Summerabbacat

Congratulations are in order for @Superpride, debuting at #1 in the 'The Top 10 Most Read Romance' for the last month. An ABBA song seems warranted in honour of this auspicious occasion. The song I have chosen is lyrically not suited to this honour, but the title is very apropos. The song is not taken from The Visitors, it was the lead single from Super Trouper, and deservedly a world wide hit, including a top 10 placing in the USA, therefore you may know this one @Tris.

And one of her very best songs and videos @Tris is Experiment IV with an all-star cast of well known and not-so-well known British actors. Fantastic video.

Watch the video too. There are two official videos, one in which she is wearing a flowing red dress. She is a unique talent. Other huge hits in Australia and/or the UK have been Babooshka, The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Hammer Horror, Cloudbusting, The Sensual World, Sat In Your Lap and Wow.

Hugely popular in the UK and Australia but not at all in the US until 2022 when her 1985 hit Running Up That Hill became a massive hit in the UK and Australia again (#1 in both) and in the US too (#3). Sometimes compared to David Bowie as she is also English, has always written all her own songs (both lyrics and music), plays piano and various synthesisers, has produced all of her own albums bar the first three and rarely writes what would be classified as a "conventional" pop song. Her first song which was a hit was Wuthering Heights, #1 in both the UK and Australia for many weeks. She has only released 4 albums in the last 30 years so she is not prolific. Spectacularly talented.

The Visitors was a huge hit in the UK but not so in Australia I am ashamed to say. It is an album that with each listen I hear something I have not heard before. I have it on black vinyl (it was a full digital recording), CD and deluxe CD with extra bonus tracks the CD does not have plus a DVD. It is my favourite album from the 1980's and has not dated at all. Both couples were divorced by the time it was recorded which may be why on the album cover they all appear so "disconnected" from each other. I highly recommend listening to it on Youtube music @Tris even though the quality is not great. Were you exposed to Kate Bush at all when you resided in the UK?

Thommo and Dumfuck. Two drunk dickheads out for a night of fun "poofter bashing". One can only hope they are so drunk, and quite possibly stoned too, that they will be as sluggish physically as what they are intellectually. In a small town like Thompsonville in 1975 Jake would likely find no assistance from the local police either, in fact they would be more likely to join in the "poofter bashing" than stop the thugs. Such behaviour still existed in Sydney well into the 1980's too as has been unsurprisingly revealed in recent years. I hope Jake emerges unscathed so that he can confess his true feelings to Danny as it is almost certain those feelings will be reciprocated. In fact, maybe Jake can telepath Danny a SOS to come to his Tropical Loveland and help him. Mamma Mia, what has this boy got himself into @Mark Ponyboy Peters. Will it be Bye Bye Baby for Jake or So Long for Thommo and Dumfuck? #1 for 10 weeks and rightfully so. Fucking brilliant. Do you think Bjorn is "hot" in this clip @Tris? I have to say I have never thought either man attractive, but in hindsight Benny is kind of cute in this clip. And admire the close ups, no photoshopping, airbrushing, collagen, dermal fillers, botox or skin bleaching, and not a "ho" or "motherfucker" in sight. Halcyon days indeed.

Now you are just being mean @Cane23. This is just so unlike you. I am usually the "nasty" unreasonable one.

“Todd…I know I haven’t been the best father, hell, you can ignore me after this is all over, but please, for your brother, can you come here and be with him. I…”. An understatement, but one which should have been and was welcomed by Todd nevertheless. Perhaps Daddy dearest's belligerence may be distilled somewhat at least by the realisation that life is too short to live so rigidly by the alleged edicts of a magic man in the sky. @Cane23's comment "If there is something good of this, I believe heart attack is going to be turning point for everybody" is exactly what I thought as I read the unfolding scene in the hospital waiting room. Anthony, not even 30 yet, has a clogged artery which has led to a heart attack. I hope he heeds the warning and at least reduces the burger and pizza intake and starts eating some vegetables, dare I even suggest some plant-based protein like Barrett has encouraged him to eat. Dillon's revelation he is going to tell his mother that Todd was his "fake boyfriend" did not come as a surprise as I believe he is basically a very kind and honest person. I also have to agree with both @Cane23 and @drpaladin that Barrett's ignoring Todd for 2 weeks was somewhat excessive. I think it also reveals he is not as calm, collected and confident as he appeared to be. He is vulnerable too, particularly so because a gay relationship is new to him. I do hope that given the death of both Barrett's parents and now the death scare with Anthony, that Daddy dearest at least attempts to welcome Barrett as a partner for Todd. He may never be president of his local chapter of PFLAG, but a little acceptance of both Todd and now Barrett could make such a huge difference to three lives. And the ABBA song for this chapter just has to be the epic title track from The Visitors @Tris. Jenny, Dillon and Todd were visiting Jenny and Dillon's family for her birthday and now the trio, together with Barrett and Daddy dearest are visiting Anthony in hospital. It is a sublime track @Tris with Frida once again singing lead. A very well written and believably suspenseful chapter @Superpride.

