The summer weighs us down with sullen heat
Even cats and dogs sit still as stones
Gone are early flowers with fragrance sweet
The summer weighs us down with sullen heat
The hot flagstones return my angry beat
As people scurry by, ears to their phones.
The summer weighs us down with sullen heat
Even cats and dogs sit still as stones
Stan was in the dining room looking for an aged briefcase with his autobiography in it while Emile sat on an old TV set in the window looking at the birds.Mary was in the garden wearing an ancient yet trendy denim dress planting some trailing rosemary,lavender and sage in a small bed near the French window..She had decided that her salvation lay in the soil though what form it would take was not yet clear ;suddenly she heard a harsh cry.It was her neighbor telling off his dog,Emmanuel.Come,now ,he shouted.
Hail,Mary,he called.Can you spare a big potato?
Probably,she muttered peevishly without looking up.
I am making sausage boulangere, he informed her.But I use turkey sausages as I am a Jewish Hindu semi vegetarian.
I am not interested in religion,she told him kindly.I believe one can worship God ,if there is one, somewhere like a wood.
I like being on a group ,he told her thoughtlessly..
Well ,go and be in one she said naughtily.Do you like sex in a group?I am a mathematician and we study rings and groups but only in symbols as maths is like life with all the sensuality removed,if you catch my meaning,she ended artlessly.
Stan appeared at the door.I have just made the tea ,.he called.Hi Brian, how are you?i Why are you wearing a dress today?Are you changing gender?
No,said Brian,I am a mere transvestite especially in the summer.You should try on a dress,they are more comfy in the heat!
Well,maybe I will said Stan with utter sang froid.But it makes more ironing…
hey all sat down at the kitchen table and ate some delicious scones San had just baked and also they drank PG tips tea with milk and sugar as that is what the English most like to do apart from getting drunk.
Where is that lady Annie who lives next to you,asked Brian pensively..I like her bright clothes and her vivid lipstick.Is she single,he enquired in a faux naive manner.Well, perhaps but she is my mistress, said Stan defensively.Aha,aha,laughed Brian as he eyed the shrunken old man.
Now then,said Mary,leave him alone.He is like a magnet,women flock to him..
Now don’t exaggerate,Stan said shyly.I’ve not had that many.
I see said Brian.I’d love to hear more….. you’ll have to come to the pub and tell me the details.
Not flamin’ likely,thought Stan. ,as he examined his cracked leather briefcase with real brass buckles,backstraps and front pocket, a bargain at £3 and ten shillings in 1949.Hurry as not many are left.
All of a sudden ,he fell off his chair which broke into fragments..Brian was awed.I’ve never seen a chair break up like that he cried.
Well,ring 999 said Mary, a paramedic can fix it
S
I went into a coffee shop and the waitress said,
Are you still here?
I looked round all the tables and I couldn’t see myself
So I said,No!
Fear of the proletariat spreads Through the hearts and minds of the other class
They can’t understand folk who seem inarticulate because they didn’t do Greats at Oxford
They don’t understand body language, can’t see generosity
Can they not see anxiety in the children unable to play
The iPad taking their toys away
And their eyes grow more short-sighted every day
But noone has noticed. The children must be kept occupied because the adults cannot deal with them. To see your child afraid and hungry and even ashamed because they can’t have a new school uniform in September
Do children really have to have iPads what about aspirin instead that would save a lot of money?
Why do you only think of climbing height yourself and not think about those you’re kicking away with your feet?
And if you are upwardly mobile doesn’t that mean someone else has got to be down downwardly mobile? Unless there are more jobs available at that level but how likely is that now?
How many people the top are willing to be downwardly?
You might save your face and save appearances but you won’t save as people clinging on with their fingernails but I know you will kick them you will walk on their hand, will break their fingers with your feet and you won’t notice you will just find the pavement’s a bit rough over here
No you were only obeying orders although they were you’re orders that you were giving to yourself.
We can all deceive ourselves.
