My retirement from Politics

I have arrived at a very sad but easy decision.

Baby #3 from 12 week scan

As of September I will cease to be an active member of the Liberal Democrat party and the unofficial Go-To Medway LibDem guy.

Before people start braying about the collapse of the party or a lack of my commitment I have two words.... Pulmonary Atresia. 

A few weeks ago Sam (my wife) and I went for the twelve week scan of our third (and final) child expecting they would be as healthy as Sophie and Ollie. 

Sadly we were wrong. There was a complication and we were referred to Kings hospital.

They have a condition called Pulmonary Atresia. The right side of the heart that pumps to the lungs is either missing (aorta) or detrimentally too small (ventricle), also the vital Pulmonary artery is blocked and too small to carry blood to the lungs.

The outlook was not good. There is extensive surgery to re-plumb the heart and lungs which can have renal and digestive side effects, physical disability and curtailed life expectancy. 

After two weeks of trying to decide whether to give the child a go or to be cruel to be kind and end it now we went back for another scan.

Nothing had changed but we were told the surgery was actually fairly routine and a curtailed life expectancy actually meant Early adulthood.

Neither of us, despite being pro-choice could bring ourselves to terminate and we felt that it was better to let fate decide and give the baby a shot at life and see what happens.

The baby is due in October and must be born in London where it will be rushed to intensive care and if strong enough be operated on a few days later with a follow up four months later.

The next year will be hard on my wife, my other two kids (especially on Sophie) and the baby. I will do what I've always done and knuckle under and put them first. Baby's health is never going to be great and depending on blood vessel development in the lungs and the success of the operations mean that I will need to dedicate a lot of time to them.

My time is going to be exceptionally valuable and I'm making sacrifices and sadly being an active member of the party is one of them. I feel guilty as next year is going to be vital for the Medway branch but family must and always will come first.

I'll still be blogging on my history blog from time to time (I'm not dead after all!) but this blog will be indefinitely suspended from September onwards I'm afraid.
 

I'm sad to let it go and may post on a very rare basis. This has been a big part of my life since 2010 and want to thank you all for reading.

Decieved by Julie Anne Lindsey - Book trailer

DECEIVED by Julie Anne Lindsey 

Ever since she could remember, Elle has had to hop from town to town to keep up with her dad's demanding career as a corporate insurance agent. Each time, a reoccurring nightmare followed her wherever she went--until the day that the frightening figures haunting her at night became all too real. When news of a serial killer spreads throughout her new school, Elle worries that the Reaper has been leaving her his calling card in the form of cigarette butts on her doormat and an unusual ribbon in her locker. With the help of Brian, a boy she meets at a flea market, she discovers that this isn't her first encounter with the murderer and that her father has been concealing her true identity for the past twelve years. But despite her father's desperate attempts to protect her, Elle still comes face to face with the darkness she has been running from her whole life. Trapped in the woods and with help hundreds of miles away, will Elle be able to confront the Reaper and reclaim the life she lost? 

Available September 18th on Amazon Barnes & Noble Book Depository and more. 

About Julie: 

Julie Anne Lindsey is a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. In 2013, Julie welcomed five new releases in three genres including her newest title, DECEIVED, a YA suspense from Merit Press, and her first cozy mystery, MURDER BY THE SEASIDE, book one in the Patience Price, Counselor at Large series from Carina Press (a digital imprint of Harlequin).  

Julie is a self-proclaimed word nerd who would rather read than almost anything else. She started writing to make people smile. Someday she plans to change the world. Most days you'll find her online, amped up on caffeine and wielding a book. 

Julie is a member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW), Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Sisters in Crime (SinC) and the Canton Writer’s Guild. 

Find her online: 

Tweeting her crazy @JulieALindsey 

Soothing her book obsession on GoodReads 

Pinning the pretty on Pinterest 

Tumbling lamely on Tumblr 

Blogging about books and writing at Musings from the Slush Pile 

Facebook 

Bloggle and Rochester litfest

Yesterday I went to the Rochester Lit fest's blogger forum. I had to battle to get the day off work and make some devil's bargains but I sincerely hoped and thought it would be worth it and fascinating; it was.

Firstly I had the privilege of meeting Alan Collins and John Ward, Goliath's of the Medway political scene and all around nice guys and also the fabulous Jaye Nolan.

It is easy to sit in your room, or on the train, or at work (on your lunch break) and see people as avatars, or tweeters, or blogs and not see them as actual people and as someone who really doesn't get out that much it was nice to finally put names to faces and in all sincerity it was good to meet you all.

I'm not a great talker in groups of people I don't really know and so didn't say much - that and I was really enjoying sitting in Ed's chair, it was really comfortable! But I listened to what was being said and found it really interesting, not just because there was a whole world of Medway bloggers out there I hadn't discovered (mainly because I'm holed up in this Political world) but also the various reasons for why we write and what we do.

I did write an intro a while ago so will just save repetition and drop a link here.

But why do I write this stuff and how did I get into it?

It started as a complaint about how awful Southeastern trains were really and then I kinda just dropped into writing my opinions on various things that were happening locally and nationally before trying to offer an opinion on topical events like City Status, London/Medway riots, Rail travel etc...

I am a Liberal Democrat, sorry, and I am very proud of our record in Government (mostly - I still don't like talking about Tuition fees) but there have been times where I have disagreed with the establishment and written it here as this is in all honesty my personal opinion.

I have, from time to time, published press releases from the local or National party on subjects as mainly I want them to filter down to local level and they are things I personally agree with though this isn't the purpose of why I write here - I'm not a mindless party drone sent to convert you all or barrage you with Party spin or made up or doctored facts willing to sell my soul to get elected. I'm not after power or influence - I joined the wrong party for that - just a forum to through out my opinion and to rubbish any of the obvious bilge.

I have very long commutes, about 4 hours a day and now with the blogger app on my phone, I can write as I go where as before I used to hand write and type up later and it was to fill the void that I started writing voraciously.

Politics and its related subtopics aren't my first love though and I have started writing a history blog as well. It hasn't really got off the ground yet but it is about subjects in history that I find interesting and the first few posts are directly related to the Medway towns such as the U-boat out on the marshes and the U-boat that sailed up the Medway as HMS Graph. There will also be the posts about the Luftwaffe in Africa from a presentation I had to do at the Imperial War Museum History group (sounds more impressive than it is) but I'm hoping to write about other events in history too including about the Royal Navy ship that was recently discovered in Chatham Dockyards under the floor!!!!

I also write fiction here. It is something I've dabbled with since I was a teenager but about two years ago, when I had a lot more free time, I started writing a sci-fi series. The over all arc was to go over three books but it is very much work in progress. It is about three students fresh out of the military academy and how they deal with the reality of the genocidal war that they are plunged into and how they grow up, love, lose, fight etc. Its a human story. I started publishing it online just to get feedback from real people as my friends who have seen it always say its good, but then they kinda have to, and I'm far too critical. Any who, its there.

So this is me and why I do what I do...