Mary stood in her kitchen admiring the white flowers on her huge mock orange.She looked down at the floor where half a tin of instant coffee she had spilled had become a large black mark.She tried mopping it with her squeegee mop after pouring some floor cleaner onto the mark.Alas, this did not work much
Mary was lost in wonder at the chemicals in coffee which make it more intractable to remove.She was once more lost in dreams and thoughts as she had been so many years ago giving lectures on Relatativistic Quantum Fairies.
The back door opened and in dashed Annie ,her neighbour.
Dressed today in purple and mauve, she was the picture of ripe female seductiveness achieved by artifice and art.Her mauvey grey eye shadow was bought on line from “Images of Wigan and West Mersea” a well known source of startling new colours for women’s faces.
Her smokey pink lipstick was glued to her lips by a special formula known only in the Wigan factory.Even nail varnish remover did not get it off so Annie made sure it was what she needed…. along with her 48 hour antiperspirant from Boots and her Channel 9 perfume which came with her new television set.
In fact, that was why she had bought the television.She already had 5 of them in her home so she was never without the chance to watch some Palestinians enjoying themselves on a sandy beach by the lovely wire Fence which divided them from their former homes in Israel provided free by the government or on HP for those who wanted to contribute
Now and then one might see an ambulance.Possibly, like Mary’s mother did in New Brighton in 1948 ,someone had stepped on a piece of broken glass and the paramedics always enjoyed a trip to the sandy picnic spot.It was too far for Dave to go from Knittingham.He was also following on TV to learn new methods of treatment
A Palestinian nurse/paramedic was always there ecquipped with her sewing box to stitch people up right where they were, enjoying their day out without a care in the world.
Now and then one was targeted by some loon nearby who had somehow got hold of a gun and some wonderful butterfly bullets so much safer than plastic ones.Still even butterflies cause storms.
We all need some risk in our life.Otherwise we would get terribly bored or if Spanish, gored.Even in the USA, there are often accidents like this or much worse.It is a real part of their culture unlike Britain, the calmest country in the West apart from a few teenage boys stabbing each other and a few more committing suicide for no valid reason.Not to mention a woman killed once a fortnight by her male partner
Mary got out a brillo pad and tried to scrape the marks off the kitchen floor.Annie found a wire wool scourer and they bent over scrubbing away as women always have loved to do after breast feeding their husbands and smacking the baby.Or is that the other way round? Or both?
Now it’s time for tea.Let’s ring 999 and ask for Dave to help out.Emile will do it with his paw if he is not asleep in a pan on a low heat.Luckily he can’t get inside the kettle yet
Aethelflaed: The warrior queen who broke the glass ceiling
By Greig WatsonBBC News
12 June 2018
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionAethelflaed not only ruled skilfully but might even have led her armies into battle
How does a ruler defeat bloodthirsty invaders, secure a kingdom and lay the foundations for England – and then almost get written out of history? Be a woman, that’s how. Exactly 1,100 years after her death Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, is emerging from the shadows.
Born into a tooth-and-nail war for survival against Viking invaders, Aethelflaed, daughter of Alfred the Great, grew up in a realm teetering on the brink of disaster.
In 878 the royal family was forced to flee to the swamps of Somerset – just months before Alfred turned the tables and won a stunning victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Edington.
Married at 16 to Aethelred, Lord of Mercia, Aethelflaed’s new lands were the front line as an uneasy and fitful peace came to a fiery end with Alfred’s death in 899.
Image captionThe British Isles had been split by waves of invasion into rival kingdoms
Dr Clare Downham, from the University of Liverpool, said: “She must have had quite a force of personality to overcome the assumptions of her time.
“It is a mark of her success in male-dominated times she was accepted as a ruler and achieved incredible – even unique – things.”
My alarm went off early so I gave the clock a beta blocker.Next time I’ll give it an overdose
I didn’t want to get up today but,on the other hand,I didn’t want to be down
I threw my clock at the wall and it hit my neighbour on the bed
I use my phone as an alarm.Well it already is.