But since Freud we know it’s possible but do we think about it?
0 talk talk talk as much as you like because nobody is listening
https://www.gransnet.com/food/lemon-drizzle-cake-recipe
If you have a cupboard full of flour and lemons and butteraje Sunday special with a homemade cake.
If you have a lot of dried fruit in your cupboard then make a fruit cake. Make it as rich as you can because a rich fruit cake will last for a very long time if you keep it in a tin
I apologise to people who can’t afford to buy dried fruit
If you do find that you have a lot of dried fruit in your cupboard why don’t you give some of it to your local food bank because it’s good with cereal and milk because it contains iron and so you’ll be able to help other people and their children to have a better breakfast.
Everybody is worried except the very rich. Worried about coping with the financial problems that many people are going to have since the prices energy is so high and inflation is is in 2 figures.
We can’t deny if it is normal to feel anxious when living in such a situation. Anxiety has a purpose. Its purpose is to prepare you you to do something to improve your situation.
When you have done all that you can about your finances the anxiety is no longer serving a purpose.
The anxiety itself can then be the problem. How many ways of coping with anxiety are there? The most basic ones looking after the body eating as well as possible, resting when it’s sensible even if you can’t sleep. Some people like to listen to music or an audiobook
Going for walks and looking at flowers and trees is helpful
But what if nothing seems to help you? If you were living in Germany in 1945 and you I knew that was a Soviet army advancing there was no point rrying to learb progressive muscular relaxation.
There may be a few choices like leaving the towns and going into the woods or forest to hide but if you had no food you would starve. There is not a lot that anyone could do do in circumstances like that.
Then when the war ended the world discovered the concentration camps where 6 million Jewish people had beeb killed.
That situation was so terrible we can’t compare it with the problem is we are havinf my paying for electricity or gas
Up to recently the government has not seemed to care about people living in poverty. Even in a rich country like Britain there are always people living in poverty. The minimum wage is too low benefits are too low.
For the better off there are still worries but probably not so bad. A rich person will feel very angry if they can’t go abroad for holiday. They may even feel depressed.
But one thing we have all noticed in the last few painful years is that one section of society such as the wealthy have no idea what it’s like to live on a very very low income where you can’t afford to buy a children’s school uniform in September nor give them enough food that they need.
I think it’s easier for the poor to imagine what it’s like to be rich. You don’t have to worry about food or energy bills. You can go on holiday as often as you want to to.stay.in very nice hotels
Even rich people I have concerns one of them might be what is the meaning of life
Will your life be more fulfilling if you have an extension built so that you can have a large kitchen with all all the equipment you would like?
No you will have more worries.unless you are really rich because heating your large extension will be expensive and it’s going to be double what you thought in the winter
When I was a child only one room in the house had a fire. We couldn’t go to our shared ir own bedroom and watch our own television because it was too cold and we didn’t actually have a television but those who did could argue about which programme to watch because it was only one television in the living room at the most
That saves you a lot of money but it can be difficult and leave you with no space to be private
Life is more expensive now because even small children have their own phones and tablets or teenagers expect to be well-dressed and feel really bad and they’re not even if it just means buying a top for £5 in the market
In a consumer society people must keep buying things to keep the economy growing
How many temptations to spend money do you come across in a day? Probably hundreds and it’s hard to resist especially when when there are some things that you would really really love to have like a new winter coat even though your old one is still ok but you are just tired of it
There are people who don’t have winter coats and they are unlikely to have a car.
Tlikely to be more crime now. Burglary shoplifting theft.
It is not a sin to steal food if your children are hungry and you have no money but even though if it’s not a sin in the eyes of God it is still a crime according to the law and you might end up in prison.
All we can do is try to protect ourselves from theft and robbery and any other petty crimes. We can’t always plan ahead because we don’t know quite what is going to happen but we’re going to do our best
Having good friends or acquaintances helps in most situations. And they may tell you you when they sink you are are going wrong in some way.