"Cocky son of a bitch, aren't you?" "Call it that if you want. Nobody can hurt me. I'll be released due to old age when I’m close to a hundred years old." I wonder who or what Ned will be "released" from when he is close to 100 years of age. Is he some kind of one-man vigilante squad using Prentiss aka Laughs to gain access to those he or whomever he works for deem deserving of elimination. If it his intention to travel to those nations he is seeking to secure contracts for Laughs in, he should find no shortage of evil to eliminate. Mind you, he could stay at home in the good old USA and find plenty more to eliminate. My mind wandered when reading this chapter @Lee Wilson. For some reason, which I have not been able to fathom, I started to think of The KLF and their song Justified And Ancient featuring the glorious vocals of Tammy Wynette. I had a thought maybe Ned works for the Ancients of Mu Mu, but the question is can he drive an ice cream van or catch the Last Train To Trancentral (and I have not been smoking any of the wacky stuff).

Ned "Clark Kent Carrie" Blatty. He appears to have some paranormal ability which put paid to the annoying bully Mark Dent. “It does. That is tremendous. Perhaps we may tarry at each other’s homes often.” It appears Ned may have also travelled through time from another century or alternate universe. I don't think I have ever heard the word tarry spoken, but I was familiar with it so I must have seen it in print before. Shakespeare maybe. Intriguing start to this story @Lee Wilson. The Taft children could certainly have used a friend like Ned. Imagine what he could have done to spermie and the incubator. Linda Blair's head-spinning and green vomiting possessed Regan may have seemed mild in comparison.

I speculated Barrett's mother may be dead, and unfortunately I was right. To make matters worse Barrett learned his father is dead too. Barrett's lack of memories of his father due to the fact he was a truck driver who was often not at home. What a dreadfully sad conclusion to Barrett's quest for a reconciliation with his mother, whom I hope Barrett comes to realise believed she was doing the best for him by giving him up for adoption. This devastation may sorely test Barrett's growing relationship with Todd; both will require patience and understanding to deal with Barrett's loss. Superbly written chapter @Superpride, in fact, one of the very best to date. Such emotion with words used sparingly to devastating effect. @Tris I believe the song I have chosen by ABBA, again from the masterpiece, The Visitors, well suits the mood Barrett will find himself in. The song is like no other in their catalogue, with Frida's vocal so hauntingly beautiful and restrained. I hope you like it as much as I always have. May I suggest you have a tissue, handkerchief or sleeve nearby before you listen to it. It is a real tearjerker.

I am not at all partial to facial hair as a general rule @Tris, but must agree with you that it suits Bjorn, to the extent I find him somewhat handsome with a beard. My hair has gone basically white too and when I don't shave for more than a few days (which has become far more common since I started WFH) my facial hair is almost white. Not TMI for me.

I am afraid they do. He is standing to the right of Frida behind a chair and Benny is seated to his right.

Danny's snappy retort to Nate is bound to get Nate thinking, particularly if the behaviour is repeated. I think Nate will take it all in his stride though. He is an earlier vintage Ben, albeit a couple of years younger in this story than Ben in Song For Guy. "Shut up!’ Danny scolded Nate, while giving him a shove sideways. ‘At least yours is covered over . . . or do you want me to tell Jake how far up it reached when it was rubbing against my back? Hey, maybe he could paint the tip of it peeping out over my shoulder between us?" Hilarious @Mark Ponyboy Peters. If Nate was so generously hung he could have had a future in porn, straight, gay or otherwise. The money will burn a hole in the boys' pockets. I hope they don't give any inkling to Pat and/or Thomas as to how the acquired the money. Such knowledge in the hands of those two could be very dangerous, whether by design or by accident.

