Marty

Although it was written with a certain amount of tongue in cheek, it's true to say that it does actually hold a certain amount of truth in my own case. Thanks for commenting, Gary.

Cheers, Gary! And that very essential economy of words can make them difficult to pull off effectively at times.

Thanks, Val! I love them, too.

Lou, Frank, John, Chris, Jim... Why is it I always fall For friends that are straight?

Thanks, Gary. You look after yourself. It can be hard these days to feel positive. But I at least feel positive that we shall eventually get through the current darkness. And there can perhaps be something good to come out of having the strength to be able to admit our own weakness.

Gerry and the Pacemakers star Gerry Marsden dies aged 78 https://www.thejournal.ie/gerry-marsden-death-youll-never-walk-alone-5315216-Jan2021/

Another year gone A new one in front of us... Will anything change?

I occasionally try my hand at writing haiku. I'm not claiming that any of it is really all that good. And some haiku purists might even claim that I don't always follow the rules of haiku correctly. Indeed some of my attempts could be more correctly classified as senryu, rather than haiku. Be all that as it may, I shall add my individual attempts over the next while. Some have been written many years ago. Others will be more recent. As the occasional offering may be somewhat dark in nature, I shall give the collection a rating of Mature. I will give individual chapter warnings where necessary

Be very careful what you wish for, bro...

Greetings, young Albert!

Very easy at this time of year. I wondered why my alarm didn’t go off this morning and then remembered it is Saturday A couple of Mondays back I had promised to give a lift to a friend of mine to pick up a car he had bought. He lives about half an hour's drive from me, and I had arranged to pick him up at 11:00am. For some reason, I missed my alarm and didn't wake up till about 10:20. So I quickly dressed and dashed outside to the car, deciding to forego breakfast (even coffee!). About ten minutes into the drive I started getting confused as to why the station I was listening to on the car radio wasn't airing its usual weekday morning programme. It was then that I realised it was actually Sunday, and not Monday...

Sorry I couldn't find one that had your name spelled correctly....

(By the way, I'm referring to the word "human" - not the word "only" )

Interesting piece by It's a Sin screenwriter, Russell T Davies, in today's Guardian, which looks back on his memories of the emergence of AIDS back in the early1980's, and why he decided to eventually write this series: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jan/03/russell-t-davies-i-looked-away-for-years-finally-i-have-put-aids-at-the-centre-of-a-drama Opening lines: There are things I can’t say here. Men I dare not name. The first man I ever had sex with. A man I loved for three months in 1988. That hilarious friend I spent a mad week with in Glasgow. All of them dead, now. And they all died of Aids. But I can’t say their names because their families said they died of cancer or pneumonia. And they maintain that story to this day. Even now, I’ve had to change a few details in those opening sentences, just in case. The stigma and fear of Aids was so great that a family could go through the funeral, the wake and then decades of mourning without saying what really happened.

Bhliain nua sásta ó Éirinn, Tim

I almost forgot what day it is. Day of the week, that is. Here's week 40 of my challenge to take and upload a new black-and-white photograph each week for 52 weeks: It was taken this morning. As you can see, we had a small amount of snow fall overnight.

Happy new year, Page!

Greetings, Drew!

Greetings, young Albert!

And you, bro! And many of them.

I was going to make the same comment Is it your birthday the day after tomorrow as well, ma fée?

He'd probably squeal like a stuck pig...

Bold? Yes. Unexpected? From you, definitely not!

Sleep well, bro! I've a Victoria sandwich to bake for friend's birthday tomorrow.