I suggest that it might be a good idea to limit or complaining especially if we are not in the bottom 25% of society.
So you can’t eat out or go on holiday?
Is your life so bad that you can’t be happy without a lot of extra
Complaining can become a religion
Don’t try to be more religious than everybody else m
F
If you fall try to stay calm. Take time to assess the situation as it can take a few minutes to feel pain from injuries. What you do next will depend on if you’re hurt and whether or not you’re able to get up without help.
If you already have a falls plan, try to follow it if you can.
The first thing you need to do after a fall is work out if you’re hurt. Take a few minutes to check your body for any pain or injuries, then:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/10/auden-age-anxiety-leonard-bernstein
It is in “September 1st, 1939” that we first glimpse the setting for what would become “The Age of Anxiety”:
Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play . . .
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.
At the outset of “The Age of Anxiety”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/learning/how-does-your-body-react-to-stress.html
In “Your Body Knows You’re Burned Out,” Melinda Wenner Moyer writes about work-related stress, but everything she says can apply to the lives of students as well. She talks to Jeanette M. Bennett, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, about the physical effects:
Stress can have wear and tear effects on the body, especially when it doesn’t ease up after a while — so it makes sense that it can incite physical symptoms, too, Dr. Bennett said. When people are under stress, their bodies undergo changes that include making higher than normal levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine. These changes are helpful in the short term — they give us the energy to power through difficult situations — but over time, they start harming the body.
Our bodies were “not designed
Down the lonely pathways of the heart
Unimagined pain is waiting here
The widowed wander silently at night
As the teeth of dread will clearly bite
The cold grim clutch of death feels just like fear
Down the lonely pathways of the heart
Those who come together one day part
Shadows and reflections haunt with jeers
The widowed wander silently all night
Out of mind but not yet out of sight
Widow’s dressed in grey shed many tears
Down the too fraught pathways of the heart
While we grieve our mind makes up new charts
Longing for the dawn to dry the tears
The widows have no purpose in the nigh
Would we had some destiny more clear
Could we find another love so dear?
0b all the lonely pathways of the heart
The desolate wander seeking peace in flight
The Tower of Babel was fillef with bibles
Ceremoniously written by the great rivals
What will be the name of this literary game ?
Everything must have its own kind of Frame.
Burning books is just the start you see
The synagogues the next then you and me
For if we did not help the Jews survive
What right do we have to our own life?
If God had been sensible who would have dictated The Bible to the English as that would have avoided as reading a Bible which has been translated through several other languages such as Aramaic Greek Hebrew Latin one after the other so there’s no way it can be exactly what it was in the the first version ml
Elijah didn’t speak English. He didn’t call the voice of god
The still small voice
That version is one possible translation of what was thought at the time.
My soul my mind my heart are tender friends
I’ll leave my brain behind me at the end.
Fly again tonight Sara
You’ll soon be free on this life pain.
And winter will not come again.
Fly again, fly again Sara.
We can suffer mentally when we think what we have done.
Oh to be a psychopath, for they have all the fun
A touch of mania brings great joy till you lose your credit cards.
Be grateful it’s an illness with symptoms painful, hard
Are you feeling anxious because you’re worried about your job?
You might be a failure but you can still bring love
Say good morning to the old as they shuffle down the street
We like to be acknowledged as we reach the last defeat
Dear teacher, John will be late for school because he has got no mind today
I have borrowed it because I have lost Annette
Dear sir my son will not be coming to school till lunchtime because I can’t afford to give him any breakfast.
We can see lectures from there university of the third age on our phones while we share a raw onion Mary
0h dear,teacher Johnny is bringing my mind into school today . Please don’t let him lose it whatever you Sara
Dear teacher, Mary is menstruating today so do not give her a piece of your mind.
She is always in the back of mine and I intend to keep it that way but you can give her some free protection before she comes Lucy
Dear sir or madam, my offspring will be late coming to school today. They can’t decide whether they need breakfast M y mind is in state of torment I can say the same thing for my body since I got anorexia Dave
Where did you find your minds this morning? Were they on your book or were you enjoying some fantasies?
