Week 152 is now upon us!!
Maybe it’s just me but I sometimes get a line or phrase that I want to use but aren’t sure if what I’m getting at would be clear.
That happened to me this week with this line:
…Only folks of those days could keep up with folks of those days.
That was what gave me a wee bit of inspiration for this weeks posting.
Most of my workmates are ages with me. And we are all fucked. It’s like the walking wounded. A selection of afflictions are; Arthritis, swollen knees, dodgy hips, scepticism, diabetes, IBS and general pissed offness are our constant companions. Anyone who looks into any of our eyes can see the pain of our bodies, along with resentment and apathy. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll still put in a helluva shift. The youngsters that I work with (Say under twenty-five) don’t. But that means they will never limp, hobble, grimace in pain as we do because of that. Some workmates resent this and are bitter towards the youngster – Me, not so much as I realise that they aren’t as fucking stupid as we’ve all been!!
What kids don’t realise is that youth is fleeting. Probably more fleeting these days, but for different reasons. We (Add whatever generation that is appropriate) drank, ate, took drugs and shagged to excess. That was all we had. Image? Selfies? Status? Job satisfaction? Promotion? Those all meant nothing! We were probably more destructive but never gave that a thought. We did what felt good. Image or perception meant fuck all. Maybe reputation at that time was something we considered. If someone could hold their drink, they were a hero. If they could fight, you wanted them on your side! If someone enjoyed a good-time, they were fun. Maybe we should have considered if there were any other reasons we did what we did but we were an on-the-face-of-it generation. There was no malice. We worked for the weekend, got what we could and we hoped that if anyone was willing, then that’s what they were, willing. But and here’s the big but – When we are now told what we should think on and re-consider our previous actions, it fucked everyone up. Do we now do things because we hate / enjoy them or does other opinions affect our actions??
With us, in those days, was it abuse? Self esteem?? Rebellion??
Who knew?? Who thought that much?
Society that evolves should have made things clearer, but all it has done is confuse and make us all second guess ourselves.
What used to be simple, fun and be all about living, became deeper and we now have to analyse everything to hell and back again.
Love can be an exception if we let it. Don’t analyse, don’t criticise and just accept. You fall for who you fall for. Simple as that.
We overthink everything these days. We worry about who thinks what. Fuck all matters. Just be with who you want to be with. Be happy and look after each other. Life is simple. You are born, hopefully, you eventually find someone and then you die. That’s it. Money, possessions, career, status mean fuck all. And if they do, you may need to take a long look at yourself.
…But not through Social Media you upright walking, not limping generation!!!!
Okay, on to this week’s stories. This is one of those infrequent weeks where all our writers were new folks. But that is as good as it is when it’s not or it’s mixed!
To them all, we extend a warm welcome. We hope they have a great time on the site and most importantly, we want to see more of their work.
As usual, our initial comments follow.
First up was Danielle R. Cole with ‘Gifted.’
‘Excellent look into the mind of a genius.’
‘This was a super multi-layered piece.’
‘It must be wonderful and difficult in equal measures to have such a child.’
‘The Miracle Of San Batista.’ Was published on Tuesday. JB Polk was the author.
‘The scene setting was very good.’
‘The way the story unwound was perfect.’
‘The wonderful edge of humour and seriousness is kept throughout.’
Barry Yedvobnick’s, ‘Last Call From Grams.’ was next up.
‘Thoughtful,’
‘I enjoyed the real life touches, like the grief of her son.’
‘Science Fiction struggles, but I was delighted to read this one.’
‘At Sea’ was Andrew Bennetts offering for Thursday.
‘There was an understanding of an afflicted person that you seldom see.’
‘This had me hooked.’
‘The desperation and fear were captured very well.’
We finished off the week with, ‘A Life Lesson From Jimmy’ by Fiona Sinclair.
‘I appreciate Fiona’s work on this.’
‘Glad to see that the references transferred.’