I keep reading the News to see when we leave Europe.I am worried we have no anchors strong enough.Still, the Atlantic is very blue.And so am I
I don’t know why I want to read poetry on my Android Device.Some incompatibility of genres.
My Windows phone is always a day behind with email.That’s why I love it.
If I don’t answer the phone please don’t leave a message as hearing them often offends.
Like borrowing my hairdryer? I will sell it for £24 free to first arrival
My hair is so short I look like I’ve had chemo.Solidarity is the game
My sunscreen is full of chemicals and so am I.
What is a chemical? Don’t go there
I have to go up stairs even when there are none.I have a ladder in my tights
What does a father do
when his children are orphans and he
is still alive? What will a father do
when his children have died and he becomes
a bereaved father for all eternity?
“To his adversaries Kimmerling was a tendentious polemicist who let ideological bias overrule academic sobriety and gave succour to Israel’s foes. Yet he called himself a patriot, and while decrying the “monstrous practices of Zionism” he valued Israel’s “islands of marvellous humanism and creativity”. He feared that a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine dilemma would just cause further Balkanisation and bloodshed in the Middle East, and he opposed boycotts of Israeli universities.
Kimmerling lectured for nearly 40 years at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also held a chair at Toronto University, and compiled textbooks for Israel’s Open University. All his life he suffered the effects of childhood cerebral palsy. He was repeatedly hospitalised, had extreme difficulty speaking and spent his last three decades in a wheelchair. Despite his ailments, he enjoyed attending conferences and mentoring students. He wrote nine books, hundreds of essays and numerous newspaper articles.”
The silence seems more friendly than before
It’s like a melody felt in my ear
This love has taken from me, my own fear
When silence was an omen with dark door
The flowers and all of nature, I adore
Gone are paranoia and its seers.
The silence seems more friendly than before
It’s like sweet silent music to my ear
I am drawn to love you more and more.
Hypnotic like the sun on Windermere
A misty air arising as we peer
The silence is more friendly than before
Good Queen Bess
Felt a bit of regret
As she beheaded her cousin
And another few dozen.
Queen Mary burned
Heretics spurned
So was Jesus pleased
As they crackled and wheezed.
Burning our foes
Brings further woes.
The Hanoverians were brought in
As being Catholic was a sin
Claimants to the throne
Have had life postponed.
Queen Victoria had sex
When dear Albert was vexed
So she provoked him each day
As she sure liked to play.
Their children ruled Europe
Until no one could endure it
The Kaiser made war
And irritated the Tsar.
Empires laid waste
Jews were deemed base.
These studious good folk
Later sent up in smoke.
God read the signs
And black was his mind.
Jesus loved sinners
So are the Nazis the winners?
It’s bloody confusin’
And negates amusin’
Original sin
Can we even try again?
Between the world and how we represent
The nameless by a name and even place,
There is a space or void in our intent.
What mother saw, what father really meant
How love and hate might intertwine in space?
In our own world, what can we represent?
In writing, there is lack and letters bent
For ancient writing often scholars traced
There is a space or void in our intent.
Today the sun is golden, gods descend.
With love, for moments, we are all embraced
Of the felt, what can we represent?
Our willingness unblinds the heart so rent
And then we see the face within his face
The space or void lights for this sacrament
I cross my eyes with fingers interlaced:
The crucifix, the love, the death of Christ
Between the world and what we may attempt
There is a space or void where he was sent.
From August 2017 to April 2018, China Labor Watch dispatched several investigators into Hengyang Foxconn, a factory that predominantly manufactures products for Amazon. CLW’s investigation revealed a number of rights violations at the Hengyang Foxconn factory, which manufactures Amazon’s Kindle, Echo Dots and tablets. This is CLW’s first investigation into an Amazon supplier factory.
The investigation revealed that dispatch workers made up more than 40% of the workforce, a clear violation of the legally mandated 10%. Furthermore, the working conditions between dispatch workers and regular workers were markedly different despite working the same positions.