It doesn’t matter as long as you have a mind of your Katherine.
To the teacher
My children will be late for school today because they have driven me out of my mind and I have no petrol to drive back.
I hope you don’t mind as they are so privileged children in the class. Remind me soon
Ian
Dear madam it is on to have my children taught by you. Would you mind if I asked you out on a date because I have got no figs in the house. Tom
Do you think you’re mentally ill
0 you want a doctor to give you a pill
There are no obvious signs
On the back of your mind
I recommend writing your will
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5353517/
Arguing in The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct that they are merely ‘indirect forms of communication’,1 Thomas Szasz posited that so-called mental illnesses cannot legitimately be categorised as diseases. This launched an argument that Szasz would elaborate over the course of a prolific writing career that spanned more than 50 years. Szasz repudiated psychiatry’s misappropriation of concepts such as ‘illness’, which he took to be relevant to medicine and its ‘physicalist framework’2 but not to matters of mind and human conduct. In The Myth of Mental Illness,1 after arguing that virtually any entity can have a counterfeit version, Szasz articulated his views with characteristic iconoclasm, contending that only physical illnesses are real and that mental diseases are ‘counterfeit and metaphorical illnesses’ (p. 34). Illnesses are understood, according to Szasz,3 with respect to deviation from a norm, and in the case of physical illness the norm refers to the structural or functional integrity of the body or some aspect of it. But the norm – deviation from which results in so-called mental illness – is altogether more problematic for Szasz; this
But the norm – deviation from which results in so-called mental illness – is altogether more problematic for Szasz; this norm is a ‘psychosocial and ethical one’.3 With this as the case, first, the search for a medical remedy seems poorly justified, and second, the points where diagnostic lines are drawn are bound, according to Szasz, to be somewhat arbitrary.
Szasz did not deny that humans have difficulties but he preferred to conceptualise them not as mental illnesses or as diseases, but as ‘problems in living’.1 Nor did he deny psychiatrists a role in assisting individuals with problems. Psychiatrists could have a legitimate role to play but the ideal relationship between psychiatrist and patient, for Szasz, should be based on consensual contract rather than coercion. Second, the psychiatrist cannot justifiably claim that only he
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/02/opinion/letters/grief-mental-disorder.html
I’m sure many people have suffered from bereavement even when they are quite young. Maybe when you are still working and you have colleagues and friends it helps you to overcome the grief. But what about how long we are allowed to grieve before we are told we are mentally ill if we have not recovered in 6 months or here
And can you recover from grief? Depends on the person and how long have you known them;if you were married for 40 years then it will take a long time to build a new life.
I don’t think you recover from grief but if you are fortunate you can learn to live with it.
It’s more painful when people close to you criticise you and say you should be over it.
Surely it’s not a moral evil to grieve for longer than some people expect you to
Nor is it sadistic. We are not wilfully inflicting pain on those around us because we can’t hide the sadness in our hearts
Why can’t we accept sorrow is a valid part of life?
I wonder if it’s hard nowadays to believe that other people are as real as we are and the way that they are feeling is not aimed at making us uncomfortable this is simply a natural condition of life at certain times. It is we who are being sadistic when we criticise people for being sad
https://wikidiff.com/malice/envy
Evil comes in hardest times
So hard to fight with my rhymes
Withheld tears may swell the throat and heart.
Journeying into grief without a chart
Swollen eyes make vision tender blurred
Worst of all is when it can’t be shared l
Oh lonely grief a sword will pierce the heart
Take me in your arms and let tears start
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/science/11tierney.html
Traditionally, envy is linked with the eyes,” Dr. Smith said, noting that the word comes from the Latin “invidere,” which mean to look at with malice, or cast an “evil eye.” Just as an invidious comparison is by definition bad, so is envy defined by some psychological researchers to be inherently malign.
