet.