LARGE BRA LOST AT SEA - LAST SEEN FLOATING TOWARDS RUM. SHIPPING CHANNELS MAY BE OBSTRUCTED.
Posted: Thursday, 05 June 2008 |
"Is that the paps of Jura" a sailor cried out, his eyeballs on stalks as he gleefully spied upon a huge bra floating towards his yacht.
I hid behind a rock, my modesty covered with two clamshells, (two dozen that is)
The sailors strained over the side of their expensive yacht trying to uplift the bra,
"Someone has made a boob", they laughed..
From my hiding place, I watched with growing dismay as my bra floated away on a straight course towards Rum.
This is no storm in a D cup, oh no, please don't titter at my unfortunate predicament.
The day began so well, scorching sunshine, sugar white beach, and cool blue sea.
Camera, picnic, good book and not a soul around to share this beautiful beach.
Being rather shy and retiring, I hesitated at changing into my swimwear, but hey, no-one was around to laugh and the day was too good to waste.
Placing all my clothes and undergarments on the beach, I settled down to do some serious sunbathing. The tide was going out WASN'T IT??
From my viewpoint on the beach, I spotted some beautiful flowers. Early purple orchids covered the hillside. How could I resist? I decided to take a stroll with my camera and get a few snaps. Did I check the tide?? (Course I did, all islanders check the tide, don't they) mmm
Beautiful early Purple Orchid
Pretty buttercups
In the pink with the Thrift
Beautiful foxgloves
The sweet scent of the wild dogrose..
Seabirds and waders. A ring neck plover.
A mother duck and her ducklings
So, I lost track of time. A few minutes turned to hours, the sun was still hot, but the day was wearing on. I returned to my base on the beach.
Shock, HORROR, the tide had snook back in whilst no-one was watching. Where are my clothes? oh no....
Into the sea I ran, rescuing my sandals and T shirt. My trousers (etc) were folded neatly on a rock together with car keys and camera bag. They were spared a watery demise.
However, the large, foam filled bra, had floated away. Way out, and no, OH NO, two sailors on a yacht suddenly appeared from the Cairns of Coll. Quickly I hid my embarrassment behind a rock and watched the bemused sailors.
The bra bobbed merrily up and down, floating further and further out to sea.
Last seen headings towards Rum.
Gone but not forgotten.
Silly me, I must keep abreast of important things, such as tides.
SO... if anyone should find a rather large, flesh coloured bra, size (no, I'm not telling you that), please put it to good use.
All ideas welcome.
Perhaps you could carry your Bowls in it, I love a bit of crown green bowling don't you?
or cut the straps off and make a nice bird feeder, Blue tits will love it.
Oh the uses of this large lost bra is endless.
Ear muffs for the winter, hump warmer for a camel,
Well, I am so glad that I got that off my chest.
Before I go, may I just say something about the magical sunsets recently, no, on second thoughts, I won't say anything.
Finally, to Carol from France, who misses Scotland, here are a few images, which I hope you will enjoy.
Have a lovely weekend everyone. xxxx
I hid behind a rock, my modesty covered with two clamshells, (two dozen that is)
The sailors strained over the side of their expensive yacht trying to uplift the bra,
"Someone has made a boob", they laughed..
From my hiding place, I watched with growing dismay as my bra floated away on a straight course towards Rum.
This is no storm in a D cup, oh no, please don't titter at my unfortunate predicament.
The day began so well, scorching sunshine, sugar white beach, and cool blue sea.
Camera, picnic, good book and not a soul around to share this beautiful beach.
Being rather shy and retiring, I hesitated at changing into my swimwear, but hey, no-one was around to laugh and the day was too good to waste.
Placing all my clothes and undergarments on the beach, I settled down to do some serious sunbathing. The tide was going out WASN'T IT??
From my viewpoint on the beach, I spotted some beautiful flowers. Early purple orchids covered the hillside. How could I resist? I decided to take a stroll with my camera and get a few snaps. Did I check the tide?? (Course I did, all islanders check the tide, don't they) mmm
Beautiful early Purple Orchid
Pretty buttercups
In the pink with the Thrift
Beautiful foxgloves
The sweet scent of the wild dogrose..
