Episode 3 - Mark David Abbott - Top selling author

An inclusive and inspiring podcast! The goal to give creators from different backgrounds and experience levels a hub to showcase their personalities and work to the world! Professionals, talented students and more.

Welcome to the second episode of season 2! The SINGERS, ACTORS, WRITERS and INFLUENCERS showcase on a global scale!

WARNING: Performance extract includes STRONG LANGUAGE - Viewer discretion advised.

MARK DAVID ABBOTT is the author of ten thrillers and one travelogue but he wasn’t always a writer.

Born in Cyprus to an Army father, and after a short stint in Germany and the United Kingdom, he then moved to New Zealand where he grew up. At the age of eighteen he took off to explore the world and has since lived in England, Hong Kong (twice) and India (twice) as well as travelling extensively

Mark has worked variously as a barman, a factory hand, supermarket shelf stocker, and a real estate salesman, but since giving up his Real Estate career in Hong Kong, Mark has devoted his time to writing and traveling.

Due to Covid travel restrictions, Mark is based in India again, where coincidentally two generations ago, his grandfather, while stationed there as a soldier under British rule, met and married his grandmother, a nurse of mixed Indian and Dutch descent.

Mark is a keen runner and in between runs is slowly building an impressive collection of Gin.

This episode contains conversation with the man himself plus an exclusive extract from his first book VENGEANCE performed by myself and music by Mamoune Taleb.
Direct link to his channel.    / @mamounetaleb4691 

Everything seen and heard here has full copyright protection - Please DO NOT reuse and or CLAIM THIS WORK AS YOUR OWN.

Mark's details Email: mark@markdavidabbott.com
Mark's IG account:   / thekiwigypsy 
Facebook:   / markdavidabbottauthor 
Professional enquiries: Book series link: https://www.amazon.com...
For more details on Mark's work or to say hi go to
Website: https://markdavidabbot...

Host Warren Adams - Warren Telling Tales
Website https://warrentellingtales.buzzsprout.com/
IG:   / warrentellingtales   or   / warrenadamsactor  
Facebook :   / warren.adams.351  

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome one and all to season two of Warren Telling Tales The Creatives. This season I will connect with creatives around the world in countries such as Hong Kong, Sweden, India, Canada, the UK, and Australia to name but a few. You will find out more about the wonderful creators themselves, their backgrounds, their work, and what inspired it. Alongside this, you'll hear extracts from projects they've worked on now and in the future. The singers, actors, writers, and inspirational speakers will hopefully inspire others to get out there and make it happen. I hope you enjoy it. Hello. I'm very, very excited about having you on. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