‘A skilful piece of story-telling.’
That’s us for another week guys.
Just the usual reminders.
Have a look at the postings of a Sunday and get involved if you want to give it a go. It’s more than likely to be accepted so it’s also, ‘An article published’ for your writing CV! (In all these years we have only refused one as it was badly judged, disrespectful and distasteful!)
Please keep those comments coming. The site has been very alive over the last few months and that’s all to do with those brilliant folks who comment. You don’t need to be a writer to do so, we love to read the readers take on their reading!!!!
Before I go, there is one thing that we’d like to mention:
We are scheduling stories for late January at the moment. If you have a short story you were hoping to have published for Halloween, Divali, Christmas, New year etc. it’s too late for us. But, we have never liked publishing celebration specific stories aimed at such times. We believe a good story will stand up to a read at any time.
Just to finish – A fact about Scotland that I didn’t know. We have the worlds only knighted penguin. His name is Sir Nils Olav and he lives in Edinburgh Zoo. The King Of Norway conducted the ceremony. Well, I hope he was the King Of Norway and not just some jakey who wis oot his heid. Although, that maybe would have made more sense!
That means, we have a mythical creature as our National Animal. A mythical beast as our National Dish and the mythical expense sheet of The Scottish parliament! At least Sir Nils is real!
…Long live Sir Nils!!!!!!
Now for some music.
I’ve seen the documentary about Alice Cooper a few times and it’s fascinating. He stated that ‘Schools Out’ all came from him wanting to find a phrase that was universal and everyone could relate to. I thought that was a challenge and even though this brilliant version of this song will never be as successful as Mr Cooper’s, I stand by the title of this being even more universal!!! (Cracking clip as well.)
English: Nils Olav the Penguin inspects the King’s Guard of Norway after being bestowed with a knighthood at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. The King’s Guard adopted the penguin as their mascot in 1972 during a visit to Edinburgh for the annual Military Tattoo. The tradition has stuck and each time the Guards visit the city, Nils Olav is promoted and invited to inspect the troops once more. Image from wikipedia
Couldn’t resist uploading this Hugh. Long live Sir Nils.
Banner Image – Royal Banner of Scotland. A rampant lion in red with a blue tongue! on a gold (yellow) background
literally stories 
Hugh
Sir Nils is blue! A true Scottish knight. It used to be that philosophy fads used to burn out and something resembling common sense would resume. If social media has been around in the seventies I fear that biorythms and TM would still be with us. And the Moonies would have a YouTube channel! My brother had a bit of a clash with some of them in Chicago O’Hare airport on his way home from the Army in 76.
The trouble stems from people who point their phones at sunsets instead of just experiencing the moment. Too much goes under the scope nowadays. I see people taking pictures of food and want to scream just eat the goddam thing!
I also believe that people who agree to do a job should give it full effort. Anything less is embarrassing.
Great post. Love Echo and the boys.
Leila
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Hi Leila,
Thanks as always!!
My pals mum (Beautiful sweet wee wumin!!) had not so much a run-in with the Moonies at an American Airport, more a misunderstanding.
She grabbed her hubbies arm and said, ‘Bill! Bill! Look at those people over there selling rugs.’
After 1983-’84 I have hated every fucking job that I have done. Normally if you meet your gaffer’s gaffer for the first time and they introduce themselves, (Sadly, that is very infrequent now-a-days!!) they normally ask ‘…And are you enjoying working here?’ To which my answer has always been ‘…Well, it’s not stopped me doing the Pools / Lottery!’
But you are quite correct – No matter how I feel, I will always put in a shift. I want those fuckers to owe me, not the other way around! That’s why my body is fucked and I answer that question with that answer. Well that and the inane stupidity that we all see regarding Management, ‘Yes-Men’ and the greed of companies is the other side of disgusting!
My very first gaffer said to me forty one years ago – ‘Son, if you ever want thanks for what you do, don’t start working.’
