Arthur Webster (the Old Coot) is a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks who has since gone on to earn his Masters Degree and become Professor Emeritus.
The following is an encapsulation of a life story that was turned down by several publishers because it was simply too incredible. Nobody would believe it!
Having been born to a blind father and a grand mal epileptic mother, Arthur has benefited from the intelligence of his father and the simplicity of his mother (of whom it was sometimes said that if her intelligence quotient went up by one point, it would double) and is the product of a very happy home that was furnished, initially, with tea chests and banana boxes (in those days they were like wooden coffins and very robust!).
As soon as he could read at about 4 years of age, Arthur became the ‘guardian’ of his parents and was used as an interpreter when any official business had to be handled (and this did include a legal battle against the social services who wanted to declare his parents incompetent and take him and his younger sister into ‘care’).
At age 11 the first signs of the illness that has been Arthur’s constant companion ever since, manifested itself when he collapsed at home and was rushed to hospital. Strangely enough, even though he was collected in a state of delirium and the ambulance staff had seen that he was totally incapable of supporting himself, he made such a rapid recovery that by the time a doctor got to see him he was accused of malingering and reported to the school authorities for absenteeism from school.
As a result, further, similar attacks were ignored and an insidious disease was allowed to develop unchecked.
After five years service in the Royal Air Force (for which the medical was passed by a very narrow margin) which included two years in Aden it was decided that he would not be allowed to re-enlist because there was no longer the justification to allow a marginal medical pass – there was no shortage of recruits that year!
Shortly after demob. Arthur married an Irish girl. The honeymoon in Ireland was unique in that Arthur stayed with his new brother in law in Dublin while his new wife stayed with her mother in Co. Mayo trying to reconcile her to the fact that she had married an Englishman!
On return from the honeymoon Arthur collapsed in a heap with a massive haemorrhage and ended up in hospital undergoing heroic surgery that was to be followed by annoying consequential complications for some years. Shortly before the surgery Arthur heard his wife being told not to go home that evening because he was not likely to survive the night.
A couple of years later Arthur buried his first wife and married a second. Although still recovering from surgical complications, Arthur was thrown into a major crisis as he discovered that his new wife was addicted to tranquilisers. The odd tablet he had seen his wife taking turned out to be only the ones that she wanted him to see so that he would not get alarmed if he discovered that she had a small pharmacy hidden in her wardrobe. The addiction was fought for a couple of years and, after going through emotional nightmares and major bouts of withdrawal symptoms, seemed to be under control. Unfortunately this was not the case and his wife committed suicide just when everything seemed to be coming together.
Being brave, stupid or susceptible to beautiful women, Arthur married again only to have this wife killed in a traffic accident.
By this time Arthur had developed a very simple view of life, learning how to exploit every little pleasure and incident while also becoming very forthright in his views. Much of his time was spent assisting people who were going through emotional crises and also preparing people for the sort of surgery which he had undergone – especially some whose lifestyles led them to believe that death would be preferable to mutilation.
With wife number four came a period of contentment and a sustained high level of living standard but this came to an end about ten years ago when a move to Spain was suggested to help ease the symptoms that were starting to make themselves felt again. Initially the move was not expected to result in a lengthy life in Spain but, against the odds, Arthur is still here!
The respite from the symptoms lasted until about five years ago when a gradual decline in health and vitality started until Arthur is now in danger of losing his sight and is in no general fit state to work to support himself because of a permanent headache and the inability to concentrate for more than an hour or two a day.
Because of my history, I do not suffer fools gladly and despise those who take advantage of others. I am also realistic enough to know that the strong prey on the weak. Paradoxically, it is the strong who must also protect the weak.
This forum was introduced to me by Judy Hortin whom I have known for several years. We met up at Adland Pro before the REAL rot set in. Although still a member of Adland Pro, I have only visited the site infrequently to see if anything has improved. It seems that there is still a load of sycophantic "Ooh Lovely" replies being posted and no original conversations. It staggers me that Adland has cornered the market in religious fanatics who believe that the Bible contains all the answers to any criticism of any aspect of internet marketing. So many Bible thumpers ripping off hundreds of unwary victims tells me that they are reading the version approved by the Inquisition.
Internet marketers, using sites like Adland Pro, Facebook and Twitter are making hay while promoting the the most expensive camel droppings the world has ever seen. While I do not defend Adland, I do see it as merely a symptom of the rot that has set in to the IM world.