I'm very well, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Very excited to be here. Good, good. And and where are you at the moment? I'm currently in Bangalore in India. Bangalore and India. Fabulous. And you've been there for how long?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Uh this time I've been here since uh since COVID began its uh horrible march across the world. Uh-huh. Um, but it's actually the third time I've been living in India. Um, the other two times uh by choice, and this time uh what what had been planned as a brief visit visit has uh um turned out to be much longer than expected. And looks like it's still going to continue for some time.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Yeah, it's uh it seems to be here for the long run. Uh we're gonna speak a little bit about the wonders of COVID a little bit later on. But um firstly, uh so Mark, I'm I'm super excited about having you on. Uh, and I'm gonna explain a little bit more uh as to why later. But I suppose we should explain for for our listeners how we how we got in touch. It was through a uh a mutual friend of ours uh who is actually going to appear on the podcast a little bit later in the series as well, so that'll be exciting. And you have you're you're a an author, you're a writer, you have I want to make sure I get this right, 10 published thrillers that are currently out.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yes, correct? Yes, I have uh 10, yes, um nine published, nine published another one that's due that um will be out at the beginning of February, and I'm currently um beavering away on the on one that's gonna be released the end of February. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Wow, you're a busy man. I try to be, yes. That's fantastic. Um I uh can you just tell everyone before we get into what you know your books and what they're about and and how amazing they are? Um what can you tell us a little bit about your journey, like before you actually got into writing? How long have you been writing for? Um where have you where have you where were you born? Where where did you live? And you know, previously, because I know that your background, I have had the pleasure of of reading through it, but for our our listeners, um what what's been your journey up until up until this point? Where where were you born? Let's go with that to begin with. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, I was I I was actually born in Cyprus. Um I consider myself a a New Zealander, a Kiwi, um, but I didn't actually move there until I was five years old. My mum's a New Zealander, but my dad is English, and he was based in Cyprus with the British Army when I was born. And um shortly after that we moved to Germany, uh, where my second brother was born, then the UK, and then my father took a posting or took a transfer to the New Zealand Army, and we all moved uh to New Zealand then when I was around five years old, and I grew up there. Um I have a New Zealand passport, I consider myself um a diehard Kiwi. Um although recently, when I look when I added up the number of years I've lived away from New Zealand, I've actually lived out of New Zealand longer than I ever lived there. So uh yeah, it's uh um my roots are there, but uh I've I'm also uh quite a gypsy, I love to travel. Um and I've since since growing up in New Zealand, I've lived in in England, I've lived in Australia, I've lived in Hong Kong twice, I've lived in India three times, I've spent extended periods in in other countries in Asia as well. Um so yeah, my I get restless if I'm anywhere for too long, which is why how COVID has been a little bit tough.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yeah, no, I I can understand that, yeah. Yeah. Um wow, so you you mentioned uh Hong Kong there, which as our listeners know, or or some of them know, uh that's where that's where I was for the last five years. And so when you're not in India, you're you're you're based uh in Discovery Bay in Hong Kong, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Well uh yes, um I've been uh twice been in Hong Kong. I lived in Hong Kong, um first time from just before the handovers in 96 until 2002. Um and then more recently uh three years up until March last year. Um I was I haven't always been a writer, so in my Hong Kong uh life, I was actually in real estate. Uh so my whole career up until I I started writing um was actually in property, um, mainly residential property, um selling selling apartments and houses in UK, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Um so when I was in Hong Kong, I was selling um investment apartments in Australia to expats um all throughout, expats and locals all throughout Asia and also the Middle East. Wow. Incredible. So quite a change to what I do now.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell us exactly when you started with writing? When that began that journey.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Actually, starting writing would have happened probably in well, I was I just had a look this morning. Uh my first book was published in the middle of 2018. So I would have started writing that uh late 2017, early 2018. Um that's when I actually actually started writing. But if you if you go a bit deeper and think, think about how I got into writing and uh what actually led me to this this career, um, you could probably write go back to my childhood. I've not always wanted to be a writer, but I've always read a lot. Um when I was growing up as one of those nerdy kids who always had a book. Um I'd wake up in the morning and wedge a book under the pillow and read it while I was getting dressed. I'd read a book while walking to school, I'd hide a book in my textbooks in class. Um I just read all the time, even late at night under the under the covers with a torch. Um I've always had a love for the written word. And I remember reading um a children, a children's author at the time called uh Willard Price, who's written about 40 books. Um, can I think he's Canadian, but he wrote about a family who captured wild animals for zoos. And I used to be fascinated by these stories because they were set in Africa and Borneo and all these exotic places I'd ever been. And I remember thinking at that time, wouldn't it be so cool to be able to travel to all these places and write about it? Yeah. And that was just a random thought at the time. So it's only now when I look back, I think maybe that was one of the seeds of um what led to what I'm doing now. And then later on, when I was a teenager, um, I read a lot of books by an author called Dick Francis, who was a jockey. Um, actually, I think he rode for the Queen. Um, but he was a Staplechase jockey, and when he retired, he started writing. And he wrote uh mysteries, murder mysteries based in the horse racing world. And every book, although it was based in the horse racing world, um, had a character, had a different um different speciality. So it might have been a pilot who flew trainers and jockeys in between races, or it might have been a photographer. Um, so each book he researched that part of or that skill and then based it in the world he knew. I still remember having that thought that wouldn't it be great to spend six months learning something and then write about it the following six months. Um recently I had that um image of him shattered by learning that it was actually his wife who did all the research. She went out and learned how to be a photographer and then gave him all the notes and he wrote a book about it. Um but uh but still it that again was another seed that or another um uh you know spur that that actually now I look back has has has led me to where I am where I am today. Yeah, the actual act of writing the first book in the John Hayes series, Vengeance, um, was I was at a time in my career where I was thinking, it's a bit of a midlife crisis. I was thinking, do I really want to spend the rest of my life doing what I'm doing? And I'd love my career up until then, but it got to the stage where I was just fed up with sending emails and answering emails all day and calling up people who really didn't want me to speak to them and then trying to sell for something they really didn't want and actually didn't need. Um I've been there before myself, yeah. So I thought I need to do something different. Um, and I had I had an idea. I I've spent a lot of time um in India, even when I was in Hong Kong coming back and forth. My wife is Indian, um, and actually my family has a tie to India. My father was actually born in Bangalore. So by a strange twist of fate, um my life has come full circle, and I've ended up in Bangalore just by chance. His mother is actually Anglo-Indian from Kerala, and his parents met and fell in love in Bangalore when before when the British still ruled over India, so before partition. Um, my grandfather was here um as a British soldier and met my grandmother, who was who was a nurse, and they fell in love, got married, my father was born here. So um that's another story. Such a fabulous story.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Fabulous story, yeah. So it is uh it's a book waiting to happen in itself, I think.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