Cheers Leila – Much appreciated!
Hugh
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I will have to tell my brother about the “rug sellers”!
Leila
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I think you make a good point here. It’s very easy to criticise a generation that is younger than your own and I guess it was ever so but maybe – they are actually getting it more right! Great post and I love the penguin. Long live Sir Nils. thanks – dd
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Cheers Diane,
I have a huge beef with our youngsters for ‘mainly’ not being individuals, not being able to speak to people, letting so much get to them, relying on technology and expecting. But I love the exceptions! Seen a wee guy in a News Report about mobiles in schools and he said, ‘It doesn’t matter to me as I don’t want a mobile.’ Now either that young man doesn’t want to be tracked because he is looking to become a serial killer or he just thinks it is the downfall of actual communication – No matter what – It was refreshing to hear!!!
And Sir Nils is the only Sir I would every bow to…TWICE!!!!!
Cheers Diane and thanks so much for including the only Knighted that makes me smile!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugh
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Someone said “Growing old isn’t for the faint of heart.” Whoever it was, they were right. Your advice is good, Hugh. “Be happy and look after each other. Life is simple. You are born, hopefully, you eventually find someone and then you die.” Good recap and video. I think the original was by The Doors, and this version is excellent, too.
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Hi David,
Thanks as always!!
I’ll throw in the quote that ‘Youth is wasted on the young’ and ‘An old head on young shoulders.’
I really do wish that I had this attitude when I was seventeen…Hmmm, now that I think on that, I’d probably still be doing time or revelling in the thought that I’d never been caught…Without telling anyone!!!!
Yep, Jim Morrison’s vocals on the original were astounding but I have a love for Ian McCulloch’s voice. If you haven’t heard them before, check out ‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’, ‘The Cutter’ and ‘The Killing Moon’. The guy does ‘Haunting voice’ brilliantly.
All my very best to you and yours my fine friend.
Hugh
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Thanks for the music tip, Hugh. I checked out those three songs. Echo & the bunnymen have a unique sound (not to mention their name!)
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Dear Hugh,
Hi! Thanks for your wisdom, wit, and lively writing style, as always. “Money, possessions, career, status, mean fuck all.” If a few more people believed this timelessly true sentiment, including global leaders, perhaps the world wouldn’t be staring down the barrel of a nuclear warhead at the moment. In the US of A, those 4 things seem to have become 99 percent of the mental space for the majority of the population, from the highest to the lowest of the social hierarchy, the selling-machines have done their jobs so well. Sir Nils should be given a bigger leadership position since he’s probably much smarter and wiser than a lot of the other two-legged creatures making the decisions, not to mention that his fur is fabulous.
I also truly enjoyed the cover of the Doors song since Morrison was an early hero of mine from my teen years. Many folks don’t understand what an intellect he had and what a philosopher he was. I saw Alice Cooper in the grocery store one time in Oak Park, Illinois. No joke! I believe his girlfriend was from the area. It was an unmistakably uncanny experience.
I was checking out some more of your work as a short story author earlier this week. Nice job! I have a few things to say about it soon. Thanks.
Dale
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Hi Dale,
Thanks so much!!!
Not sure about the ‘wisdom’ but I’ll take it!!!
I’ve just read that 5% of the richest have more money than 95% of the poorest. I think that figure has been manipulated to ‘soften’ the blow – It probably should say that ‘Five percent of the richest have more money than the rest of you!!’ It’s a fucking travesty that most who have a conscience are those of us who can do sod all about that state of affairs. Distribution is horrifically unfair. The problem with that statement is I’m getting into Communist territory. And sod it, let’s be brutally honest – On a humanity scale, Communism is a cracking idea! But and it is the hugest BUT I can muster – The one thing that stops the true idea of Communism is that one wee thing called Human Nature (Greed / Narcissism / Paranoia / Jealousy / Individual Self-Esteem, to name but a few!)