Seabirds and waders. A ring neck plover.
A mother duck and her ducklings
So, I lost track of time. A few minutes turned to hours, the sun was still hot, but the day was wearing on. I returned to my base on the beach.
Shock, HORROR, the tide had snook back in whilst no-one was watching. Where are my clothes? oh no....
Into the sea I ran, rescuing my sandals and T shirt. My trousers (etc) were folded neatly on a rock together with car keys and camera bag. They were spared a watery demise.
However, the large, foam filled bra, had floated away. Way out, and no, OH NO, two sailors on a yacht suddenly appeared from the Cairns of Coll. Quickly I hid my embarrassment behind a rock and watched the bemused sailors.
The bra bobbed merrily up and down, floating further and further out to sea.
Last seen headings towards Rum.
Gone but not forgotten.
Silly me, I must keep abreast of important things, such as tides.
SO... if anyone should find a rather large, flesh coloured bra, size (no, I'm not telling you that), please put it to good use.
All ideas welcome.
Perhaps you could carry your Bowls in it, I love a bit of crown green bowling don't you?
or cut the straps off and make a nice bird feeder, Blue tits will love it.
Oh the uses of this large lost bra is endless.
Ear muffs for the winter, hump warmer for a camel,
Well, I am so glad that I got that off my chest.
Before I go, may I just say something about the magical sunsets recently, no, on second thoughts, I won't say anything.
Finally, to Carol from France, who misses Scotland, here are a few images, which I hope you will enjoy.
Have a lovely weekend everyone. xxxx
OH DARLING MAKE IT GO AWAY, THIS WOMAN'S WORK......STONE THE CROWS, BUT SURELY NOT THE BABIES?
Posted: Monday, 09 June 2008 |
I've been listening to this hauntingly beautiful song and watching the video on YOUTUBE...
This Woman's Work, sung by Kate Bush... (if perhaps you would like to copy and paste into google - Here is the link to the video....)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm901CXujEg
For anyone who's hurting, going through a painful time, losing someone, or struggling with life right now... just take a few minutes' ME TIME and listen to the lyrics of this song.... The video is really quite moving,
It's about birth, and about
death, and about love
and all the things we should have done
when we were alive.
It's about just how fragile life really is...
This weekend has been one of mixed emotions for me, of highs and of lows.
There has been laughter and there has been tears.
And for me personally a reinforced recognition that we, the human species, are not the only ones capable of caring for our offspring and for each other.
When you love someone, why does it have to hurt so much?? Why are we so vulnerable?
You may wonder what has prompted this rather morose blog, well, I have had a sick child home from school this weekend, who, when the time came to getting on the ferry back to school yesterday, he broke down in floods of tears. Quite unusual really, as he is quite a tough wee guy.
Putting a protective arm around him, I led him away from the boarding platform and gave him the option of returning home with me or getting on the ferry and returning to the hostel in Oban.
It was touch and go, we walked back along the pier, dragging the suitcases behind us. With just seconds left, he wiped away the tears and said he would get on the boat and go. "I'm okay mum, really"
How did this leave me? Worried, upset, not knowing quite what to do to make it better.
Helpless, vulnerable, sometimes we cannot make things better
Sometimes we cannot make things go away
some things are simply out of our control.
And it hurts....
Which leads me into the blog.
This morning I was rudely awakened by the most horrendous screeching and cawing under my bedroom window. The noise went on for ages, so in the end I had to leave Mel Gibson behind in my dreams for the moment, and go see what the commotion was.
A baby Hooded Crow, learning to fly had used my car roof as a launch pad, hit the window and sat sorrowfully outside my bedroom window cawing for his parents.
Hooded crow and baby
Love them or loath them, and most people loath them, the hooded crow parents were going frantic with worry, trying to get their baby back.
In the end I went outside, picked the baby up and put him on a gate post. Parents and baby were reunited, and what a fuss they made of their baby. Now as I sit here typing, looking across the sea to Mull, the hooded crows sit just outside on the fence, staring in, watching me type.
