Seems I can't do three things at the same time ...

Ah, well! What did I expect? I wanted to 1) complete Gift Aid application - GOES urgently needs some money, 2) Start a new book and 3) have a holiday.
 Managed 1)  - but it took a lot longer than I expected. Failed to do it on line so requested the paper forms from HMRC who kindly sent half of the ones I needed..
Managed 2) - I've written the first 1,500 words of a new book, which I hope will sell well and make GOES rich enough to do all sorts of good things.
Also managed 3) - a few days spent with our daughter, eating good food and visiting new places.

All we need now is to sit back and wait for the money to roll in ... well, £15 of it rolled in from 'Easysearch' - a search engine which donates 0.5p for every time you use it and donates the money to a charity selected by the user - thank you, friends of GOES1 £15 is a lot of half pennies but you see how it mounts up.

I'm thinking of putting 'Chasing Freedom Home' on free offer for a few days so that friends in Africa, who the story belongs to, can have a chance of reading it. Obviously people in the wealthy West won't begrudge the charity its income from the sale ( $3 or £1.80 ) ! I'll let you (and facebook and twitter) know when the free offer takes place.

New person -

Two babies: one, a recent arrival, born this year to friends of mine in The Gambia. The other? Well, me! The picture was taken 77 years ago and printed on a post card to be sent to friends to announce my arrival on the planet. As I held the young person in the colour photo I wondered what the world would be like in 77 years from now. I hope it will be as kind to the African child as it has been to me. My parents struggled to pay the rent and put food on the table. I benefitted from free health care and education. Clean water ran from a tap - the things you need for a healthy life. The love of parents is clear, the child surveys the world, safe in father's arms. We extend the greeting: "Good health, long life, and happinees!"

Sorry, Blog - I've been neglecting you!

But I have been busy, honestly! I'm tangled up with an application for Gift Aid on last year's donations; has to be done on line - and if you've been reading this blog for any length of time you'll have guessed that 'online' and 'Tom' are not happy partners! However, we're on the verge of success: I am now waiting 'ten working days' for a code number which will enable my user number to submit the detailed claim for the tax refund. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Of course it will.

 Chasing Freedom Home, the latest Malinding village book, is tip-toeing into the sales on Amazon.

As soon as the rain stops J 7 I will go for a refreshing trike/bike ride (and cake and coffee) and all will be well with our bit of the world. Trouble is, of course, that so many bits of the world won't be well. Still, that's no excuse not to do what we can.

 Another thought, offered to me by a friend years ago: the main trouble with growing old is that you forget how absent-minded you were years ago!

 Where did I put the last receipt book for donations????

Chasing Freedom Home

Chasing Freedom Home - yours, from Kindle ebooks, for $3 or £1.83!  (Sorry, I tried to rotate it but it kept insisting on reclining. Exhausting business, being published!

As you may guess from the cover, it's an anti-slavery book.
All income from sales go to GOES.

Chasing Freedom Home!

Chasing Freedom Home is the title of the latest 'Malinding' series of Kindle ebooks. I've just downloaded the text to Amazon and, fingers crossed, it should be available to buy ( $3) from this time tomorrow. As usual, income goes straight to the GOES bank account, where I hope it will soon be joined by the Gift Aid income from HMRC.

Where does the money go? To the Gambia - recently providing support for a very small boy to have an eye operation, to a young woman who, with your help, needed proper medical attention to discover that the lump she had found was not cancerous, and to support the family of a lovely old lady who died recently.

 We have just taken a little time off to play with our latest grand-nephew in the park, and enjoy singing nursery rhymes at full volume in the back of the car.

 I'll report again soon!

Tom