Quick news update 11/Jan/14 - Chapter 84 of HARMONY BOND now posted! (Luna update soon!)

Also my fictionpress account user brigrove, username 584424 has posted the firt chapter of a Christian story Deborah Broken to Serve

https://www.fictionpress.com/u/584424/brigrove

https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3175878/1/Deborah-broken-to-serve

From Brian, 1st January 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR

A quick update for all my friends and apologies to those who thought I was dead.

VERY brief rundown on what's happened to me... I found temporary Christmas work for Christmas 2013, and was fortunate enough to get regular work after that, as a postman (mailperson for those of you in the USA). The down side to this, I had to give up all my voluntary work and studying.

Sadly, I was forced to stop work due to severe foot pain, a problem I had had since November 2011 in Argentina, I had repeatedly seen doctors there but received no treatment. In March 2013 I was referred to a podiatrist, who tried various things to help me walk with less pain, but months later I ended up in quite severe pain even if I was standing for long, and while I could walk, a few hours later the pain would be bad, keeping me awake all night even with strong painkillers, and the next morning the foot would be unable to bear my weight. Being virtually housebound made my depression worse and in spite of counselling, I ended up on antidepressants again. Between them and the various painkillers, I spent much of summer 2013 like a zombie.

The situation was made worse by Swale Borough Council using falsified figures to decide the maximum they were allowed to pay towards my rent robbing me of £12-50 per week. The right wing Conservative/Lib-Dem government made it impossible for us to appeal against that maximum even when the maximum was derived illogically or negligently.

I did, however, manage to continue going to church, and was, until I was no longer physically able, quite active in the church.

I am now waiting for an operation on my foot (expected March/April as an "urgent" case). This should relieve the pain, but they can't promise how mobile I'll end up, only that I'll be unable to do much for 6 months after the operation. (There goes 2014 already!)

One positive thing is the continued support I've had from many of you who I don't know. Thank you. Despite the lies circulated by certain Argentines, My mother, my sister and her family have also been amazingly supportive. They've even offered to buy me a motorbike so I can get out of the house more easily. (They bought me a new bicycle for Christmas 2012, but as my mobility is worse, I had mentioned to my Mum I was thinking of getting an old second-hand moped, but they want to buy a new motorbike instead.)

Hope the New Year is better for all of you. Love, Brian.

From Brian Grove

A family destroyed and a new start, 30th October 2012

This message is in three parts THE REFUGE, ME, and MY WRITING

When I posted messages on this fanfiction site back in April, I could not have dreamed of the extent of the reaction I would get, the tremendous support of those who didn't know me. Sadly, I would also never have dreamed of the betrayal and, in some cases, greed, of those I had considered friends.

Sadly, my own health, which had been deteriorating since some serious asthma attacks in September and October 2011, failed me and I ended up in hospital with double pneumonia.

THE REFUGE

A lot of money, over US$13,000 had been raised for a new refuge, in addition a lot of building materials were donated. Of the US7,500 which finally made its way to me in Argentina, some was spent on various refuge-related expenses, including food and money to pay construction workers for the new refuge and towards putting the old refuge back in the condition the house and land had to be returned to the owner. Over US$4,000 was spent on buying construction materials. ALL of these were stolen by another refuge. Another group I had trusted stole all the construction materials which had been donated in Argentina. To excuse their conduct, malicious rumours and lies were spread throughout facebook.

The stress of all this led to me having, according to the head of mental health at the local hospital, a nervous breakdown. Due to the sale of the house, it was necessary to find other places for the animals. I trusted some animal-loving friends to do this while I took a two day break away from it all to try to get my head together, having first left money to pay someone to care for the animals, and arranged a large delivery of food for the animals.

In the two days I was away, one of the groups which had been libeling me stole many of the animals and put them in a commercial boarding kennels described as a hell-hole. They had been given strict instruction from me that they were not permitted to take any of the animals nor were they permitted to enter my house and land. Of course, they ignored this. I was accused of having abandoned the animals and the Harmony Fund in the USA, without bothering to check with me what was happening, gave US$4,500 of the donated money which I had entrusted to her to forward to me in Argentina, to Canadian Voice for the Animals. To justify this theft, Canadian Voice for the animals spread more and more outrageous lies, which, luckily I am able to prove are lies. Among the lies spread about me were that I spent all the money on hotels and restaurants. This came as a surprise to the friends in the church with whom I was actually staying for the whole time after I left the old refuge and for much of the time before that after leaving hospital with pneumonia. Other lies were that all my animals had been chained up the whole time they were with me. Unfortunately for them there are videos taken by visitors which disprove that and these include videos taken even when I was not there. The lies came thick and fast, so fast that I (now blocked from the facegroups groups spreading the lies) could not keep up with them to defend myself. These were necessary from their point of view as they had committed both civil and criminal acts against me and needed to discredit me to get away with it. One post mentioned that a criminal complaint had been filed against me for animal abuse. What they fail to mention is that it was filed by one of the people who took the dogs and then only after she found out that I had threatened legal action against some of those who had taken animals illegally.