Whilst regular workers receive five days of training, dispatch workers only receive eight hours of training, which is well below the legal stipulation of 24 hours of pre-job safety training. Dispatch workers are also required to pay the physical examination fees, whereas some regular workers reported not having to pay any fees for the physical examination.
In addition, sick leave is unpaid for dispatch workers, and they are regularly sent on leave during the factory’s off season. During this time, they do not receive any wages. Dispatch workers also do not receive any social insurance, nor are contributions made to their housing provident fund. According to the Interim Provisions on Labor Dispatch, dispatch workers are to be registered for social insurance and employers are to make social insurance contributions.
Regular workers are also paid overtime wages, however, dispatch workers earn 14.5 RMB/hour ($2.26 USD) and are paid the same rate for normal hours and overtime hours. The hourly rate includes an attendance bonus, and workers who take more than two days off or are late more than twice a month would receive wages calculated by a 13.5 RMB/hour ($2.11 USD) standard for the month.
When the windows shattered
And the splinters flew in
He just made for the back door
And left me
not knowing where to begin.
When the shards of glass hit me
And pierced my vulnerable skin
He was already going
Leaving me
feeling he was an inhuman being.
When I fell down covered in glass and bleeding,
And the storm raged on,
I didn’t look round because
I knew,I knew,I knew,
I knew he would be gone.
Gone.
Suddenly peace came,storm had quite
disappeared..
It was all over so quickly
Not as terrible as I feared.
My wounds were bad,I have to confess.
I had no bandage
Nothing with which to dress.
With an old towel I cleaned my blood
Then I lay me down
Just to have a rest.
Since that day,no storms come this way.
My wounds are healing
I have just one thing to say.
When the storm was so bad
He left me all alone…
but strangely since then
all is peace and calm.
His absence has become
almost a balm.
But I hear stories of fierce storms rising up
In towns and villages
Not too far from here, where a wandering man appears.
Seems like he’s running to get away
From some storm
But the storm’s inside him…
He gives it form
So when the windows crashed in
And glass flew at my face
left me all alone
In what, he thought,
was a very dangerous place.
Did he not pick me up
and carry me outside?
No,my daughter, he left me alone;
I might have died.
But since then
I lost a great burden…
And I lost a great feeling of shame.
Rise up,you women,bleeding and torn.
For on days like this,a new resolve is born.
While you live don’t accept all the blame.
Don’t live so long as I did,in fear and in shame.
Rise up and find that calm
In the eye of the storm…
On days like this
a new woman is born.
We are little leaves upon the tree
We never did control our tiny worlds
The tree of life; what power, what mystery
With metaphor,it’s easier to see
Life is tender,see each leaf unfurl
We are only leaves upon the tree
Singing in the sun we seem to be
Full of joy until the storm winds swirl
The tree of life;what power, what mystery
Extinguished candles smoke at Tenebrae
We are blown to death, however bold
We are little leaves upon the tree
Wee sacrifice to God uncertainly
As the wars continue,we grow cold
The tree of life;what power, what mystery
Who has dropped us from the hands that hold?
Who has stolen certainty untold?
We are less than leaves upon the tree
The tree of life;what power, what mystery
The “word laundry” is very busy now:
The “non involved,” the children “used as shields”
Creating euphemisms and bloody how!
Certain words we cannot yet allow
Tampax,blood and women who, paid, yield
The word laundry is very busy now
With a tiger’s cruelty we’re endowed
You should have seen the rows of” disappeared”
We’re using euphemisms,it’s bloody you.
Relationships are more than winning rows
We saw the soldiers lying in the fields
The word laundry is sadly busy now
The sheep and goats will give you bible’s clues
The politicians lied, contempt revealed
We’re using euphemisms and Oh,God, how
In our minds we keep some facts concealed
Yet self deception greys our days unreal
Your “word laundry” is hyper-busy now:
Creating euphemisms like ” blood is dew.
We were so poor we six children had to eat our dinner off a cricket bat.