On Saturday afternoon we were walking along the shore, scrambling over rocks, when suddenly we were set upon by two screeching Oyster Catchers, diving and swooping at us.
Two Oystercatcher chicks hiding beneath the shelf.
"there must be a nest around here" I said, "we had better move away".
Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the reason for the birds' anger, three tiny fluffy chicks were sat beneath the shelf of a rock. Protected only by camouflage the chicks never flinched, not a blink of an eye, they remained exactly where their parents had left them.
OYSTER CATCHER CHICK
The two Oyster Catcher parents followed us until we were safely away from their babies. At one point the daddy bird had to put his brakes on as he landed near to us in such a great hurry.
Over the rocks we climbed and looking out to sea, there in the bay was a mother Basking Shark with her baby. They swam in circles, feeding on plankton, the mother guiding her baby away from the jagged rocks and shallow waters. Two gentle creatures, a mother and baby, such a wonderful sight.
Baby Basking Shark
So on Sunday afternoon, as I put a protective mother's arm around my own baby, in reality, I was just the same as the Oyster Catchers, the Basking Shark and the Hooded Crows.
In very different worlds, we were all just parents,
All protecting our young in any way we could.
This Woman's Work, sung by Kate Bush... (if perhaps you would like to copy and paste into google - Here is the link to the video....)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm901CXujEg
For anyone who's hurting, going through a painful time, losing someone, or struggling with life right now... just take a few minutes' ME TIME and listen to the lyrics of this song.... The video is really quite moving,
It's about birth, and about
death, and about love
and all the things we should have done
when we were alive.
It's about just how fragile life really is...
This weekend has been one of mixed emotions for me, of highs and of lows.
There has been laughter and there has been tears.
And for me personally a reinforced recognition that we, the human species, are not the only ones capable of caring for our offspring and for each other.
When you love someone, why does it have to hurt so much?? Why are we so vulnerable?
You may wonder what has prompted this rather morose blog, well, I have had a sick child home from school this weekend, who, when the time came to getting on the ferry back to school yesterday, he broke down in floods of tears. Quite unusual really, as he is quite a tough wee guy.
Putting a protective arm around him, I led him away from the boarding platform and gave him the option of returning home with me or getting on the ferry and returning to the hostel in Oban.
It was touch and go, we walked back along the pier, dragging the suitcases behind us. With just seconds left, he wiped away the tears and said he would get on the boat and go. "I'm okay mum, really"
How did this leave me? Worried, upset, not knowing quite what to do to make it better.
Helpless, vulnerable, sometimes we cannot make things better
Sometimes we cannot make things go away
some things are simply out of our control.
And it hurts....
Which leads me into the blog.
This morning I was rudely awakened by the most horrendous screeching and cawing under my bedroom window. The noise went on for ages, so in the end I had to leave Mel Gibson behind in my dreams for the moment, and go see what the commotion was.
A baby Hooded Crow, learning to fly had used my car roof as a launch pad, hit the window and sat sorrowfully outside my bedroom window cawing for his parents.
Hooded crow and baby
Love them or loath them, and most people loath them, the hooded crow parents were going frantic with worry, trying to get their baby back.
In the end I went outside, picked the baby up and put him on a gate post. Parents and baby were reunited, and what a fuss they made of their baby. Now as I sit here typing, looking across the sea to Mull, the hooded crows sit just outside on the fence, staring in, watching me type.
On Saturday afternoon we were walking along the shore, scrambling over rocks, when suddenly we were set upon by two screeching Oyster Catchers, diving and swooping at us.
Two Oystercatcher chicks hiding beneath the shelf.
"there must be a nest around here" I said, "we had better move away".
Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the reason for the birds' anger, three tiny fluffy chicks were sat beneath the shelf of a rock. Protected only by camouflage the chicks never flinched, not a blink of an eye, they remained exactly where their parents had left them.
OYSTER CATCHER CHICK
The two Oyster Catcher parents followed us until we were safely away from their babies. At one point the daddy bird had to put his brakes on as he landed near to us in such a great hurry.
