Tag Archives: friendship

“Ghosts of Chechnya” By Jenny Ensor

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My acquaintance, Jenny Ensor, is looking for funding to turn her novel, “Ghosts Of Chechnya” in to an ebook. The synopsis on Jenny’s Unbound page reads as follows:

“Ghosts of Chechnya explores love and friendship, and the impact of war and terrorism on our lives. Georgie, a young London woman who’s been deeply hurt
in the past, tells the story. It begins in London in early 2005, the year of the bus and Tube bombings.

Georgie meets Russian former conscript soldier Nikolai in a pub after she is uplifted by the impromptu music he plays. Nikolai, newly arrived from Russia,
dreams of becoming a composer but for now survives as a low-waged casual worker.

Julian, a close friend of Georgie’s, admits he loves her and warns her to keep away from the Russian. But despite the concerns of both her father and Julian,
Georgie can’t resist Nikolai. He tells her of his experiences while serving in the Russian army, and seems haunted by a Chechen woman who showed him a
simple act of kindness, blaming himself for her death.

Georgie guesses that Nikolai is hiding something from her. She wonders if he will ever heal from the psychological wounds that war has inflicted. His music
– and their increasing closeness – seem to be the only things that keep him going.

Then London is shaken by terrorism. In the emerging climate of fear, Georgie’s father condemns Nikolai; Georgie must ask herself who the Russian really
is. Also, how well does she really know Julian, who can’t seem to let her go? As a net of shadowy threats tightens, Georgie must find out who she can trust
and who she should fear, before it’s too late.

This gripping, debate-provoking novel asks at how well we can ever know anyone; it also deals with reconciliation, forgiveness and the folly and suffering
of war. I strongly believe in this project and hope very much that you will decide to offer your support”.
For Jenny’s Unbound page please visit https://unbound.co.uk/books/ghosts-of-chechnya.

The Old Familiar Faces By Charles Lamb

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It is sometimes remarked by those who do not care for poetry that it is difficult to understand. However this certainly can not be said of the below poem, “The Old Familiar Faces” by the poet, Charles Lamb.

 

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The Old Familiar Faces By Chaarles Lamb

 

 

I have had playmates, I have had companions,

In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days,

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

I have been laughing, I have been carousing,

Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies,

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

I loved a love once, fairest among women;

Closed are her doors on me, I must not see her —

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man;

Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly;

Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces.

Ghost-like, I paced round the haunts of my childhood.

Earth seemed a desert I was bound to traverse,

Seeking to find the old familiar faces.

Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother,

Why wert not thou born in my father’s dwelling?

So might we talk of the old familiar faces —

How some they have died, and some they have left me,

And some are taken from me; all are departed;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

Wolf

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My fairy wolf, your ears so floppy and soft. I stroke them. Your eyes slowly droop, little noises of contentment. A tail thumps.

I cease momentarily. Bump, bump – your big Labrador head knocks my hand

“Please, more” you say in your own so unique way.

My big hairy wolf, there is no past or future for you, just this moment, the strokes, you and I dog and master together on this spring day.

Emotional Investment Or Negative Transaction: A Guest Post By Emma Tomlinson

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Thank you to Emma Tomlinson for the below guest post. For Emma’s blog please visit https://creative5word.wordpress.com/ and for Emma’s previous guest post on newauthoronline.com please click here, http://newauthoronline.com/2014/11/24/primal-a-guest-post-by-emma-tomlinson/.

 

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Emotional Investment or Negative Transaction?

 

 

image

 

http://louishonca.tumblr.com

 

A bit of deepness for the day…

 

How much do we invest in things and people and how much do we see in our returns?

 

When we pay for goods with our money, we expect to see material evidence of this transaction or indeed a memorable experience to file away. But what if

we made a transaction and checked our account to see a big fat zero?

I’m sure many of us would be seeking clarification and feeling rather cheated.

 

Yet, we invest in everything in life to varied degrees and we don’t always receive the booty.

 

How many times have you emotionally invested and been left with a big bag of nothing and perceived injustice?

But we continue to do this.

 

Why?

 

Emotional investment is indeed a gamble. We automatically invest in our families and reap the benefits from support mechanisms and security but what about

when we invest in friendship and relationships?

 

What do we do if the cheque continues to bounce??

 

Do we feel justified in seeking clarification and interest on our emotional transaction? Is it a weakness or a strength to expect a credit statement? To

expect to see our emotional interest rates increasing?

 

Personally I seek this from my significant other. I expect my balance to remain in credit and I believe that this theory works both ways. I do expect a

return in friendships and to see a mutual healthy transaction taking place. We attend our jobs and expect a salary in return. We invest our time in our

passions and reap the positive emotions. We gain knowledge and gain personal achievement and development. So are we allowing ourselves to be ‘ripped off’?

 

Self-awareness and integrity is an important part of sustaining a good ‘credit’ history. To enable a healthy profit, we also need to remain vigilant and

consider the ratio of risk to healthy investment. Financially… we do. Emotionally and psychologically we often don’t.

 

How many times do we support friends and give to others only to feel unappreciated and disappointed?