I have never threatened action against those refuges which took animals in good faith. However, due to lies even about that, even those who were involved in good faith have refused to inform me where my animals are. So the family of dogs I have rescued and loved for years, including some rescued by my late wife, could be anywhere and in any condition. I have seen some photos of one or two of them which horrified me.

If there is anyone reading this in Canada and the USA, I would be interested in advice on taking legal action against Canadian Voice for the Animals (CANADA and ARGENTINA) and the Harmony Fund (USA).

Although I am now in England, anyone in Argentina who can help me get a court order to force those who took, transported and now have my animals in their possession to reveal information as to their whereabouts and condition would be very welcome. Help with proceedings against those who libeled me and stole from me would also be very welcome.

Due to me now being back in England, it is probably unrealistic to expect that I can recover the family which was taken from me, but being able to obtain a court order that I have the right to do so would be a major step to ensure that I have some say over how they are treated.

ME

After staying for a few days in Spain, revisiting places which meant something to my wife and I, I returned to England on my 51st birthday, the 5th of October. I am presently staying with my mother until I can find somewhere else to live, but spending a lot of time at my sister's house as she has Internet, needed for jobsearching etc. I am writing this on her laptop which she loaned to me.

The government department sent me a letter saying that I was not entitled to any payments for unemployment, so presumably I was supposed to starve to death, not to mention quickly become ill from lack of medication. (I have already been rushed to hospital in an ambulance once after collapsing in the street due to an alergic reaction to medication for a chest infection.)

I found out today that the letter saying that I wasn't entitled to any money was incorrect. Even according to their interpretation of the law, I am entitled to receive money from the 5th of November, although I will have to reapply - given that they conveniently forgot to put this in the letter, if I hadn't found out, I would have lost that money too! I have also been advised to appeal against their refusal to pay me money for the dates 8th October to 4th November.

To try to avoid sinking into depression, I decided that I wanted to do something useful and worthwhile even while I am unemployed. I am training as a Red Cross Event Emergency First Aid Volunteer. I have also volunteered for an organisation which gives basic computer and office training to those who need it. In addition I have started a formal Spanish course in college one morning a week. To my surprise, rather than the level 4 or 5 (out of 7) which I expected, my Spanish was good enough to start at level 6.

MY WRITING

With the total upheaval in my life over the last seven months, I still can't concentrate on my writing. I HAVE, however, completely reread Harmony Bond and fixed a lot of errors, including some major boo-boos.

Revised chapters 12, 17, 21, 34, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 49, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 65, 67, 68, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, and 83.

That's all for now folks!

love Brian

Previous profile message from around 17th April 2012

My apologies for this not being an update but I should let you know what's happening.

As most of you know, although I am British, I run a small animal refuge in Argentina in a rented house with about 1000m2 of land. Seven months ago I was warned that the owner had to sell the house and land the refuge is on by 2013 or 2014.

A few weeks ago, he informed me that a buyer had unexpectedly turned up already and the sale has gone through. This means that the rental contract will not be renewed and we have to leave by the 8th June THIS YEAR (2012)

Finding a place to rent with almost fifty dogs (and two cats) is virtually impossible To do so with very little money (I depend on donations) is even harder.

Someone offered me some land, but there is still the mammoth task of building a refuge, plus somewhere for me to live on land which doesn't even have a water supply or electricity at the moment (and forget a phone line or Internet!).

Now even that looks like falling through due to possible legal problems with the ownership status of the land.

So, in roughly fifty days, I and the animals will be homeless as no other refuge is in a position to take them.

After my beloved wife Sheila died, I wanted to follow her. Only the fact that I couldn't abandon the animals who were our family (she couldn't have kids), stopped me. Now, it seems that I will be forced to abandon them anyway, so there will be no reason to continue in a world I've come to hate.

Any inspiration for stories has left me. I can barely force myself through the daily routine of feeding the dogs, I spend most of my day (and over half the night) sitting at my computer, reading various stories, if I can concentrate that long, and waiting for the time to run out.

Anyone got any Nightlock?(For those who are Harry Potter fans but no Hunger Games fans, Nightlock are lethal berries in the first Hunger Games book, and the name is used for lethal poison capsules – suicide pills – in the third Hunger Games book.)

I'd like to thank all those who have followed my stories through the years, especially those of you who have taken the time to review.

It is still possible that (to coin an old literary phrase) “Something will turn up”, but if it doesn't, and the odds are not in my favour in this, this is probably my final post on here.