A complete stranger bought me lunch the other day. I never met her, and never spoke to her, and she’d left the restaurant before the waiter told me what she’d done.

I guess she saw this geezer limping to the table with his cane, then dining by himself, possibly a lonely old pensioner with mobility issues and a limited income, and so she was moved to an act of kindness.

I’m not lonely and I don’t live on a budget, and i’m a pensioner only in a limited technical sense; but maybe I looked sad or something. The lady’s kindness was misplaced but it was still kindness, Anyway, I’m appreciative and stand firmly by the conviction that we could use more people like her.

To rectify the karmic balance, I’m going to buy someone lunch sometime soon.

In the meantime, I’m still recovering from my knee replacement, and I’ve just had a two-month assessment. My physical therapist tells me that, at eight weeks, I’m performing like a twelve-week veteran. (Diligence pays off.) Knee pain is reduced, though I wish I could say the same for my other bodily aches. I limp, but the limp began with my 2019 hip replacement, so I’m fairly used to it.

My chief problem right now is that I could, quite suddenly, die.

A couple days after the surgery my right foot swelled into a sort of Godzilla foot, a big lump of flesh with little toenails sticking out. A doppler test showed that this was caused by a large blood clot in my ankle region, otherwise known as deep vein thrombosis. I am now on a blood thinner in hopes of getting the thing to dissolve, but it will (and already has) taken months. At least my foot now more closely resembled a human foot rather than that of an elephant.

The clot can at any time throw off a mini-clot which could end up in my lungs, causing pulmonary embolism and possibly death. Other complications can include stroke and gangrene. The DVT page on Web MD is a jolly fun read, let me tell you.

I am now in the process of reassessing my relationship with my mortality. I used to joke that while I have a number of medical issues, none of them are going to kill me. This is no longer true.

I’m used to being proactive with my life and health, but there are no real proactive options. There is nothing I can do other than update my will, take my blood thinners, and otherwise try to get on with my life.

And I will buy someone lunch. It’s the least I can do.

Palau 2016.

In what can be best described as a timely arrival, the new Flagship Editions copy of the first Privateers & Gentlemen adventure is now available at Amazon US and Amazon UK. It may be available in Australia and elsewhere in North America, but I haven’t checked.

The books will be available on Kindle only, which I am inclined to regret, but then I’m told it’s more profitable this way.

Eventually the books will be available as print-on-demand, which will provide you with a nifty paperback to put on your bookshelf.

The books will now be falling thick and fast, so keep a weather eye out!

I’m pleased to report that I’ve just sold five books, Not new books, but books decades old. My Privateers & Gentlemen historical from the early Eighties. The sale is to Flagship Editions, a brand-new publisher dedicated to works with nautical themes.

Flagship is based in London but the works will be available in North America, both as ebooks and publish-on-demand. The audio books have been available for some time.

The first will appear (or re-eppear) in a few months, with the rest coming at short intervals.

I will be removing my self-published titles from the webs over the weekend, so If you want one you might have a chance of slipping away with one, but don’t count on it.

I’ll be very pleased to find books this venerable available in print once more, the more so because I’m getting fairly venerable myself.