It's just getting the time to sit down and do it. Absolutely, yeah. But the to go back to to to to the first book, um I had I had the idea that uh from one of my trips to India was that what if something happened to a member of my family um and there weren't the usual ways of seeking of um getting justice. So in a lot of countries, or most of the countries, um there's a legal system that works um reasonably efficiently, there's a there's a um the police force that we can rely on, that sort of thing. But in India it's it can be a bit murkier. And often um the justice lies in the hands of who has the most power, who has the most money and influence. And I'd read so many stories in uh actual real stories in in the newspapers and things like that of people who had had something happen to them, and and um even if the police had tried to to sort things out and apprehend the person concerned, there was sometimes um power or strings pulled from above, uh, which meant that when their hands were tied and justice were never served. So I'd I'd seen all this happening and I thought, what would I do in that situation? So that that seeded, that that germ of an idea had always been in my head. And I remember sitting in the office in Hong Kong and bored out of my my mind, um, thinking, really, I've got to think of something else to do. So I thought, why don't I just start? I love to read. Um, I'm I'm pretty, I think I'm like to think I'm pretty good at English, um, although everything I'd written up until then was was um work-related. I thought, why don't I just sit down and and start with this idea and and and write something out? And the great thing is, is when you're writing something on your computer, um, your boss just thinks you're working anyway. So um hope he never sees his podcast. But I would I would spend half the day just writing out my um you know, the the chapters as they as they came to mind in between emails, in between answering phone calls. And I actually managed to write half the book in the office, um the rest of it at home, and then sent it to the editor and and expecting her to throw it back and say, this is terrible, and you need to um stick to your don't give up your day job. Um but actually the response was good, so and that's how it started. I thought, yep, yep, yeah, I'm out here. I said to the editor, yeah, I mean I'm off.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yeah, that's it. Um and uh I can see why it was so well received. I uh I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast that this uh I was super excited about about meeting with you today and and having this chat. I uh I myself, you know, I I I listen to to audiobooks and I um I read lots of theatre plays because uh you know, with my background in performing and acting, I for me I've never really been one that's got uh that's got into into fiction books as as such. And I know that lots of people are gonna be like, what How this is not possible. Um but for me, I always I just struggled to to be drawn into the stories, and uh I would lose concentration and focus very easily. And you know, a book could take me months on end, you know, to get through. And uh I was I I took a look at your first book, Vengeance, and uh set in in predominantly in Bangalore. Um, and I was expecting to read bits of it and just get a feel for your writing style, you know, because obviously we were gonna have a chat, and uh I was just completely blown away, and I I was wrapped up in it, and I I couldn't put it down. Uh, and I I started reading them, it would have been two weeks ago now, and I am on your fourth book. So uh it's it's uh it's a sort of a monumental moment for me. It's a bit of a landmark. And uh my wife said to me the the other evening, she was like, should we pop something on the TV? And I was like, No, I need I've I've got to read. I'm I'm it's getting to a super exciting point in the in this story, and I I can't I can't. And she kind of looked at me and she was like, You are not the man that I married, you know. So you you have uh you've changed me, Mark. Um yeah, yeah, I mean the books are incredible. Um they they the attention to detail, you mentioned about you know, this character that explores different different countries, and you can really see and feel that you have had this firsthand experience, you know, the attention to detail with the characters, with with the local language, the way people communicate with each other, the costume, the dress, you know, it's just uh it's fascinating. And you know, for me, the the the Hong Kong, um, the Hong Kong story was uh was was fabulous as well because I obviously lived there, so all the reference points, I I you know, I I couldn't get enough of that. Uh and and you you're just jumping from one country to the next, John Hayes. I mean, it's uh it's it's brilliant. I strongly recommend uh everyone to get out there and and read your books. Uh they're exciting, uh they pack a punch. The characters are are you know lovable, some of them not so lovable, but but I can't get enough of John Hayes. I think you know he's uh he's an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances, and you know, it's fascinating to see how he deals with with these situations and how he manages to bring other characters on the journey with him as well. And that's what I really like, that you're you're bringing in other characters that you know are slightly apprehensive and uneasy about about getting involved in you know various things. I'm not gonna say too much, I don't want to give it away, but uh I I I strongly recommend it. They are absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Fantastic, thank you. I'm very happy about that. I've I've I've always remembered books that that I've never been able to put down, and and you know, Dick Francis was was one of the authors I mentioned. I remember reading them even when I was at school the next day I'd be reading until two or three in the morning. And that's the effect I wanted to get. I wanted people to to get drawn into it and not want to put the story down. Um that's exactly what I did. I'm glad it's worked.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah, yeah, it has, it really has. Uh, and and I'll be sad when I get to the end of them all. You're gonna have to keep making more, Mark. So yeah, well, number seven down February. So yeah, exactly. Um awesome. So uh let's um can you tell me? Uh have you got are there any particular moments in your life that you are that you have a great sense of pride for? You know, monumental moments for you. For me, it's you know, reading your books and and getting so wrapped up into them. Uh, have you got moments in your life where you you are just totally um sort of uh you know amazingly proud of what you've done and and what you've achieved? Uh is there anything that kind of sticks sticks to mind uh for yourself?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