Over the rocks we climbed and looking out to sea, there in the bay was a mother Basking Shark with her baby. They swam in circles, feeding on plankton, the mother guiding her baby away from the jagged rocks and shallow waters. Two gentle creatures, a mother and baby, such a wonderful sight.
Baby Basking Shark
So on Sunday afternoon, as I put a protective mother's arm around my own baby, in reality, I was just the same as the Oyster Catchers, the Basking Shark and the Hooded Crows.
In very different worlds, we were all just parents,
All protecting our young in any way we could.
WHEN I WAS YOUNG..... Life was....
Posted: Thursday, 12 June 2008 |
When I was young....life was SMASHing,
well, sort of... mmmm
No supermarkets, fast food, frozen food, mobile phones or colour television.
We didn't have a telephone
and would walk to the corner of Ramsden Street
to use the red phone box
We put sixpences in and if you were lucky they fell straight back out
into a little coin box at the bottom.
When I was young
Our house cost a thousand pounds, and
my mam had lovely red hair and she had a washing machine which had a wringer at the top. She always ruined our clothes in the wringer. The arms of our home knit jumpers would come out 10 feet long.
She used a soap powder called OMO, or Tide or Daz
Mam was a good dressmaker and made all the kids' clothes. She could wallpaper but when she ran out of paste she would mix some flour and water and make that do.
When I was young
Mam had a baby, I didn't like the baby
Everyone fussed over this new baby so I threw a pencil at him
The baby cried and I got a clout around the earhole.
Mam fed the dogs on boiled lites.
Sometimes my dad came home drunk from the pub
and ate the Lites for his supper. Mam didn't stop him
and he never knew the difference.
Everynight he would walk home from the pub. Once he fell down an embankment and slept in a field with the cows
One night he fell through a pane glass door
and cut all his neck. We didn't find him until the following morning
He came out of St. James's hospital looking like Frankenstein.
When I was young
My dad got up early and lit the fire
then we would all sit round and toast bread on a long pronged fork
Sometimes the bread would fall off
and we would have to cut the piece off which had soot on it.
Dad liked rabbit stew, he made it out of our pets.
When I was young
Winston Churchill died, but I didn't know who he was
When I asked my eldest sister, she couldn't be bothered to
tell me and just said ... "some old bloke"
When I was young
our tele was black and white and the screen was the size of a loaf
We used to watch
Z Cars and Sunday Night at the London Palladium
Take your Pick
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Daktari
and I love Lucy.
My favourite was Gilligan, he made me laugh
We would all sit there laughing at the screen
I didn't like Dr. Who, the Daleks scared me
Advertisements would come on in the interval
telling us which cigarettes to smoke
Embassy, Consulate Menthol, John Player and woodbines
Mam and dad smoked like chimneys.
When I was young
We had a record player and LP's
sometimes the needle would get clogged up with fluff
and the singing would get slurrier and slurrier, until it stopped
My two big sisters loved to Rock and Roll
They used to Bop in the house
Sometimes when mam and dad were out
they sent us little ones to bed
and sneak boys in. We would sit on the top stairs and
peep through the bannister.
When our mam and dad came home from the pub
we would tell, and they would get a clout.
We had day trips to the seaside
the steam train would take us to Scarborough
and a man from the Working Man's Club would come round
with brown envelopes for each of us.
We were given15 shillings and a bottle of pop and crisps free
The crisps had this little blue bag with salt in it.
Sometimes if you didn't shake the crisps properly
you got a mouthful of salt.
When I was young
We didn't have a car
My dad had a motorbike with a side car on it and we would all squash in
Anyone who had a car was rich
and it didn't matter if you drank beer and drove your car
When I was young
Cars didn't have seatbelts
and there were no black people in my village
apart from two boys who went to my school
Being mean to people who were different
didn't happen in my village
and the women all wore curlers and pinnies
and would stand at their gates gossiping
Babies had towelling nappies
and the washing lines would be filled with billowing nappies
Doctors did home visits
and held surgeries in their front rooms
When I was young
Somebody else's mam was allowed to clout you
if you were cheeky,
and the village bobby was too fat to ride his bike.
