Mark P. Henderson

Emerging from a long silence

There’s a reason why I haven’t posted a blog for two months. No, I haven’t been seriously ill. I wasn’t kidnapped. I wasn’t travelling in Outer Mongolia. I simply lost access to the site for posting blogs.

Rank carelessness? Well, no… at least, I don’t think so. A few weeks ago my computer needed an overhaul, which was mostly unproblematic, except that I had to replace all my bookmarks (which Internet Explorer dubs ‘favorites’). And I was able to replace all the bookmarks without difficulty – except the one for my blog posts. To overcome the difficulty I tried all manner of approaches, including sacrificing a bull, but to no avail. So I asked my wonderful web designer, Dana, to devote some of her copious free time – there seem to be around 68 hours in the average week when she isn’t working frenetically – to resolving the problem for me. Today, she was able to find a few moments in which to do so. And a few moments is all it took her.

I use Firefox as a browser because I find it most convenient, reliable and secure. But it would appear that Firefox’s security blocked my ability to get back into my own blogging site. It hadn’t done anything of the kind previously, but it seems to have grown suspicious of me since the computer overhaul. Anyway, Dana told me to log on via Internet Explorer instead. So I opened Internet Explorer, typed in the web address, my username and my password, and hey presto…

Such a simple solution, and so elusive. I never thought my preferred browser would let me down so comprehensively. As always happens when you’re shown a straightforward way of resolving an apparently intractable problem I felt rather an idiot; which is probably how Dana rates me, except for the ‘rather’.

Well, problem solved – I’m back! And there’s much to talk about: recent short story publications, another one-act play to be staged (I hope) in July, storytelling and meet-the-author gigs, and lots more… to which I’ll devote a blog or two during the coming weeks. Aside from my personal endeavours and successes, such as they are, there’s the world of politics, which both nationally and internationally seems increasingly chaotic, not to mention dangerous. Our prime minister, for instance, has just called a general election for early June, and the main theme set for the forthcoming debates is “Brexit”. VOTE LEMMING!

Meanwhile:

My little book Cruel and Unusual Punnishments has attracted some gratifyingly positive reviews (check them out on Amazon) and I’m selling copies from my own stock at almost every gig. Despite the convoluted puns that constitute the book I haven’t yet been the target of an assassination bid, and I don’t even seem to have turned many of the friends who’ve read it into acquaintances. But if you read the book (both electronic and print versions are readily available) you’ll understand my concern.

More blogs to follow soon!