I think um certainly relating to books, I never forget Well the two things I never forget. One was actually um seeing Vengeance, my first ever book, actually live on the Amazon store. And the second one was actually getting a printed copy, so a paperback in my hand, and being able to hold it there and see, wow, I've actually written this and it's got my name on it, and and I still get tremendous pleasure, even today, just looking at that, that looking at a copy of that paperback, and and you know, people ask me to sign copies and things like that. I'm thinking, you know, this has actually all come out of my head, it's all created from my head, and I'm um able to entertain people with with the weird workings of my brain. Um, so that that really sticks in my head. That's something I'm I'm very, very proud of. Um, and that feeling is there every time I finish a new book. The actual process of writing the book can be very painful. Um, I've had a painful morning today where I really struggled to get words on on the page. Um, and it's the same every book, but when I finally finish the final draft and ready to be sent off um uh and uploaded, I still get that feeling of immense pride and think that's another story that's just been created. Those people in that story have been created out of thin air, and that's that's a person that hopefully people will be able to relate to. And and um, you know, it's it's it the workings of of the mind really fascinate me. Um and so that the that pleasure does not diminish every time a new book is up. So yeah, that's that's something that really sticks with me. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Well, that's lovely to hear. I um let's jump on very quickly. I you mentioned earlier about COVID, and you know, you're currently uh in India and you're you're not sure exactly when this is gonna all finish and how long you're gonna be there for. Um what's what has 2020 been for yourself? I'm aware we're in a new year, yeah, a new year now, uh, but looking back on 2020, what's what sort of springs to mind for you? I I know a lot of people have have struggled, but also I've had guests on the podcast and I've spoken to other people who have used this time to actually develop new skills, uh, use use the the quiet, use the fact that there isn't so much going on, there aren't so many distractions to actually focus on themselves a little bit and a little bit of self-healing, it might be training, it might be learning new new skills, it might be getting more more words down on paper for yourself. I don't know what what it would be, but um yeah, how has 2020 been for yourself? Or was how was 2020 for you and you know your your experiences?