Well,it made you good at grammar!Us six had to eat off a cricket!
Did the cricket mind?
Yes,it hated being licked.
What a shame!
What a catastrophe.
Just think,we have no English crickets now.
We just have foreign crickets.
How can you tell?
They speak Dutch!
What do they say?
Festina lente.
That’s not Dutch?
Well,we had a Dutch priest in the fifties and he used to say,
Adveniat Regnum tuam;festina lente.
Your Kingdom should have come but the Mail has been privatised.
That’s English.
I know.Strange is it not?
Who are you?Prince William of Orange
Don’t be that way.I talk proper because I passed the 11 plus.
I’d have thought it’d be the other way round?
You seem quite bright.
I belong to Mensa.
I don’t see what sex has to do with it….
I left my tart in Canned Fran’s Disco.
That was an error.
No,I was right.They had no cream.
Do you ever eat off a bat now?
No,it’s not hygienic;we eat off the Times.
After you have read it?
Oh, we never read it!
Why buy it?
It makes us feel superior.
Why not get some China?
Why is it called china?
I suppose that’s what was on the map when they looked.
That’s ridiculous.
I know.I agree.
I mean,you are ridiculous.
Some people like to insult others when they are in a bad mood
I can do it in a good mood.
You are balmy
Bedankt!
I mean barmy!
Off with ihre briefke!
Now he speaks French.
I want a letter!.
A French letter?
No,a Greek letter.
Here you are… it’s an apple pi.
Is it natural?
Ask Euclid!
He’s dead.
No he’s in a Platonic realm
Making Platonic love?
I am sure he could make a Teutonic love!
Why so?
His tongue is enchanted.His lips are fluorescent.
How about his nose?
It’s quite perfect.
And his eyes?
Like cat’s eyes in winter,glowing and amber.
Have you got his phone number?
Yes,it 4478733333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333…………..
It’s irrational.
Don’t tell him,he thinks it’s infinite.
Aleph null?
Is that your phone number?Where is aleph on a phone
Je ne sais Aleph Faux pas.
That is the end of
Thoughts at play for today
Queen Matte Hilda… our new lipstick created in our factories in Wigan and Paris,In three colours, Pink fantasy,Red Rose and Purple Death.And who liked it?
Ask the husband?
Richard felt lust
Richard, she beckoned?
Richard ,I’m bared, she murmured
That’s bad grammar, he replied
For God’s sake Richard, is grammar more important than love?
So Lacan thinks.
Who is Mr. Lacan?
He’s dead.
So why bother what he thinks?
Well, how about Jesus, he’s dead too,in the human sense.St Paul is dead as well but people still read his letters!
They won’t read mine.
You have not written any.
That’s why
I can’t even remember what a pen is
That’s what they all say
I’m writing to you now as I had no time at Xmas with Mary wanting shopping and Emile having measles again.Since then life has calmed down a little.We had a party last week which went well,I believe though,don’t tell anyone,I had my mistress here doing the drinks!I know I’m 98 but I still love women.
Mary has been a good wife but she’s not glamorous enough for me.She wears a twinset and flowered skirt from Artigiano but she will have pen clipped to the front neck, her mobile in her 46H bra and a pair of pliers hanging from her belt and as well as that her nails are rough.
What puzzles me is, and again,keep this secret, when we married she was as flat as a pancake yet she’s now got a front like the prow of a ship.
I guess the ample cleavage is appealing to some men but I prefer skinny women…She blames me as she never ate until we married and she got the Jewish Cookery Book…God knows why as she was a Catholic then [but they have no cookbook].This book has everything,cheesecakes,sponge cakes,puddings,meat loaves and we have eaten all of it.
I wonder why I am still thin and she is so fat when she rides a bike to work and I drive the car….scientists don’t seem to know.