But speculation is part of the fun. I speculate Barrett has either received news his biological mother does not want to meet him or she is dead and the woman who has been seen shopping nearby is her sister. Another possibility is that he too has been given his marching orders and is now without a job (I think this is less likely though). I suppose Todd had been skating on thin ice but I was a little disappointed his boss fired him. Could he not have issued him with a warning? Todd certainly showed great courage and integrity in admitting to his boss what he had done. I think what Damien has been doing is far more damaging to the "bottom line" than what Todd has done. This chapter was a challenge to select an appropriate ABBA song @Tris. Lyrically nothing really covered the scenes played out, so I have selected one based on its title only. The B-side of the superb One Of Us from that masterpiece album, The Visitors, yet again. And that album cover, glorious.

I think she knows too @Cane23 and whilst she may not approve, her desire for her son to be happy may be more important to her than her "social standing" or some other such artificial construct. She may have played the dutiful wife to the successful husband for so long she has forgotten who she really is. Then again, she may be the horror I thought she would be.

Edward, he who photographed Brian and Gordon's "nudes", made another welcome appearance and delighted Morrie. Preston the model was somewhat haughty and gave advice, freely and very directly. "I might have seen him." "The Father?" "No Gordon." "You met him?" "Saw him. He was having coffee off the Cathedral Green. A month or so back, I was taking the twins to a party, no chance to say anything." "Did he see you?" "Most likely." His Mother clearly had more questions, but they didn't have the vocabulary to talk about things like that. For once, Ralph was thankful for his family's inhibitions. He didn't want to be asked and would not want to lie. "Are you planning to see him?" Maybe I am seeing something which is way off the mark because I want it to be so for Ralph's sake, but his mother's comment about seeing Gordon again, particularly the last comment in bold, did not strike me as quite as frosty and hostile as I expected. Might she have some empathy for her son and his "real" feelings? I was surprised @Robert Hugill that Ralph's mother did not appear as disagreeable as I thought she would. Perhaps the real "mother" has not yet bared her fangs/claws. The six degrees of separation is getting smaller too with Ralph coming into contact with Edward. Methinks Brian and/or Gordon very well may end up modelling for Morrie and this will be Ralph's reintroduction to Gordon and a chance to make amends, which he has expressed a desire to do on a number of occasions now.

Calvin "donned his scarlet Aussie Bum briefs". He has better taste in underwear than in men, although Alan improved marginally in this chapter. He opened up a little more and conceded some intimacy with Calvin has been surprisingly pleasant.

OMG @Mattyboy "misplaced her heart" as a euphemism for Todd's mother had an affair and he resulted from that affair. You could well be onto something with this train of thought.

I seem to recall their was "talk" at the time that this song was a little risqué by ABBA's standards.

Wholesome "athletic" thoughts @Tris, however, you forgot that Todd "returned the favour", although @Superpride did not provide full disclosure on Todd's return performance. One could almost say @Superpride must have been listening to Bjorn's vocal contribution from the spectacular The Visitors album.

As a father yourself @Cane23 perhaps you might have a word in his ear, offer him some sage advice.

The story of Barrett's biological mother is now becoming quite intriguing. If she is in fact living nearby I wonder if she has been "following" how Barrett's life has been progressing from some vantage point. Todd and Barrett are forming a strong friendship, each providing comfort to the other when needed. This bodes well for their relationship as a whole as I believe Daddy dearest is going to cause them problems when he learns of their relationship status. Given friendship was a strong theme in this chapter @TrisI suggest the following magisterial ABBA song is apropos.

Physically no, not yet. However, I think he has emotionally. I thought the comment he made that Todd's mother's heart was misplaced was cruel even for him. I don't think he could have said anything much more hurtful than that. He is so self-righteous though that I don't believe it even enters his head that he may be hurting others.

He did say "screw you" which surprised me. I also think Todd is just so weary having to constantly try to "prove" himself to Daddy dearest and always being founded wanting. He may also have made an extra-special effort on this occasion to please both Anthony and moreso, Barrett. Whatever his motivation it made no difference as Daddy dearest is a lost cause.