We had a family of red squirrels in the tree next
door and this bad boy pinched one of the babies
We played kick out can in the street
and we never went in until it was dark.
When I was young
teachers hit you with a ruler or a cane
You had to take the 11 plus.
Clever kids went to Grammar Schools
Other kids went to a rough school in Castleford.
Mam's groceries were delivered by a boy on a push bike
and we had a butchers, a bakers
and a green grocers in the High Street
Things were weighed in pounds and ounces
and you paid with a ten bob note or half a crown
When I was young
Myra Hindley and Ian Brady killed some children
Lesley Ann Downey was a little girl like me.
Her mam was crying on the tele
and police men walked across Saddleworth Moor
looking for the children. The police men kept prodding
the ground with sticks.
When I was young,
Vivian Nicholson won the football pools and
announced to the world that she would SPEND, SPEND, SPEND
and she did
She moved from a pit village to a big new house
She drove a Pink Cadillac around
the pit village and my dad would wolf whistle at her
Viv Nic had bleached white hair and a beehive
When I was young
Cliff Richards sang Summer Holiday
and Elvis Presley was Crying in the Chapel
Billy Furey went Half way to Paradise"
and the Beatles sang Love, Love me do
and I did, especially Paul Macartney
When I was young
I found my aunties crying
They were staring at the tele
Lots of children had been killed
in Aberfan
A landslide had covered their school
My aunties just cried and cried.
When I was young
My dad would watch Cassius Clay boxing
He would float like a butterfly and sting like a bee
My mam took me to the cinema
and we watched Born Free
It was about Elsa the Lioness
I sat on her knee and had an icecream
When I was young
Someone shot an American President
and the boys at school kept
singing songs about the Vietnam War
I didn't understand
When I was young
men wore large, colourful kipper ties, tank tops and bell bottoms
Girls wore mini skirts and false eyelashes
Everybody was groovy and smoked cigarettes!!
When I was young,
I got a Kaleidiscope for Christmas
It was like a tube and when you turned it
all colourful patterns could be seen
It was like magic.
I had a Panda too, she was called Chi Chi
I got a space hopper for my birthday.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a typical Saturday's viewing from 1965 (24 July)
成人快手1
5.15 Juke Box Jury
5.40 Dr Who: Checkmate
6.05 News, weather
6.15 Cricket
6.35 The 1965 Royal Tournament
7.20 Western
8.50 Summer Comedy Hour
9.55 The Flying Swan
10.40 News
10.50 The Andy Williams Show
11.40 Weather
We liked to watch Westerns, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Rin Tin Tin, and Lassie.
When I was young a gang of robbers stole loads of money from a train
and someone won the World Cup !!
A random, nostalgic look back over...... oh loads and loads of years !!!
Have a good weekend everyone.
xxx
well, sort of... mmmm
No supermarkets, fast food, frozen food, mobile phones or colour television.
We didn't have a telephone
and would walk to the corner of Ramsden Street
to use the red phone box
We put sixpences in and if you were lucky they fell straight back out
into a little coin box at the bottom.
When I was young
Our house cost a thousand pounds, and
my mam had lovely red hair and she had a washing machine which had a wringer at the top. She always ruined our clothes in the wringer. The arms of our home knit jumpers would come out 10 feet long.
She used a soap powder called OMO, or Tide or Daz
Mam was a good dressmaker and made all the kids' clothes. She could wallpaper but when she ran out of paste she would mix some flour and water and make that do.
When I was young
Mam had a baby, I didn't like the baby
Everyone fussed over this new baby so I threw a pencil at him
The baby cried and I got a clout around the earhole.
Mam fed the dogs on boiled lites.
Sometimes my dad came home drunk from the pub
and ate the Lites for his supper. Mam didn't stop him
and he never knew the difference.
Everynight he would walk home from the pub. Once he fell down an embankment and slept in a field with the cows
One night he fell through a pane glass door
and cut all his neck. We didn't find him until the following morning
He came out of St. James's hospital looking like Frankenstein.