Still,I have my mistress who is quite slender and Mary seems to be elsewhere mentally…She reads Philosophy in bed.Is it my fault?I am so old I can’t change… but can she?I don’t mind her doing maths but I wish she wore a pearl satin nightie with lace all over it and some perfume… she smells of bike oil and Algipan heat rub.No wonder we never have any sex life now
.Do you think maybe I should wear a nightie like that and see how she reacts?Have you ever done anything like that?We could have a chat on the phone.It’s not so much the sex,it’s the cuddling I like and whispering in her ears.Too late as she probably is reading a manual for her camera and checking the screwdrivers and the files.
She has even stolen my camera…nary a word.
Still,there we go…life is hard.Emile had a very bad bout of measles and I kept him in for 3 weeks resting in a box.I wonder if he will catch chickenpox,I find him a worry though he is funny too and can swim!He is very rare.
I fear owing to the cat etc I have no real news.But I’d love to hear yours and remember,don’t tell anybody what I have confided in you.I hope we can meet in the Spring time
Till then,keep well.
Adios amigo
Your friend
Stan
ps I must tell you about Satan next time,you won’t believe it
The reply
Dear Stan
I am answering your letter immediately as I am very irate about your behaviour.
Muriel ran away with an artist but it was all above board; we had none of this deception.Can’t you speak to Mary?She seems quite charming to me.And your fantasies of wearing silk nightdresses seem odd in a man of your age…By all means try it if it will help your marriage.Will Mary wear her tigerprint house dress?I loved it.In fact I’ve been in love with Mary for many years but backed off on moral grounds but if you are consorting with Satan and this female neighbour,I feel I ought to help poor Mary…if you divorce her.. let me know!
Why does she carry pliers in her belt?Is she afraid of being attacked?As for her size,she does have a severe thryroid problem and that can play havoc with the weight.
Most men would be delighted to be engulfed in her delightful bosom and to kiss her plump yet elegant neck and to embrace her with love and passion.
Apart from Xmas,the old dog Gip died and Sally has had twins so Muriel is up from St Ives.I miss her but no longer so painfully and we want to be there for Sally and Ben.He’s only two and Malcolm travels so Ben will be quite hard hit by the twins coming.
So I see myself being a helping grandad doing manly things with him.I’ll soon have him changing fuses and backing up his laptop.I may even show him how to make plum wine in the autumn.Sally is breastfeading Jill and Milly so she’ll get tired out.
Has your Lyra never got married?That would occupy you.Emile is sweet but he is in fact just a cat.
Can you not go to the pub like other men?Play darts or gamble,smoke cigars and discuss politics…
Leave that neighbour alone or I shall swoop down to protect Mary like a giant owl on LSD.I’ll kill you.
We had a roast goose for Xmas.It’s now recovered as it was only half cooked and I’ve dug a pond for it.I am mating it in the spring,I hope.. where do I buy a female goose?I am fond of goslings
Now,just heed my words or I shall be very irate
Your old friend and moral adviser
But I could become an enemy
Ron.
The Jewish Cantors in Montreal on Leonard Cohen’s last album make a sound very like plainsong which is sung by Catholic monks here and elsewhere.
Such close links,such sad experiences
Waxy flowers poking through
Snow so white
Flowers bright.
Made me think of you.
I see once more your dark brown hair,
Soft as snow,
On pillow.
Now my bed is bleak and bare
,
Face alight,flower to sun,
I loved you.
Love so true.
Fear by love,overcome.
Cyclamen in the snow,
Pink and red,
Now frozen,dead.
Love was,oh,so long ago.
But never gone from in my mind.
Thoughts so deep,
Upwards seep.
Love was gentle,love was kind
And always in my mind
Tributes paid to 95-year-old ‘shining light’ who tended to a dying Anne Frank and survived Nazi death camps Gena Turgel married an English soldier who was one of the first to enter Belsen.Her wedding dress was made from a British parachute.
“Holocaust survivors have warned of a “splintering of social cohesion” in the UK that could lead to a repeat of the darkest days of fascist Germany, as they endorsed plans for a national Holocaust memorial in Westminster.
Three survivors, who were children when the Nazis embarked on a programme of genocide against Jewish people and are among the dwindling number of living witnesses, said the memorial would send a powerful message to future generations. “Germany yesterday could so easily become Britain tomorrow,” one said.