 

A satisfactory transaction is a two way process and we need to keep our expectations high. Who wants faulty and non – returnable goods? If we expect less,

surely we will receive less.

 

The link to our psyche is surprising yet logical. Our psychological interpretation impacts on our emotional stance and how we perceive our external world.

This affects the value we put onto ourselves.

 

Make every transaction worthwhile… or simply ask for a refund.

 

The mind of a deep thinker…or complete rubbish…it is all down to interpretation and perception…

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The Power Of The Dog Kipling

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I remember losing my previous guide dog, a golden lab/retriever called Drew, in March 2011. She was well in the morning but, come evening she started to pass blood and a day later my friend was dead. I recollect coming across the below poem shortly after Drew died and whenever I read it I’m overcome with emotion. This poem will, I believe resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost a dog. They are so, so much more than mere animals.

 

The Power of the Dog

 

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THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way

From men and women to fill our day;

And when we are certain of sorrow in store,

Why do we always arrange for more?

Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware

Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

 

Buy a pup and your money will buy

Love unflinching that cannot lie

Perfect passion and worship fed

By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.

Nevertheless it is hardly fair

To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

 

When the fourteen years which Nature permits

Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,

And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs

To lethal chambers or loaded guns,

Then you will find – it’s your own affair, –

But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.

 

When the body that lived at your single will,

With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!),

When the spirit that answered your every mood

Is gone – wherever it goes – for good,

You will discover how much you care,

And will give your heart to a dog to tear!

 

We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,

When it comes to burying Christian clay.

Our loves are not given, but only lent,

At compound interest of cent per cent,

Though it is not always the case, I believe,

That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve;

For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,

A short-time loan is as bad as a long –

So why in – Heaven (before we are there)

Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

What If?

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The scents of a summer garden carried on a gentle breeze. I stand at the open window intoxicated desiring life and you.

You the unattainable, reclining carelessly, your soft brown skin an instrument of torture. To look but not to touch, perpetually suspended in the state of friendship. What if I should express what lies within? What then?The death of friendship, the crushing of my dreams or, just possibly something else. Perhaps it is Better to live in suspended animation the words forever just on the tip of my tongue. Where I to speak my words like bombs would explode shattering forever this world of dreams.

No Problem

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I am, as those of you who follow this blog will know registered blind. As a consequence of my blindness I require sighted assistance to locate products while shopping.

Erlier this evening I popped into a supermarket and soon obtained help, however the assistance offered was so bizarre that I feel compelled to put fingers to keyboard and write about it. My conversation with the young lady went something like this

Me “Can I have a litre of fresh milk please, the one with the blue top?”

My assistant, “Absolutely, no problem”.

Me, “Can I have Tropicana orange juice please?”

My assistant, “Absolutely, no problem”.

My shopping “experience” (see I have all the right buzz words) continued in precisely the same manner until I, in a fit of merriment felt compelled to ask

“Do you say anything other than “absolutely, no problem?””

My companion responded with

“Sometimes I say cool” (I am not making this up I promise you)!

I asked if my companion spoke in the same manner when conversing with her friends, to which she replied that she was “a gamer” and this is how gamers interact with one another.

At the end of my “customer experience” I couldn’t resist saying with a smile that when I next encountered my companion I would call her “absolutely, no problem” to which she responded without a hint of irony that this was fine.

I feel that I’ve gone down the rabbit hole to join Alice in Wonderland and to be frank I don’t know whether it is me or my companion of earlier this evening who is the mad hatter!

I must confess to knowing virtually nothing about gaming, however if the pastime produces people who are unable to communicate other than by churning out meaningless phrases then we are, as one of the leading personalities in Dad’s Army says “all doomed”!

On a serious point excessive exposure to gaming or any other similar activity can not be conducive to the development of fully rounded persons. All things in moderation say I.

 

Kevin

Into Temptation

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“You only live once” the girl said.

“Indeed we do” her companion replied smiling.

Should he allow this beautiful young lady to do something so intimate and potentially fraught with danger? If things went as he (and she) hoped they would then mutual satisfaction would be the result. A sense of fulfilment would flood his being and the girl would smile with delight at having made another man happy. The man would boast to his jealous friends about the wonders of this talented girl. They would, in return seek to avail themselves of the lady’s services. Even were he to allow the girl to perform this most private and embarrassing of services for him he wasn’t sure whether he could, on second thoughts  confide in even his most trusted friends. Even if he withheld the shocking secret from his dearest friends they would, undoubtedly notice something different about him which would give the game away. The smug smile on his face would act as a clue that he had given into that urge which oft afflicts men of a certain age and to compound the offence that he had done so with a girl young enough to be his daughter. Would allowing a lady of more mature years to minister to his intimate requirements be more acceptable? Perhaps so but the man wasn’t being tempted by a lady of his own age, he was being seduced by a gorgeous 20-year-old into doing something which he new, in his heart of hearts he might well bitterly regret. Never the less the man was tempted. What Could possibly be the harm? They were both adults. No doubt tongues would wag but let people gossip it was after all entirely a matter for himself as to whether he should give into temptation and allow the girl to ever so softly and with the greatest of care … dye his hair