Well readers, it’s been about a week since my last post.  The writing is going well.  Now have 8,000 words done on my current project, but even better I’ve come up with what I think is a good ending that will tie everything in together.  Just a matter of getting down to it now.

I am finding it a joy to write though and if I cut down the vodka, hopefully I’ll finish it by the end of the year.

Sold another few books this week too which is always a plus.  I’m cognisant though that my marketing strategy has to vastly improve if I’m ever going to get anywhere.  Another small step in that direction will be setting up a facebook page for my writing.  Please like and share!

I may even run an advertising campaign at some point.  If only I had more time lol

I reckon everybody in Ireland is aware that we’re having a very mild winter and that at least some of the days almost feel like Spring.  Never before have I seen such little frost by this time of year.  I do see there is a apparently a threat of snow towards the end of the month but what an obvious sign of climate change, right?

Maybe, but Germany is having it’s coldest winter in 30 years.  The army has just been called in.  Similarly large parts of North America are experiencing bitter cold.  I do believe in climate change but maybe this time, we’re just being lucky.

Some newspapers are reporting that there may be basic life on a planet just 6 light years away although it would exist similarly to life that might exist in Europa relying on heat from the core of the planet.  I’ll get excited if they have spaceships or Stargates.

About to watch the finale to House of Cards.  In my opinion it misses Francis Underwood.  It is of course perfectly fine that there is a female president, (I hope to see a real one) but her feminist zeal feels manufactured from an otherwise devious, evil character.

From a person who loves a nice ham sandwich, the rise of veganism is becoming concerning.  Everytime, you open a newspaper there is an article about it somewhere.  There was a time when you would have just presumed these were people who were mentally ill but how times have changed.

Whether I or anybody else likes it or not, Veganism has gone mainstream.  I blame Peppa Pig.  8% of British twenty somethings are giving up meat for January, unfortunately the Irish rate is probably very similar.  Veganuary they are calling it.  Bad news stories such as teeth falling out or the death of babies from malnutrition appear to have almost no effect.  In truth I believe it should be outlawed for children and parents prosecuted if they force their children on such an extreme diet.

Of course I understand if you take supplements and carefully watch what you eat, you can overcome these deficiencies.  But I do wonder how these nutrients get into the pills if not from animals anyway.

Surely food is one of the pleasures of life.  People seem to find it hard just to be happy and in a way Veganism has similarities to a religion.  You might deprive yourself of pleasure to attain some higher goal/objective.  Vegans are always on the look out for new converts too.

Hopefully at some point there will be a backlash against it but there is no sign of one yet.  In the meantime, I’m feeling hungry..

Well it’s that time of year again when the digit changes.  Templates and folders have to be changed and created, and if your very lucky you might even get a kiss tonight.  Not me though I’ll either be cosily wrapped up in bed or watching House of Cards at midnight.  It’s difficult to know which is best, I love my bed.

We’re getting ever closer to that dreaded year 2020.  The year Earth would be an environmental wasteland on all the dystonian science fiction films I watched when I was young.  In fairness it appears they were rather pessimistic but there is still a whole year left.  All it would take after all is for Putin to get an itch to try out some of his cool new nuclear weapons systems.  In fairness they are impressive, if they do what’s writtèn on the tin.

It’s been quite a good year for me, bit of a disaster for everyone else.  Brexit should come to the fore pretty quickly.  To be honest it’s only dawning on me that they were actually serious about shooting themselves in the foot.

Then there’s Trump in the US.  At least I’m not American.

On a positive note I completed my novel “Paradigm” during the year.  My readers should check it out on Amazon if you haven’t already read it.  Getting great feedback from those who have.

I’m already 6,500 words into my latest novel.  Reckon this one will be long so reckon that’s about seven percent done.  Plenty of sex and violence so far but then again it is about a serial killer.  Hopefully it will be finished within the year but that will be a tough do with the day job and all.  Maybe some day I’ll make enough from writing to concentate on it totally.  That would be great but a very long way off for now.

I read an article during the week from an English professor who said to be a great writer you should be reading fifty books a year but at least 25.  Unfortunately I’d never have the time, especially with my vodka and tv habits.  But I wonder how right he was.  You can’t have much inspiration from your day to day life if your head is stuck in a book all day to write much.  But I will try to read more.  It’s definitely good for the vocabulary, grammar and lots of other things I guess.  Even read a bit of Ulysses yesterday.

On a sad note my chess rating deteriorated over the holidays.  That wasn’t the plan.  But at least I’ve brought the open game (d2-d4) into my repertoire.

Hopefully I’ll be writing a few short stories on here soon as well as keeping you updated on my thoughts.