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Those people you mentioned annoy me actually because they make they make me feel bad about myself. Um I know a lot of a lot of people think uh it was it's really good to um you've got all this the people have actually said it to me, you must be must be really being creative and getting a lot of words down, and you've got all this time now because you're all you have no distractions, you're at home. Um but it wasn't actually so easy, and and I I don't really have a right to complain. There are people who've who lost their livelihoods, there are people who've really struggled, and we saw that firsthand here in India when they had the first lockdown, and there were people on daily wages who actually were starving to death. Um so I don't really have a right to complain, but I also just want to mention it because a lot of people I know in the creative industry have been beating themselves up because they feel they should have done more with the time they had in 2020. But it's it wasn't that easy. I mean, if you were locked in stuck at home with your family, um that alone brings its its own pressures. Um, you know, just the fact of having everyone in the house at the same time and having no outlet, um, no um what do you call it? Um escape valve. Um so I I certainly didn't write as much as I thought I would. Um and I but I also have come to terms with that, and that okay, that was just something we had to go through, and I shouldn't there are some people who are who are on a different path and and uh maybe uh more um able to achieve in situations like this. Um but the Period, the time also has given me a chance to reflect on what's important. Um, and so many of the things that I felt were important, so many possessions I thought are needed, um, just have not needed in the last 12 months. You know, how many pairs of shoes have I worn have been barefoot for almost um 12 months now?

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Okay. I hope you're washing your feet, Mark.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

An inch taller with all the calluses now, but um you know, I I've I've probably worn the same, you know, four or five sets of clothes, um, and everything else that have there's so much in my in my cupboard that I've not needed. Um and I've found more pleasure in simple things, like just going out into the countryside at the weekend and finding a quiet spot away from people and and enjoying the sun and enjoying the fresh air.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Um sort of a keen photographer as well, right? Have I got that right? Yes, yes. Yeah, I I follow you on social media and I I see see lots of wonderful pictures that you take and you know storytelling not just through through the written word but also through pictures as well. It um it's really nice. Have you been doing some of that during during this time and and during 2020?