When I was young
My dad got up early and lit the fire
then we would all sit round and toast bread on a long pronged fork
Sometimes the bread would fall off
and we would have to cut the piece off which had soot on it.
Dad liked rabbit stew, he made it out of our pets.
When I was young
Winston Churchill died, but I didn't know who he was
When I asked my eldest sister, she couldn't be bothered to
tell me and just said ... "some old bloke"
When I was young
our tele was black and white and the screen was the size of a loaf
We used to watch
Z Cars and Sunday Night at the London Palladium
Take your Pick
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Daktari
and I love Lucy.
My favourite was Gilligan, he made me laugh
We would all sit there laughing at the screen
I didn't like Dr. Who, the Daleks scared me
Advertisements would come on in the interval
telling us which cigarettes to smoke
Embassy, Consulate Menthol, John Player and woodbines
Mam and dad smoked like chimneys.
When I was young
We had a record player and LP's
sometimes the needle would get clogged up with fluff
and the singing would get slurrier and slurrier, until it stopped
My two big sisters loved to Rock and Roll
They used to Bop in the house
Sometimes when mam and dad were out
they sent us little ones to bed
and sneak boys in. We would sit on the top stairs and
peep through the bannister.
When our mam and dad came home from the pub
we would tell, and they would get a clout.
We had day trips to the seaside
the steam train would take us to Scarborough
and a man from the Working Man's Club would come round
with brown envelopes for each of us.
We were given15 shillings and a bottle of pop and crisps free
The crisps had this little blue bag with salt in it.
Sometimes if you didn't shake the crisps properly
you got a mouthful of salt.
When I was young
We didn't have a car
My dad had a motorbike with a side car on it and we would all squash in
Anyone who had a car was rich
and it didn't matter if you drank beer and drove your car
When I was young
Cars didn't have seatbelts
and there were no black people in my village
apart from two boys who went to my school
Being mean to people who were different
didn't happen in my village
and the women all wore curlers and pinnies
and would stand at their gates gossiping
Babies had towelling nappies
and the washing lines would be filled with billowing nappies
Doctors did home visits
and held surgeries in their front rooms
When I was young
Somebody else's mam was allowed to clout you
if you were cheeky,
and the village bobby was too fat to ride his bike.
We had a family of red squirrels in the tree next
door and this bad boy pinched one of the babies
We played kick out can in the street
and we never went in until it was dark.
When I was young
teachers hit you with a ruler or a cane
You had to take the 11 plus.
Clever kids went to Grammar Schools
Other kids went to a rough school in Castleford.
Mam's groceries were delivered by a boy on a push bike
and we had a butchers, a bakers
and a green grocers in the High Street
Things were weighed in pounds and ounces
and you paid with a ten bob note or half a crown
When I was young
Myra Hindley and Ian Brady killed some children
Lesley Ann Downey was a little girl like me.
Her mam was crying on the tele
and police men walked across Saddleworth Moor
looking for the children. The police men kept prodding
the ground with sticks.
When I was young,
Vivian Nicholson won the football pools and
announced to the world that she would SPEND, SPEND, SPEND
and she did
She moved from a pit village to a big new house
She drove a Pink Cadillac around
the pit village and my dad would wolf whistle at her
Viv Nic had bleached white hair and a beehive
When I was young
Cliff Richards sang Summer Holiday
and Elvis Presley was Crying in the Chapel
Billy Furey went Half way to Paradise"
and the Beatles sang Love, Love me do
and I did, especially Paul Macartney
When I was young
I found my aunties crying
They were staring at the tele
Lots of children had been killed
in Aberfan
A landslide had covered their school
My aunties just cried and cried.
When I was young
My dad would watch Cassius Clay boxing
He would float like a butterfly and sting like a bee
My mam took me to the cinema
and we watched Born Free
It was about Elsa the Lioness
I sat on her knee and had an icecream
When I was young
Someone shot an American President
and the boys at school kept
singing songs about the Vietnam War
I didn't understand
When I was young
men wore large, colourful kipper ties, tank tops and bell bottoms
Girls wore mini skirts and false eyelashes
Everybody was groovy and smoked cigarettes!!