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Happy Christmas to all my readers or anybody else who happens to come across my blog on the world wide web.  I’m already on my holidays and won’t be back to work till the 2nd January.  But don’t worry I’m not slacking, it gives me more time to concentrate on my writing, which is going quite well.

I always like this time of year.  It’s good to have a break but also to meet family/friends I haven’t seen in a while.  Of course, it’s great there’s been no snow.  Snow and wheelchairs are arch enemies.  The fact there’s snow depresses me even when I was planning to spend all day inside anyway.

So I’ve been thinking about how to promote my works.  First I need to stop watching youtube videos about silly stuff and watch the ones about advertising books in particular.  Maybe organise a few radio interviews.  Wow could these be new year resolutions?  Not usually something I do.

Anyways short and sweet but happy Christmas everyone!

A warm welcome to all my readers once again.  First a quick update on my latest novel – “The Irish Ripper”.  3,600 words written to date.  Slow but constant progress being made.  I’m finding this one easier to write so far and I’m hopeful that I will have it completed within a year.  There will be plenty of violence, sex and intrigue.

A quick reminder that my other novels are currently for sale on the Amazon website.  Just search under my name – “Mark Ahern”

Now for my thoughts on this week –

It was with horror that I heard on facebook about a wheelchair user in Dublin being unable to get a wheelchair taxi late at night and ultimately being forced to drive home in her wheelchair.  This is 2018!  Her health and safety was jeopardized.

This has been an issue in Dublin for far too long and if it can’t be solved there, what hope the rest of the country.  Not much seems to have improved since I went to college there almost 20 years ago.  Vantastic still closes up shop for instance, when it could continue through the night and transform the social lives of wheelchair users in particular.  It is a farce.

In other news the government have made it easier to hold onto your medical card if a person with a disability takes up employment.  It was always an obvious thing to do but at least they finally did something.

Sometimes you just wish you could grab people and scream – things need to happen so much faster.  Peoples lives are being wasted by inaction.

On a happier note, the organization I’m involved with “Independent People with Disabilities” are co-hosting an event tomorrow the 3rd December 2018 about sport/recreation and people with disabilities and the older person.  It starts at 11am in the Mullingar Park Hotel.  All welcome.

One really cool bit of news I did hear during the week on a totally different subject is about American and Russian plans to set up lunar colonies.  It would be a huge advance for humans.  In just two or three decades time there could be someone on the moon looking up at the earth with wonder.

Well readers, that’s it for now.

It won’t be long now till my thirties are in my rear view mirror, well if I had one – June 2019 to be precise.  I remember when I was younger it was inconceivable for me to reach such an age but I guess I better start getting used to the idea now!

It is a strange experience though.  For most people they slow down as they age and are no longer able to do things they used to.  But the technology I rely on is constantly improving.  For instance, the wheelchair I have now is able to go at least twice as far as the one I had ten years ago.  I no longer have to constantly check my power gauge to see if I’m going to run out of power.

It’s also faster so I have to wait for people rather than the other way round.  In may ways life has never been so good and may get better still.  Imagine how far I’ll be able to go in my eighties.  Maybe walking is an evolutionary dead end!

Of course there are some drawbacks – my thinning hair and my touch of grey facial hair.  But maybe that will just help me get promoted.  After all life has always been good for bald, old white guys.

But this approaching birthday does remind me of my mortality or at least, the need to download my consciousness onto the web for quasi everlasting life lol

At least with each passing year I learn new things, like just today I learned that I could add new pages to my blog, rather than having just one extemely long page.  I’m so intelligent.  Not sure if it’s of much use though.

So what are my plans for the rest of my life, your probably not wondering but I’ll tell you anyway.  It’s quite simple – I’m going to take over the world…

(Don’t forget my books are for sale on Amazon)

Life with a disability is hard.  The greater your disability, the more difficult it becomes.  In my head I often view it like a soccer league with no promotion/relegation.  You are stuck in the division you were born in.  Unless of course you acquire an injury.

In the Premier League you have people like myself with very severe physical disability and then you have the able bodied in Division 3 and the non leagues.  Life is much easier for them in theory or in my little head lol

But what would I say to my younger self or a younger person with a severe physical disability?

A) Embrace aids and technology.  This might seem like a misnomer.  Like hopefully you are at least driving around on an electric wheelchair.  But I remember how it irritated me, when I first seen a hoist or it was suggested that I use an electric bed.  I felt I was becoming less “normal” and more distant from everybody else.  I’m not sure if the average person with a disability feels this way but I suspect that that they do.

I was wrong.  Each new device has given me extra freedom and made my life easier.  These are things that should be embraced, if needed.

B)  Nobody is perfect and everybody has problems.  See this is where my analogy totally breaks down.  That league is just a self-delusional myth.  Maybe that pretty girl is desparately lonely and would love to talk to you.  Perhaps the greatest issue you have is psychological.  You really are just another human being, not more or less special than anybody else.

