San Stefanos Online ~ North West Corfu

I think that's what happens if you log on from Greece. It's printed on demand, so never out of stock. UK sight shows it as available.

I like your wife!

The preview option does allow people to decide, doesn't it? I was brought up in a very religious household. My father was a preacher, so absolutely no swearing. But that is not like the modern world. Swearing is a stress marker in speech, and it is very general, and always has been. There's swearing in Chaucer and Shakespeare, but the words are different. It was a constant moan amongst writers on The Bill that the language was not realistic - or the instruction that tired coppers should never "accidentally" hit some toe-rag's head on a car door. The language in EastEnders is very unrealistic. But those are prime time TV - a novel is not.

Two characters in the novel swear. Plenty of others don't. I think that's pretty true to life, really. I've tried to have Johnny describe the village as it is. I hope you will see through the odd casual F word to the affection I have for the place and its people.

I started writing book two last night. If - as my father would have said - the Good Lord spares me, bearing in mind that I'm 80 in September, it will be out in the summer.

Let me know later which was more exciting! I think I know. :-(

And we have lift-off!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ALMOND-deep-blue-Jim-Hawkins/dp/B09VJTKR4V/ref=monarch_sidesheet

If you enjoy it, I'll be grateful for a few stars and a review on Amazon. It makes a big difference because Amazon's automatic system takes note of ratings and includes popular books in emails etc.

I've enrolled the book in the Kindle Unlimited system, and if you are a member you can read it for nothing! I wish I could make the paperback cheaper but, alas, I can't because Amazon imposes a minimum sales price. I can assure you I am not making enough per book to buy a bottle of Mythos!

I'll kiss anybody who buys it. Erm - on second thoughts - I've met quite a lot of the blokes on here!

Just now the white goats were strolling along the beach past Manthos and ended up nibbling the grass in front of Mistral. Beautiful sight on a beautiful day, both here and there.

I don't think it's very surprising, given that there's a war in Europe, the cost of living is going up steeply, and we have all-time record Covid infections. The mini-budget didn't do anything at all for me. I suspect a lot of people are waiting to see what happens. Greece won't be getting any Russian or Ukrainian visitors, and fewer, I suspect, from the Baltic countries or the ex-Soviet bloc.

However, a decisive Ukrainian victory could bring some of this to an end sooner rather than later. Russia is near-bankrupt and did not bet on a prolonged war. It's costing Russia an estimated $11 billion per day. That's not sustainable when your economy has tanked.

The epidemiological data from Denmark suggest the the current Covid wave will decline in a couple of weeks or so. That would be one concern reduced, at least.