Twenty-twenty. A year no one will ever forget. The year that the world changed forever and many of its so-called leaders have been found sadly wanting. Not the least of these are the pitiful crowd in Westminster and across the ocean in Washington, both of whom seem hell-bent on killing as many people as possible with their incompetence.
Enough about them. While they dream up their latest measures to confound and confuse, we are spending our time in Phuket experiencing the rainy season for the first time in the twelve years we have been coming here. It’s June, and normally we would be in Tuscany. But this is 2020.
Phuket is actually an extremely safe place to be, among the safest in the world, as is Thailand in general since the virus outbreak in the country has been kept to a minimum thanks to prompt and sensible action by the government. Simply put, the government put the health and well-being of the people ahead of the economy. And they still are.
One of the measures taken was to extend all foreigners’ visas unconditionally until 31 July, which along with closing all the airports is why we are still here. These measures are under constant review and in a few weeks’ time when the results of other parts of the world relaxing restrictions will be more apparent, we’ll know if we are staying or going.
Until then, we are enjoying the tropical rain with intermittent spells of sunshine. The rain is wonderful, inspirational, especially now I have moved my desk to be by the balcony doors with the rainforest just beyond. While I write, there is a constant background chatter of birds and insects that from time to time develops into a cacophony, and rain, sometimes steady, sometimes huge.
The Whistling Man
Progress on the latest book has been up and down. Having thought I’d finished it, I left it, came back to it, reviewed it and discovered I was anything but satisfied with it. But now, in the last day or so, after considering a number of alternative plot developments, I have hit on a modification to the story that I think really works. Quite a lot of rewriting is required, and I’m relying on the patter of rain, the jungle noises and the magical forest to keep me focussed.
YouTube
Another recent exciting development in the world of ClarkeFiction has been the creation of Gail’s YouTube channel, which happened towards the end of April. To date it has 151 subscribers and over 2900 views of the various videos.
The videos — there are now twelve — are presentations similar to those Gail gives in schools around the world — an introduction to the animals in the book and a few fascinating facts, then the book itself. Tens of thousands of schoolchildren have enjoyed these stories over the past ten years; now even more can enjoy them through the magic of YouTube.
The channel now has its own URL: www.youtube.com/c/gailclarkeauthor But you don’t need to remember that; all you need to do is click on this link: GailClarkeAuthor