C)  Education.  You need skills you can sell.  Studying and getting results are important.  You will not be able to become a brick layer.  This may be true for everybody with the advance of robots.

D)  Housing.  If there is social housing in your country, apply as early as you can.  This will give you options in the future.

On a more practical level, if you must drink and drive your wheelchair always minimize the risks on your journey back.  Otherwise you run the risk of losing a few teeth.

So I’m back again.  Turns out I wasn’t that committed to going dry for November but hey, this is my blog.  I can be committed to some things hopefully.

So the interesting news today is that the world tfr (total fertility rate) has declined from 4.7 in 1950 to 2.4 today.  This is due to people having better things to do, like watching Netflix.  The news as usual though starts getting a bit confused when it comes to statistics saying the replacement level for humanity is 2.05.  Guess they must have studied the humanities.

Of course this is total nonsense.  In general there are 105 boys born for every 100 girls (who have the babies).  This means a replacement level of 2.1 before any girls die.  In some countries 10% of under 5s die.  The world may already be at replacement level.  Of course as people are living longer and the young mean age of the world, the world population will continue to grow for some time.

Rant over.

Just finished writing the prologue to my next novel “The Irish Ripper”.  I decided a more brutal start would help get the pacing right.  Really enjoyed writing it.  Not sure what that says about me lol

Just as well I can write a bit of gore.  There’s going to be plenty.

Not much other news for now.  Don’t be afraid to comment.  I might even reply.

It is now the time of year I hate most – winter.  The cold and dark nights is just not amiable to my lifestyle in a wheelchair.  No matter how hard you try,  you get very cold if you stay outside for any reasonable period of time.

To add to my misery I decided to give up alcohol for the month of November.  So far I’ve made three days.  This is not something I’m telling many people about as I probably won’t last the week.  In which case, it’s good I have so few readers.

All of which is good for my novel writing as I’ll have more time to write.   I have just completed the first 1,000 words of my latest project – “The Irish Ripper”.  Hopefully I’ll have it completed by this time next year.

It will be a major change for me.  This work will be about a gruesome serial killer and the efforts to catch him; expect horror, sex and violence.

Had two book sales during the week, which reminded me to get back to the top of my game.

“Not the Usual Suspect” continues to be well received but I reckon “Paradigm” will become more popular in time.

As my readers can probably tell I’m not an avid blog writer but I’ll try to improve.

The Trip to Belfast

The rest of the week passed in a blur.  All I could think about was the coming Saturday.  Even the thought of alcohol after hours of tedious lectures couldn’t break me from my slumber.  Instead I stayed in my room sometimes studying but often just staring at the wall. Occasionally one of my PA’s or my flatmate Lucy would come in to see if I was alright.  It was unusual for anyone to spend so much time studying at the start of the year let alone me.

But I knew that I was doing the right thing even if it was by default – saving my money and making sure I was in good health for when I met this Jimmy guy.  I had to be in top shape and ready for the unknown.  Eventually the week passed and I found myself nervously trying to sleep the night before I was due to leave.  I thought about all the events that led to this point; my beautiful sister Karen whose vitality had been so cruelly and violently extinguished; then my first meeting with the dissidents on the grounds of the college as we came to our understanding.

It did not prove conducive to a good night’s sleep and I felt restless and tired the next morning.  But I tried to think positively, it would be all over in a day or two.

I anxiously watched television waiting to Jimmy to arrive; flicking through the channels hoping to find something at least mildly interesting to take my mind off things.  But there was nothing.  Then I could hear the house doorbell ring.  Although expected, it felt sudden and my heart seemed to skip a few beats as I heard footsteps moving towards the door.  I would have driven out in the wheelchair only the sitting room door was closed.

Then the front door opened and I could hear my father and Jimmy exchange pleasantries in the distance.  I tried to reclaim my composure remembering I had to act like I knew him well.  Then the sound of talking stopped and I began to wonder what had happened.  A few minutes passed before I heard something in the distance.  Within a few seconds they both entered the sitting room with Jimmy greeting me in a thick Dublin accent which I now recognized as being more specifically from North Dublin.  He was wearing a dark black jumper with jean looking worryingly nothing like a student.

“Hows things Alano? – Are you ready to go?  Your father was just showing me the set up for the van and your hoist.  Those are some fine ramps you have,” Jimmy said in a thick Dublin accent.

I smiled trying to maintain the false pretence and said I was really looking forward to the trip.  My father then interjected to ask Jimmy which roads he was going to take and double checked that he had the correct insurance.  Jimmy reassured him that he knew the roads well and there wouldn’t be any problems.  We then headed out to the van where I drove up the long ramps and got clamped into the van.  With that we said goodbye to my father and we were on our way.