We could never simply work for one and other. We could never share until everyone was equal. We could never see each of us being the same as some fucker would want to have that bit more, that feeling of superiority. They could never accept all around them as equal.
HAH!! In two paragraphs – I have over-simplified a very complex idealistic that has been around and caused wars and the downfall of governments for years. Maybe we should over-simplify everything and see where it would take us.
The sad thing is – I can’t (No-one can) make a statement like that without being judged when there is no opinion only observation. In the West Coast of Scotland, the Sectarianism is horrific and in a slight off-shoot but parallel – If anyone asks if you support Rangers and you say ‘NO’ they then ask, ‘Whit? Are you a Pape’ How enlightened!!!!!
On a lighter note – See my answer to Dave regarding ‘Echo And The Bunnymen’!
It’s always a pleasure my fine friend.
Hugh
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Dear Hugh,
I totally, one thousand percent agree with your comments about communism. Karl Marx got many, many things right about this world; but he seems to have tragically underestimated the levels of human greed, grasping, grabbing, and self-centeredness, not to mention all the pathetic preening, prancing, dancing, and posing of all these terrible leaders we have these days.
The current communist regimes are also combined fascist dictatorships which crush human freedom and are all about the dastardly personalities of some of the worst, most greedy humans on the planet. Led Zeppelin rightly called it “The Evil One.”
But with 8 billion people on the planet and counting, this world is going to have to move in some kind of new direction soon or late in order, very simply, to save its own existence. If it doesn’t, it will be curtains for the human race on Planet Earth. Not tomorrow probably. But maybe a lot sooner than any of us realize. No doubt!
Thanks for your intellectual understanding and intergrity!
Dale
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I recognize Hugh’s description except that I suffered from inadequate shagging. Height has its priviledge (is there a d?). Drugs, (minimal) sex. and a lot of rock and roll (Stones, Little Richard, prime Elvis). As I write this I’m deciding whether my congestion and beat up legs will allow me to go work in a park for three hours.
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Hi Doug,
It’s great to see you on the site once again.
Thanks as always.
Just decide, not so much if your legs can, more only go if you want to!!!
Stay being you my fine friend.
Hugh
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Dear Hugh
Hi! This is about your work as a fiction author.
One of the things that really leapt out at me recently as I was reading some more of your stories on the site was how well-written the dialogue is.
You have a truly great talent for dialogue writing, and any writer would do well to study your methods. The words your characters use are both believable and always doing their job in advancing the narrative, without being too obvious about it. The way your characters speak truly does sound like “real life,” while simultaneously being pared-down and minimalistic enough so that it doesn’t impair the flow of the story. The way the characters speak sounds true while also creating narrative suspense. The dialogue is real and stylized at the same time. Many of your pieces almost seem like one-act dramas or plays in this way.
I also want to comment on the believability of the characters presented, not just the dialogue. All of your characters seem realistic in the best sense. You have an understated and convincing way of presenting believable humans in words. There is also a wide array of intriguing main characters and important minor characters in your work to consider. None of them seem fake or like cardboard cut-outs; all of them are accurate to “the way life really is,” as Henry James put it.
I also want to applaud the brave and courageous way you handle extreme or sometimes disturbing situations. Realistic, horror-like situations are sometimes, though not always, presented in your stories. Whenever you do this, it never seems gratuitous or only for shock effect. Instead, the story seems to be reacting to some aspect of life that really exists. This kind of technique frequently employed by you reminds me of the French short story writer Guy de Maupassant’s horror works, some of the best that have ever been penned by far. You never just go for the gross-out in a cheap way, as do so many horror writers (maybe most of them). This alone gives your work style and grace, because your stories are always character-based.
All of your stories go straight for the mark without wasting words and without wasting time. You truly have the short story writer’s gift for getting rid of all extraneous descriptions and verbiage and presenting the bare bones of a single-effect narrative in its most startling and interesting form. Your short stories are entertaining as well as thought-provoking. That is a magic trick that many other writers can only dream of accomplishing.