When I was young,
I got a Kaleidiscope for Christmas
It was like a tube and when you turned it
all colourful patterns could be seen
It was like magic.
I had a Panda too, she was called Chi Chi
I got a space hopper for my birthday.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a typical Saturday's viewing from 1965 (24 July)
成人快手1
5.15 Juke Box Jury
5.40 Dr Who: Checkmate
6.05 News, weather
6.15 Cricket
6.35 The 1965 Royal Tournament
7.20 Western
8.50 Summer Comedy Hour
9.55 The Flying Swan
10.40 News
10.50 The Andy Williams Show
11.40 Weather
We liked to watch Westerns, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Rin Tin Tin, and Lassie.
When I was young a gang of robbers stole loads of money from a train
and someone won the World Cup !!
A random, nostalgic look back over...... oh loads and loads of years !!!
Have a good weekend everyone.
xxx
IF ONLY, A CRUEL CHOICE, BUT TIME IS A GREAT HEALER, ISN'T IT?
Posted: Wednesday, 25 June 2008 |
Regrets? Making the right decision
Making the wrong decision,
Taking the wrong call,
Being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Is life down to just the Role of the Dice
or does fate really take a hand?
Life, as we know, holds many twists and turns,
happiness and sadness, love and laughter
loss and grief.
Regrets? yes I've had a few, but then again too few to mention.
If only's? Oh yes, my friends, I've had more than my fair share of them..
Fate? Yes, well, okay, fate has intervened in my life on several occasions.
Wrong decisions? eeeerrrrr, enough said about that FOR NOW...
We all have choices to make, decisions to take, but sometimes our life is changed forever and we are left with nothing but soul searching, regrets and the need to turn back the clock....
IF ONLY THIS
IF ONLY THAT
IF, IF, IF, IF
Forever, we will berate ourselves with...
IF ONLY....
In the news recently has been the tragic story of my former tutor, Ian Clayton, a TV presenter, writer and poet. Ian also gave his time to teaching creative writing, which is how I got to know him.
A very talented man, who shared his talents with many people always inspiring and encouraging. A man full of laughter, fun, interesting stories and anecdotes. Ian loved life, he loved music, especially the late, great jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
Ian was immensely proud of his two children, nine year old twins, a boy, Edward and a little girl who he named after his idol, Billie Holiday. They frequently appeared on television with Ian and these two beautiful children were his and his partner Heather's greatest joy.
However, one fateful day....
Ian took his 9 year old twins on an adventure, canoeing on the River Wye in Wales.
The idyllic family outing over the Easter school break turned to tragedy when
they took a wrong turn in the river. Suddenly the water became extremely fast flowing and the canoe collided with a tree and capsized.
Ian and his twins were thrown into the icy waters of the Wye and suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the fast-moving river.
All were wearing life jackets, yet when Bille was thrown from the canoe, she was caught in the rapids and become submerged.
A snap decision had to be taken
An agonising choice
Which child should Ian choose?
Could he save one child, could he save both
or did he run the risk of losing both?
Ian rescued his son who was desperately clinging to the branches of a tree in the river.
Billie was nowhere to be seen.
An horrendous situation for any parent.
A cruel choice....
Edward who was alive and clinging to a tree,
But should he leave Edward and swim for Billie?
Ian could save Edward by dragging him to the bank, the child clung desperately to Ian's neck, almost strangling him, but pleading,
"please save my sister"..
Billie and Edward's mother was waiting on the banks of the river for her children and Ian to return.
Billie never returned.
Ian rescued Edward, went back into the water for Billie, but despite his own frantic search efforts he could find no sign of her.
It was only when rescuers arrived on the scene later that her lifeless body was pulled from the water. She was airlifted to Hereford Hospital and pronounced dead.
At the inquest into Billie's death, Ian wept, grief stricken, saying...
"Did I make the right decision?, I suppose I will never know...
It鈥檚 difficult to tell you how much we miss Billie. People tell you that time is a great healer and it鈥檚 not"
Life, eh?