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Or yeah, I've I've been doing a lot more recently that we've been um getting out a bit more, but I I also started this is a fun project, um, an Instagram channel called Birds from My Balcony. So I've taken um just photographs of of some of the birds that have visited the garden around our apartment and and even onto the the plants on our balcony. Um and I just I I I I'd taken the photos anyway just for fun, and then I thought I've actually got a little story here that um this was created during during lockdown, and every photo was taken either from inside the apartment or on the balcony itself. And I've managed to get beautiful photos of sunbirds and and um I've seen a few of these. Yeah, so um that's another little creative outlet I've had. Yeah. Um so yeah, that's been fun.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Very nice, very nice. Um, all right, so uh, I mean, let's let's let's give our listeners an opportunity to uh to connect with you if if if if if they if they would like to. I'm sure this this chat is going to inspire lots and lots of people to get out there and uh if they're feeling creative, you know, put something down on paper and and try and write something if it's if that's what they want to do, or pick up a camera and create some stories through photography or whatever it may be. But um, what's the best way for our audience, our listeners to to reach out to you if they if they want to? If they you know like the sound of you and you know they think, oh wow, Mark is a is a cool guy. I would love to say hi, or or just to you know take a look at your your work and what you've been up to. What are the best ways? And I I will mention that um I will obviously put these uh links down in the description for the podcast. But but yeah, what what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Um well it's my website, markdavidabott.com. Um, but I'm also on Facebook at Mark David Abbott Author and Instagram, the Kiwi Gypsy. Kiwi Gipsy, I love it. Yeah. So uh any of those, um I'm I'm you know, I I reply to all messages. Um can also email me at mark at markdavidabbott.com. I answer all of the emails as well. I'm always happy for readers to reach out to me. And uh, you know, writing is a solitary pursuit, so it's always nice to nice um when people do get in touch um to let me know I'm not alone and that people are actually consuming the the material I put out there.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Yeah, yeah. Amazing. Well, there we go, guys. Um, lots of ways to get in touch with Mark, and uh he's happy to say hi back. That's always nice to hear. Um, before we jump onto a little game that I've put together for us, uh, which I'm playing with all our guests, um, I I just wanted to mention that I'm also gonna play an extract from from your first book from Vengeance. Could you set up that scene for us? Uh Mark's given me the uh the honour of actually performing this scene, uh, which I'm super excited about. Uh can you tell everyone, can you give a sort of a run into that scene? Um, and then uh so they know what they're what they're gonna see, what it's about. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Okay, well, the the story is set in India, um, and it features um the character John Hayes, who is a British expat, uh working for uh um uh working in the Indian office of a company in Bangalore. Um and it's his first overseas posting and he loves it. He's he's here with here with his wife, um, who he loves very much, and they've really enjoyed exploring the countryside and and um and going out on trips on the weekend and and going to the jungles and things like that. Um, but one day um she is out for dinner, he's at home, um, and she's out for dinner with some friends, and uh she um at the end of dinner she um calls him up and says I'm on my way home. And he's sitting there watching TV, having a nice cold beer, and and um waiting, waiting, and uh then uh he gets a call from a panic call from her and and realizes something's something's gone wrong. Um and I don't really want to say much more. No, don't say anymore.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

That's all we need. That's all we need. Uh it's a it's a powerful scene. Um and uh yes, I'm very much looking forward to to performing that. And we will play that at the end of this episode. Um, but without further ado, let's jump on to our little game, uh, a little would you rather to to almost finish us off for today. Um, this is the hardest part. This is the hardest part. No, no, no, surely not. Um, so we're gonna ask five questions. I say we, I am. There's nobody else here, it's just me. Um I'm gonna ask you five questions, and just first thing that comes into your head, don't give it too much thought. Um, let me know when you are ready to go. I've suddenly turned into a game host. I don't my voice changed and everything then. Are you ready to number one? Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or always be 20 minutes early? Early. 20 minutes early. Right, 20 minutes early. I like it. Number two. I know me too. It's infuriating. Um, number two, would you rather have one real get out of jail free card or a key that opens any door?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Um I'd play it safe and take the get out of jail free card.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Right. Number three, would you rather know the history of every object you touched or be able to talk to animals? It's a bit of a tricky one, that. The the history of every object that you touched or be able to talk to animals.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

I'm not sure I want to know the history of everything I touch. Yeah, I think I'd rather talk to animals. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Okay, we've got a Dr. Doolittle on our hands. Um, would you rather be married to a 10 with a bad personality or a six with an amazing personality? Well, personality wins every time. All right, love it. You're gonna be very popular, Mark. Um number five, would you rather be and this is the last one now, would you rather be able to talk to land animals, animals that fly, or animals that live under the water? Animals that fly.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Can you give us a reasoning for that?