After going a short distance Jimmy stopped the act and began to speak more candidly.  Still he couldn’t seem to shake his positive attitude; he used to be a PA for people with disabilities so looking after me wouldn’t be a problem.  He couldn’t understand how I ended up as his partner on the mission but everything would be fine.

Then in what must have been a break in the code of omerta he said they must be hanging something over me too.  That I was far from a classic IRA operative; from a good background not even considering my disability.

But I said nothing in reply.  It could all too easily be a ploy to test me.  So, I simply replied to get on with it; neither confirming nor denying his thoughts.  It was best to be an enigma. Then I asked matter of fact what time we would arrive at our target; I would not be easily fooled.

He replied that he didn’t know; that we had orders to take a detour.  The Chief Commander wished to discuss the mission with us first.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear but there was no point complaining.  I had never felt such sadness to see Mullingar fade into the background.  Soon we were driving along through narrow windy roads and through villages I didn’t recognize.

Fortunately Jimmy liked the CD that was in the van so that helped to pass the time.  I could feel myself warming towards him but tried to fight it.  He was not the kind of person I wanted to like.

After about forty minutes of driving we pulled into a house with a farmyard.  This wouldn’t be good for my wheelchair I thought to myself.  We drove to the rear of the premises and Jimmy immediately got out of the van to open the rear door of the van and put down the ramps.  As he began to take the clamps off the wheelchair I could hear the sound of footsteps in the distance which then came to an abrupt halt.

I then reversed out of the van with Jimmy’s guidance hoping all the time that one of the ramps wouldn’t slip to be met by three men in typical IRA regalia wearing military uniforms with balaclavas. There were no hugs or warm embrace.  Jimmy and one of the men immediately headed off leaving me with two of the men.  After a few minutes I asked where we were but they just completely ignored me.  An age seemed to pass before they returned with Jimmy carrying a brown bag.  They finished talking as they approached me.  But even in the distance I recognized the thick Ulster accent of the other guy.  It was the same man I met in the car park in UCD to arrange the hit.

Jimmy said it was time to go and as I drove back up the ramp the other three men left.  With a big smile Jimmy told me that they wanted to put a device in my wheelchair but that he had just about convinced them it was a bad idea.  All I could say was a very relieved “thanks”.

“What’s in the bag?” I inquired meekly.

“You know what’s in the bag!  Don’t play the innocent with me,” he replied giddily, “I’ve just heard all about you.  You’re a right dark horse.”

Then he affectionately patted me on the side of the face and said it was time to go.

It would take another two hours for us to reach our destination.  I had wondered if we would encounter difficulties trying to cross the border but there was no checkpoint.  The only noticeable change was that the Irish language no longer appeared on any of the signs and the speed limits were in miles per hour rather than kilometres. Then the Union Jacks and Tricolours appeared. It was as if buildings and pavements were themselves nationalist or unionist.  Every square inch was fought over.

The landscape itself was very beautiful.   I found myself captivated by hills and valleys, it was just a pity about the people.  I wondered how many people had died fighting over each hill down the centuries.

It was a relief to finally reach Belfast as I was tiring of the journey and needed the bathroom.  It was a sunny day and the beautiful red brick buildings that I guessed were from Victorian times were a sight to behold.  There was evidence of the conflict everywhere with flags on most of the buildings.  Suddenly I became conscious of the van’s southern registration and wondered what the likelihood of coming under attack would be if we stopped on the wrong street.

Finally we reached our destination right in the centre of Belfast.  It was a large modern looking hotel with a packed car-park to the front.  Jimmy cursing under his breath grew increasingly frustrated trying to find a wheelchair parking spot and joked; it would be no harm to blow the place up.

Then as we neared the front entrance and without hesitation, he got out of the van shouted that he would be back in a minute.  So much for not drawing attention to ourselves I thought to myself.  After a few nervous minutes he replied that they had a wheelchair parking spot behind the hotel.

At this point I didn’t care where we went so long as I got to a bathroom fast.  Another few minutes later I was de-clamped, and out of the van, finally able to feel the sun upon my face.

Jimmy shouted that he had already got our keys and so we headed to our rooms.  There was a lift just inside the door and we headed to the third floor and after quite a long walk through what seemed a maze of narrow corridors we reached our destination.

I immediately felt a sense of relief when we reached the room which was spacious which would help with the hoist and that the beds had legs for the hoist to go under.  Jimmy switched on the television for me before returning downstairs to get my hoist and the device.  I flicked through the channels using the remote but there was nothing interesting on.

When he returned I no longer had any fear of the device.  It was just about getting into the hoist and onto a toilet.  Fortunately, Jimmy knew what he was doing and I only had to give him some guidance with which hooks of the sling to use; then finally relief.