Full of choices, decisions,
wrong turns,
right turns
being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
and so many IF ONLY'S
Billie Holiday Clayton.
The school holidays begin this weekend,
All across Britain, from Scottish Lochs to Cumbrian Lakes
East Coast, South Coast, West Coast and the far North
children will be playing on the water, in the water, having fun, the time of their lives.
Building sand castles, jumping into rivers, fishing, sailing
doing the things that children do in the long hot days of summer.
Some will get into mischief, most children do...
but
I hope and pray that this summer, no other parent, including myself, has to visit the hospital and say those words....
IF ONLY...
Making the wrong decision,
Taking the wrong call,
Being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Is life down to just the Role of the Dice
or does fate really take a hand?
Life, as we know, holds many twists and turns,
happiness and sadness, love and laughter
loss and grief.
Regrets? yes I've had a few, but then again too few to mention.
If only's? Oh yes, my friends, I've had more than my fair share of them..
Fate? Yes, well, okay, fate has intervened in my life on several occasions.
Wrong decisions? eeeerrrrr, enough said about that FOR NOW...
We all have choices to make, decisions to take, but sometimes our life is changed forever and we are left with nothing but soul searching, regrets and the need to turn back the clock....
IF ONLY THIS
IF ONLY THAT
IF, IF, IF, IF
Forever, we will berate ourselves with...
IF ONLY....
In the news recently has been the tragic story of my former tutor, Ian Clayton, a TV presenter, writer and poet. Ian also gave his time to teaching creative writing, which is how I got to know him.
A very talented man, who shared his talents with many people always inspiring and encouraging. A man full of laughter, fun, interesting stories and anecdotes. Ian loved life, he loved music, especially the late, great jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
Ian was immensely proud of his two children, nine year old twins, a boy, Edward and a little girl who he named after his idol, Billie Holiday. They frequently appeared on television with Ian and these two beautiful children were his and his partner Heather's greatest joy.
However, one fateful day....
Ian took his 9 year old twins on an adventure, canoeing on the River Wye in Wales.
The idyllic family outing over the Easter school break turned to tragedy when
they took a wrong turn in the river. Suddenly the water became extremely fast flowing and the canoe collided with a tree and capsized.
Ian and his twins were thrown into the icy waters of the Wye and suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the fast-moving river.
All were wearing life jackets, yet when Bille was thrown from the canoe, she was caught in the rapids and become submerged.
A snap decision had to be taken
An agonising choice
Which child should Ian choose?
Could he save one child, could he save both
or did he run the risk of losing both?
Ian rescued his son who was desperately clinging to the branches of a tree in the river.
Billie was nowhere to be seen.
An horrendous situation for any parent.
A cruel choice....
Edward who was alive and clinging to a tree,
But should he leave Edward and swim for Billie?
Ian could save Edward by dragging him to the bank, the child clung desperately to Ian's neck, almost strangling him, but pleading,
"please save my sister"..
Billie and Edward's mother was waiting on the banks of the river for her children and Ian to return.
Billie never returned.
Ian rescued Edward, went back into the water for Billie, but despite his own frantic search efforts he could find no sign of her.
It was only when rescuers arrived on the scene later that her lifeless body was pulled from the water. She was airlifted to Hereford Hospital and pronounced dead.
At the inquest into Billie's death, Ian wept, grief stricken, saying...
"Did I make the right decision?, I suppose I will never know...
It鈥檚 difficult to tell you how much we miss Billie. People tell you that time is a great healer and it鈥檚 not"
Life, eh?
Full of choices, decisions,
wrong turns,
right turns
being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
and so many IF ONLY'S
Billie Holiday Clayton.
The school holidays begin this weekend,
All across Britain, from Scottish Lochs to Cumbrian Lakes
East Coast, South Coast, West Coast and the far North
children will be playing on the water, in the water, having fun, the time of their lives.
Building sand castles, jumping into rivers, fishing, sailing
doing the things that children do in the long hot days of summer.
Some will get into mischief, most children do...
but
I hope and pray that this summer, no other parent, including myself, has to visit the hospital and say those words....
IF ONLY...
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