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| Tom Gowans in a London hospital earlier this year |
He's okay. For anybody who hasn't "met" fellow blogger Tom Gowans from the outskirts of Luanda, Angola, let me tell you that this fellow has lived a remarkable life and his blog, "Hippy on the Lawn", is well worth reading. In fact it won the prestigious "Blogger of the Year" award last year. It is full of joy and of the trials and tribulations of life and is stylishly well-written too. Tom Gowans is a sweet swashbuckling real life action hero, a man who can do anything until that is he is struck down by infection - caused (naturally) by a snakebite that at first he thought he could simply ignore. The crazy fool!
I was slightly worried about him because he hasn't blogged since August 9th and you know how the blogosphere is. Sometimes people simply disappear. So I dropped Tom an email message to reassure myself that he is okay and this was his reply...
First signs of progress but still a long way out of the woods. Once I am, I will have plenty to write about!
Regards
Tom
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Original message-
Dear Tom,
I keep clicking on your blog - "Hippo on the Lawn", wondering if you will ever come back. Obviously there are lots of reasons for not blogging - you got bored, somebody stole your computer, you had nothing to say, there was a big family or health issue etc.. All I want to know is that you are okay. If you get this, please drop me a line. I know I am not the only one who is missing your witty and erudite blog offerings.
Best wishes,
Yorkshire Pudding (Sir)
Dear Yorkshire,
ReplyDeleteIs it Hippy or Hippo on the Lawn? And is Mr. Gowan really holding the moutpiece of a shisha there, or does it just look like one? Confusedly,
Meike Librarian
Dear Miss Baden-Württemberg 1992,
DeleteIt is one of those horrid e-cigarettes. He had been trying hard to give up tobacco. "Hippy" was a deliberate error to make Mr Gowans chuckle! I know that former beauty queens are easily confused.Hope this helps.
Thank you YP. I keep clicking on Hippo's blog too. His reply is still vague. It would be nice to know if he is well and Marcia and the boys are well. I keep imagining what other dramas could beset Tom and the family in Angola.
ReplyDeleteHis house has probably been surrounded by Mexican bandits and Caribbean pirates and he has been fighting them off singlehandedly with a cutlass while inventing a remedy for ebola using snake venom and little vials of e-liquids...But the main thing is I was just glad to learn he's okay without going into details.
DeleteGood to see he is still on this earth. I wish him a speedy recovery.
ReplyDeleteI don't know for sure but I suspect his absence has a lot to do with that damned snake! This despite his hospitalisation in London last May/June.
DeleteI bet it tempted him with an apple. Tell him not to trust snakes.
DeleteI remember his posting about cars and returning to London as he wasn't well. Where did the snake bite him? I'm not enquiring where on him, I am enquiring geographically. We engineers kan't rite proper.
Geographically? On his anus.
DeleteOnly kidding. Close by his home in Angola. If you peruse his blog you will find some rather unpleasant photos of his big toe.
I have been clicking on "Hippo on the Lawn" every day since August and feared the worst. Glad to hear Tom is "okay" (your word).
ReplyDeleteWe borrowed "okay" from America. We English are happy to absorb new words into our extensive lexicon. You also gave us "cool", "jazz", "hip hop" and "twerking". You must be very proud.
DeleteGreat minds
ReplyDeleteI received this yesterday
First signs of progress at last but still a long way out of the woods. I'll
have a lot to write about once I s
have a lot to write about once I start again!"
I'm worried he's been abducted by aliens
Not so sure I have a "great mind" as my memory is like a sieve! But Tom Gowans - now there's a guy with a great mind!
DeleteGreat minds! I Guess it is the approach of Christmas that has a number of us wondering about Tom. I visited his blog on the 2nd Dec and was pleased to read this from a fellow visitor who had emailed a friend in Angola:
ReplyDelete"He bumped into and was chatting to Tom a few days ago at his neighbour's place, so he is at least alive if not updating right now."
I was , like many others, worried about his health but I know he was very keen to get the project finished and contemplating leaving Angola perhaps for a calmer life in England. A wonderful idea I thought !!!
It is funny how life can turn on a sixpence.
DeleteThe wonderfull world of blogging where you come across some interesting minds.
ReplyDeletehappy your blogging friend is ok. I just spend a day with a friend I met in the blogging world and she was just as on her blog
Hello Marja. Thanks for calling by. Are we bloggers really meant to meet? I thought we were generated by Intel. Cyberfolk.
DeleteI'll have some reading to do...I've brought up "Hippo on the Lawn" blog...it looks very interesting, as you say. I'm glad Tom is on the mend, albeit one slow step at a time.
ReplyDeleteWe do get attached to our blogging mates. I've lost a few over the years...some through no choice of their own...and I miss them still. And others...well...I guess they just got tired of blogging. And I miss them, too. We do care about people who, in the majority of cases, we will never meet in the "real" world. However, that doesn't make them any less important to us.
The real world is overrated. .
DeleteFunny, I was just thinking the other day that most of my friends are...invisible. No doubt even some of my favorite blog-authors don't even know how important they are to my day! I've always been rather invisible, so it's fitting :-)
DeleteIf you are The Invisible Woman you should wrap yourself in bandages so that people can see you - like an Egyptian Mummy!
DeleteI'm a long-distance friend of Tom's in California, and have lost touch with him... I'm actually supposed to make a ranger-style belt for him.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo -- I was wondering if there'd been any news from him. He no longer responds to my emails, and I have gotten pretty worried.
Any idea? I'd just like to know if he's okay.
Dear Josh,
DeleteI am not the only blogger who has expressed concern about Tom's welfare. We have tried to contact him but to no avail. He hasn't blogged via his blog "A Hippo on the Lawn" since March of 2015. I have also emailed him a couple of times - but alas - no response.
Regards,
Neil (Yorkshire Pudding)
Thank you for the prompt reply, Neil.
ReplyDeleteI have even looked in the Angola News with my bad Portuguese, but have yet to find anything.