SPEAKER_01 30:11

Yeah, go on. I've recently I've been trying hard to take photographs of um of the the raptors, um, the kites and eagles that that uh I always see in in the air above above where I live. And I'm just fascinated at how what it must be like to be able to be up so high. And they're just just soaring around riding, riding the um the air currents. Um and I noticed when I was last week I was on on the west coast of India on the beach, and every evening um at a certain time the sky would be filled with with hundreds of of um kites. So there's a particular type there called um the Brahmani kite, which is large with brown with a white head, and they'd just be up there just soaring away and and and circling around. And and I said, remember saying to my wife, I said, I think they just got up there for fun, because they're always up there at the same time in the evening, and there's hundreds of them, and they just fly around around circles, and and so how much fun that must be. And I'd I'd love to be able to speak to them and and find out what they're up to. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Oh, yeah. Uh-oh, that's lovely. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm totally on board with that for sure. Um, right, let's wrap it up. We're gonna wrap it up with with uh Mark's final thoughts for today. Um can you give us, Mark, uh, for our listeners out there, a a life message? Um, it can be anything. Uh, you know, what's uh about work, about how how to um to look at life, how to deal with with challenging moments, how to embrace the good times, etc. etc. and the bad times. Um, yeah, have you got any final thoughts for our audience today? It's a big one, I know. It's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Um well so many life messages. I would say um, and it's probably brought on more by what's going on in the world at the moment, but I'd say life is short, don't waste time. Do what you want to do and do what makes you happy.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Do you what do you want to do and what makes you happy? I love that. Um, thank you so much, Mark, uh, for coming on today. Uh really appreciate your time. And uh thank you, thank you. And I I hope that all our listeners um jump on and take a listen to this and and also go out there and and read Mark's books because they are fabulous. As I said before, I put all of the links down, so it'll be nice and easy to get in touch with him uh if you want to if you wanted to do so. Um thank you very much for today, Mark, and uh take care and have a good day out there in India. Thank you very much. All right, mate, thank you. Charlotte! Charlotte! John screamed down the phone. He could hear voices in the background, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Charlotte! His hands were shaking, his heart pounding in his chest. He shouted down the phone, but there was still no response. He ended the call and dialed her number again, it rang and rang. He tried again and again, but there was no answer. He dialed 100, it too rang and rang, but no one answered. Fucking useless bosses! He screamed. He ran to the kitchen and ran his finger down the list of local numbers stuck to the fridge. He found the number for the local police station and dialed. Hello, said a gruff voice. Something has happened to my wife. I think she's been attacked. Where, sir? Next to Palace Grounds, there was a car accident and and they're they were attacking my wife. Sir, that is not our area. You have to call Shivniga Police Station. The number is FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU John cursed, ending the call. He grabbed the keys from the kitchen countertop and ran to the front door. He pulled on his running shoes and unlocked the SUV as he ran toward it. Slamming the vehicle into reverse, he pulled out onto the road. And Tyre screeching, headed for the main gate. He sounded the horn repeatedly, flashing his lights, and the security guard ran from the guard booth and pulled open the gate as John sped through, barely avoiding running him over. He turned right and sped down the narrow access road, and then turned left onto the highway and accelerated as fast as he could. Putting his light on high beam, he raced south toward the city. Thankful there was little traffic at that time of night. Swerving around slower moving lorries and a few late-night taxis, he raced down toward Hebor Flyover, crossing it at high speed, honking at anyone who came in his way. He flashed his lights continuously, passing cars on the inside when they refused to move across. He sped past Sanjeenaga and down into the underpass at Mekri Circle, the SUV bottoming out with a sickening thud as it hit the lowest point of the underpass, and then climbed up the other side. He would worry about any damage later. He climbed through the gears as he raced up the slope toward Palace grounds, scanning the road ahead for signs of Charlotte in the car. As the road sloped down the other side, he saw the Toyota on the opposite side of the road. Its lights still on. The passenger door opened. He slammed his foot on the brake and screeched to a halt. Jumping out of the vehicle, he ran across and vaulted over the central road divider. A body lay curled in the gutter in front of the car, and his heart leaped into his mouth.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Charlotte!

SPEAKER_00 35:12

He screamed and ran toward the body. He crouched down. It wasn't her. It was Sanjay covered in blood. Sanjay! Sanji, where is Charlotte? Sanji groaned and opened his eyes. At first, they struggled to focus, but then lit up in recognition. Sir I'm so sorry, sir. Sorry, sir. Where is Charlotte? Where is she? They took her. They took her and Sanji lapsed back into unconsciousness.