Peter Lantos, who lost 22 members of his family in the Holocaust, said: “We are the last generation to bear witness. When we die, no one can say ‘I was there’ …
“It’s important for the centre to be more than a record and testimony of the past. It is also a stark and powerful reminder, and warning to a future generation [of] what can happen when xenophobia and intolerance can lead to genocide.””
“Samuel and his mother had left their family in Kinshasa in March 2016 to seek treatment for a tumour on her neck and for a lung condition the boy had.
After travelling to Algeria and spending eight months in Morocco, they climbed into a small inflatable boat on 12 January 2017, hoping to reach Europe. The boat never made it. A fortnight after Samuel’s body was discovered, Nzazi’s was found on a beach in Algeria.”
As news of their deaths emerged, a local NGO tore into the EU for shutting Europe up “like a fortress”, keeping out those fleeing war, hunger, misery and exploitation.
Samuel and his mother who had cancer drowned trying to reach Spain or another European countrry
.The little boy’s body washed up on a Spanish beach but it was not publicised whereas 2 years ago a similar case went viral
Made with Microsoft Paint
And here are Pandora’s socks, Professor Smith, quipped,as the female student in the front row fell asleep whilst sitting upright in a large armchair.
And I also have Achilles’ heel here.
Now for your project, I want you all to say Three Hail Mary’s.
A large bee stung my bum and I awoke and coughed up my soul onto the bed.
Get back inside, I cried.Keep me whole,give me oil,keep me churning.
Alright ,she muttered calmly.Don’t lose your head.
I have it well screwed on, I responded.Unless I need a bayonet?
This is a surprise to see you.
Well, since Pandora lost her socks all the souls have been getting loose from their bodies.Women…why do they lose their socks so much?
After that,the doctor called.
Hi, he screamed.
For God’s sake, don’t do that, I shouted
I’m not dead you know..even though my blood pressure is zero.He smiled and handed me a blood sugar monitor.
Here you are,this will cure your pneumonia.
What about my new mania?
What is that?
I am interested in spirals…
Keep it under control.
The whole point of mania is to be out of control Try for a sort of controlled uncontrol,then.my dear, he murmured.
What a clever idea, I told him.Goodbye
I swallowed the test kit and it cured the pneumonia immediately
But I have a pain in my insides
I’ll ring 999 when I get up
I can’t be bothered with the doctor and the receptionist
I can say I have chest pain.That will do the trick
On the other hand if the monitor has to get out of me,maybe I’d better stay in the bathroom
Almost every day this week
I read someone has killed theirself
in the USA
UK
Elsewhere
Like the sister of the Dutch Queen
Well known successful, total failure,whatever
The suicide rate is rising in the USA
Homicide down by 50%
But we are turning the hate inwards
Some of us suffer chemotherapy,surgery
Blindness,road accidents which cripple
Yet we fight to live.
Where is the sense?
Is it the horrors of the Wars
The Trump success
Brexit civil war in England?
Have we killed what seems worthwhile?
Are we in jobs with low pay
Surrounded by luxury goods
Or food we can’t afford for our children
Piled high in the shops we must go to?
Have we lost all connection to the Sacred?
Nature is dying
Cuckoo numbers of those living in England have declined by 75%
What next, the lark?
Are we unable to see in perspective?
Ot is it just a chemical lacking in our brains?
So sad to read these stories
Yet I know mental health is not prioritised
Apart from the shame, the labelling and the lowering of self confidence
Let’s help each other and ourselves.
It is not the answer
Life can become worthwhile once more
If we are patient
Mary stood in her kitchen admiring the white flowers on her huge mock orange.She looked down at the floor where half a tin of instant coffee she had spilled had become a large black mark.She tried mopping it with her squeegee mop after pouring some floor cleaner onto the mark.Alas, this did not work much
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Phote EL copyright 2018
Made with Microsoft Paint
How my heart sings 