Here we are at the first of the New Year with Week 566
Well, that’s the festivities over for another year. I hope you all have had a restful or mad time or a bit of both. I had some beautifully wrapped presents this year. I received a life size Dalek, a lucky horse shoe, an inflated beach ball and an anchor. I was grateful but not one of them was a surprise.
All that wrapping paper made me remember something I read years back – Here’s a wee challenge for you all–It’s impossible to fold a piece of paper in half, no matter what size, any more than seven times. Give it a go, you know that you want to. Tin foil is about the closest but it’s not paper it’s metal.
Tin foil always reminds me of The Hanson Brothers in ‘Slap Shot’ And those brothers always remind me of ‘The Ramones’!!
To be honest, I ain’t much of a fan of Christmas or New Year. It’s actually taken me over the last couple of years to realise why. I reckon that we only have so many Christmases and New Years in us, for all sorts of reasons. I think my quota has completely ran out. I wouldn’t mind if I even had a hatred of those two weeks as that is an emotion I can deal with. Unfortunately, all I have left is a complete indifference! (So just the same as every other week!)
However, I did hear something that I thought was exceptional!! This young lady has went through the mill this year, so this means a lot more!
Everything went well here at Literally Stories. Our Crime week, Fred’s celebration for his wonderful achievement of one hundred stories and a tribute to the legend that is Tom Sheehan were all well received. Thanks to all who read and commented.
It’s now back to business as usual.
So onto the posting –
I despise all the appeals that are shown over the festivities. Those thirsty donkeys with bad shoes, the sad cats and dogs who will make their loving new owners suffer and the kids that can blow two bubbles with one piece of Bubblegum are shown time after time. That may sound a bit harsh, but fuck the folks that do these appeals. We all know how much the hierarchy are taking from the charities they champion and spoil our Christmas dinners with the images. I’m so sad with all of them. I can’t darken any of the reality of images, so why not take them into the absurd. The whole point is, those who are broken hearted with all of this are those who haven’t the means to do fuck all about it. The ones who have the means, don’t give a fuck.
Don’t know why I’m writing this as it’s a bit random…I read a phrase the other day that we’ve all used. ‘Best of friends, worst of enemies.’
I don’t know why, at the time, that it niggled at me, but when you think on it, ‘The worst of enemies’ surely has to be the ‘best of friends’?? Literally that is! Two of the worrying situations that you’ll ever see is two best pals fighting or two brothers. None of them can ever back down, and sure as fuck, someone will get seriously hurt.
Okay onto this week’s stories.
We had three folks for the third time, a returner and me.
As always our initial comments follow.
Our first story of the week was Gareth Vieria with ‘Channel 7.’
‘Strange visions brought forth.’
‘Ultimately, very sad.’
‘Different, well written and entertaining.’
On Tuesday we had me who thought I was on Friday and had to be bailed out!! My incompetence knows no bounds. (Cheers Diane!!)
‘Market Place’ was my latest offering.’ This was a simple observation story about the stupidity and dangers of ‘meeting’ on-line. I know, I know!! Hooking up in a pub or club also has it’s dangers but the on-line shite takes away that simple gut feeling of what our grans would have said, ‘They just looked like a wrong-yin’
The back of the week was broken by, coincidentally, ‘It Happened On Wednesday’ which was story number two for Foster Trecost.
‘This does shine.’
‘Losing a day would be a problem.’
‘You always wonder wonder what thoughts can invade any of our heads.’
Thursday loomed and we were delighted to publish Claire Massey with her third outing, ‘Lost In Translation.’
‘Claire wrote this with elan.’
‘Sad but it has a lilt.’
‘This carries a punch.’
And we finished off with ‘Night Sounds’ by Tom Koperwas.
‘A weird but enjoyable ending.’
‘This sort of tripped me up.’
‘Different.’
That’s us for another week. The site is still healthy and the comments keep coming in so good on you all.
So far, we haven’t had the in-flux that we usually have for this time of year but we wait with fear and excitement. You see, we are the gym membership of the Short Story world. Due to the stupidity of New Year Resolutions, we normally are drowning in submissions. It only lasts for a few weeks as, like the gym memberships, folks realise that it’s a lot of work for very little gain.
…But those that do stick at it realise that they can get so much out of it!
For the first time that all this nonsense that’s ever raised its fucking stupid head, the question of identity made me smile.
I was watching Rikki Gervaise and he stated that he identified as a He He He as he is a comedian. I know it’s a bit daft, but it did make me giggle.
I’m not a great Rikki Gervaise fan but some of his put-downs are priceless. Check a few minutes of them. The paedo line is brilliant!!
