A Letter From The Past

I had occasion to visit Facebook two weeks ago; something I try and avoid most of the time, and there was a message for me. With interest I clicked on it and it turned out to be from an old friend that used to date one of my best mates. We were good mates for years ourselves and so I figured it was a hello.

Nope.

Some fifteen years ago my mate died of Meningitis on the first of January 1998, it was a shock to say the least. We were young and it was indeed a terrible time. We drifted out of touch with many people from that time and so when she told me she had a letter to me, from him, written just before he died, I was pretty confused.

Why was I confused? Well it wasn't why the letter was still with her. He had gone very suddenly, in fact he fell sick New Years Eve and was dead the next day at five O clock pm. I didn't know it was anything serious till I was phoned at work (my local cinema) and was told he'd died by a distraught Mary. So she held on to anything she could, makes sense. He was a stoker on a British naval ship and the letter was just in his locker, the one she collected after the funeral. It all went into a box because facing that world breaking reality was more than she could bear.

That box was left in her attic, waiting, finally she came to clearing some stuff and found 'that' box. She opened it and there were probably some tears, and then she found the letter.

A letter she offered to pass on to me.

I picked up the letter yesterday. I had a great chat with her and she is doing great! Life is good, things are moving for her and we laughed like old times. I promised to bring some of the kids in to see her and I left feeling lifted, the letter burning a hole in my pocket.

I got home and left it for a few hours, then finally, I opened it. What was in the letter? He said hi, said he felt like crap and that he was soon going to be at sea and in a new section and so was hoping I'd write to him? It was a funny feeling, knowing these were the last words I'd ever read that were truly, genuinely his. I didn't weep or perhaps feel robbed of the time we could have had and the general life we could have enjoyed together. I felt sad and yet happy, gloriously, wonderfully happy, because I was blessed enough to have been given a last chance to chat.

That's what I decided to do. Just simply chat, and write the first letter I should have written to him. I'll try to write it now, say what's been up and down. It may not make sense to you, but it's here...


Dude,

     Man, I got your letter! Cheers for writing dude. Been an age and you've been watching anyway but I figured ...


No, that's not right. Sorry. Allow me to try again.


Blue,

     Been an age and I figure as you had written to me, so I should write to you. So it's been fifteen years, a long time right? Totally. Sooo much has happened! You know when we chatted about how crazy it was I was a dad? Now I'm a dad seven times over! It's mental! Mary's great and we really are this brilliant big family unit that rocks about the place.

     Looking at how things are now I can't imagine how we used to knock about so free and easy, but I don't miss those days you know? We were into everything and it got pretty odd sometimes, always people around, always something to smoke or drink, always someone to chat to, laugh with or take the piss out of. It was great, but it's not me now. Now I'm quieter, I chose my words a little better, I'm older, but I hope I still have that spark of fun!

     We talked about what I was going to do right? Well I did talk about writing and yeah, it took me a long, long time. I started in 2002. I found a lot of barriers, became aware that I was so far away from being where I wanted to be that I put it down again. I was a house husband for five years, did a whole load of crappy jobs and came out the other end and tried again. It was better second time around :-)

     That's all unimportant stuff really though. What's important is that me and Mary are still together, still making our way, surrounded by the kids and it's good. