Akeлa
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.