You know how to use Hemingway’s iceberg principle, which is all about putting in just enough but not too much. Your stories have complete clarity while maintaining an element of ambiguity which is ESSENTIAL in any good narrative. Too much clarity, and there isn’t enough room for the reader’s imagination. Too much ambiguity, and the reader has no idea what the hell is going on. Your stories never have these problems. The right balance is always struck.
I also want to add that your use of profanity never seems gratuitous either. Again, it’s more like realism.
And you have a great number of stories, truly profuse and truly impressive. There’s a lot more to explore in the future, and I’m looking forward to it. The human sympathy, empathy, open-heartedness and understanding expressed in your works while facing up to some of life’s worst aspects seems to be their main theme, and as such your work is really appealing overall.
THANKS!
Sincerely,
Dale
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Hi Dale,
Thanks so much for the unbelievably kind comments!!
I would like to mention your observations on my use of dialogue. I think there are two simple ‘disciplines’ – Firstly listen to folks. Secondly…Hate television adverts with a passion!!!!!
The first is self explanatory.
The second, well, when you think on those contrived adverts that over-explain to get across their pitch, you realise how false that all is. I look at dialogue as if I’m ear-wigging. You never get the full story as the folks that are talking, know what they are talking about and that’s what I try and go for.
The believability of the characters is a simple cheat – I’ve met them, seen them, listened to them in some form or another. You can take that and either add to it, exaggerate it or pull it back, all of this works. They are believable because they are there, you just need to see them.
Thank you for understanding that any language (Or situation) I use isn’t gratuitous, it’s just something that is there because the stories or characters take it there!!
I’m not sure if I’m a writer or more an observer who writes???
Thanks so much my fine friend – Your comments, not just to me but everyone are insightful and very much appreciated!!!
Hugh
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Me too Hugh, I remember the double shifts and the six-day weeks. But hang on in there, because, believe me, being a pensioner is just fabby. My mother-in-law, who was raised on a croft in Skye, remembered hearing when she was a child the old folks talking about what a Great Day it was when Lloyd George brought in the old age pensions. Before that, if you didn’t have a family to look after you, you were evicted and went into the dreaded Workhouse. The pension is a wonderful thing.
Thanks, Diane, for the brilliant penguin photo. Always liked the Norwegians, a jolly egalitarian lot. Now they’re taking the piss out our daft British preoccupation with honours and social distinctions
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Hi Mick,
Thanks as always my fine friend.
Going to Skye for the first time on the 17th of next month – Really looking forward to dipping my toes in The Fairy Pools whilst being oot ma heid on Talisker!!!
I just met a guy today who made me think about mad hours and what is acceptable. This fellow worked off shore and decommissioned equipment on Rigs. He works twelve hour shifts, seven days a week and then gets three weeks off. It’s a weird one to get my head around. Would I ever have been willing to do that?? I think if you are single it may be tempting, but not sure??
I’m far too old now and skilless so it’s a moot point only to think on!
The state pension bugs me. When I started in 1983 the state of affairs was a man worked to sixty five and a woman sixty. It now depends on when you were born. I think I need to keep going until I’m sixty eight. We bent over and accepted this! The French on the other-hand started rioting when their pensions were going to be altered by their government. Not us we have just taken it and said, ‘Please sir can I have some more!’ I feel so sorry for the seventeen year olds who have just started working. If the state keeps changing they will probably be hitting eighty before they can retire!!!
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Hugh
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Getting old is a bastard, but a wise old bastard I like to think. I know I certainly make noises I never used to as a youth when moving into and out of seating positions! Also, Echo and the Bunnymen – great band!
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Hi Paul,
Thanks as always, your comments mean so much to me.
I love the attitude that the years have given me but the aches and pains, not so much!!
Hope all is well for you and yours.
Hugh
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