That means that this is now a three clip posting. I think we should start the year off with something loud. I was first intrigued by both Girl School and Motorhead in a compilation album called ‘Axe Attack’ around forty six years back!
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay – a pile of rightly wrapped presents with paper in blue, pink, green, gold and fancy ribbon.
literally stories 
Hugh
I am with you on the TV pleas. I send monthly contributions to three organizations because I want to (one goes to PAWS Cat shelter). Not big money but something every month.
Aside from PAWS (all volunteer) I wonder what happens to most of the money when I see TV ads for St Jude Hospital and the Shriners. And all the junk mail. I worked for a non profit for many years and along with my fellow wage slaves there were dozens of VP’s and a “CEO” for every division and they worked in a fancy building while we were stuck in an asbestos filled warehouse.
Great clips! Especially Ricky and Lemmy!
Leila
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Ahhh, Girls School & Motörhead … takes me back!
Nice way to wrap up a chilly week here.
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Hi Hugh
The Girl School clip reminded me of further work Lemmy did with women. One particularly wild one at that.
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Leila
I don’t know who this singer is but this is an utterly brilliant performance at all levels!
Dale
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That is WOW, the one and only Wendy O. Williams. Another tragedy by suicide, but check out her wikipedia, she was a clean living nut, a socer punk. Hard to describe.
Leila
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Hi Hugh
Your tone sounded different to me on this one. I like it–not to say I don’t like your other writing. It shows you have a broad talent and range to your writing.
The way you described the holidays with a lack of sentimentality, but also at the same time making, me the reader, feel connected. You have described the human condition and how the holidays affect it. This is a profound and telling line: “I wouldn’t mind if I even had a hatred of those two weeks as that is an emotion I can deal with.”
I also liked the puzzle of folding paper. It goes well with this piece.
Best
Christopher
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Hi Hugh
“A lot of work for very little gain” is a great way to describe the writing game and is also the exact same reason why (as you also point out) it’s worth something deeper to both the individual (especially), and “the world.”
Someone, or something, convinced us all many centuries ago that the gold standard for measuring the worth not just of bank accounts, but of people themselves, was how much of this fiction we call “money” they have happened to grab for themselves.
But there is another way of assessing value.
WHO the writer actually becomes, or is able to turn themselves into, should be worth more than what their bank account says at any given moment.
And yet it’s true of almost everyone in a global way, from East to West: HOW MUCH they have is used as the standard for judging the humanity of people. If you have a lot, you’re respectable. If you hang out on the bottom rungs, you’re a worthless piece of trash. And this is generally believed deeply EVEN BY THE PEOPLE WHO HANG OUT ON THE BOTTOM RUNGS themselves.
Something has gone severely wrong with the world, all in the way we believe what we believe. And then ideas become the generator of actions. Undocumented immigrants must be bad people because they don’t have a lot of money, and regular old poor people must be lazy bums and that is why they’re poor. And it starts seeping into the way even otherwise good people think.
“Keep your lives free from the obsessive love of money,” a great philosopher once said.
In this day and age, if they start paying you to say things (even in fiction), you should be very careful of what they’re actually paying you to say, and that right quick, before you wake up to find your very soul has been stolen by the human belief that materialistic standards are the only proper judge of human conduct and being itself. Musk, Bezos, Gates, and their ilk are not necessarily great human beings just because they’re good at running companies and making money.
Dale
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Hey Hugh, I got a Dalek for Christmas too. Really liked the Ricky put-downs, but searched in vain for Johnny Kidd and the Pirates (but I’ll get over it).
I see Auchinleck Talbot have switched the cup-tie to Kilmarnock’s ground, so no Auchinleck pies after all. bw mick
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Hey Hugh
You did a thorough job touching on some delicate tender-spots. Gervais, whom I generally can’t stand, in ‘After Life’ after my wife died. And TV pleas into my life they do creep: a dog is shown in chains, a child with a cleft-palate smiles, then a baby crawls along a ward floor of St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. And I’m into them all for like $25/month, yet I feel totally miserable because there’s no cash left and still there are refugees to feed and clean air to provide for NYC Urban League kids, not to mention I could use a house cleaner for the flat I can’t afford.
Did I mention that Gervais at the end walks into a field with his dog who disappears before he does into the mist. The Bastard. Yet I don’t seem to tire of the sorrow that somehow beats indifference. Thanks. — Gerry
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Good post. We also give to various animal charities. The site charity navigator is a good way to learn if the money is being put to good use. Ricky Gervaise has a sharp wit. His show After Life revealed a bit of his softer side.
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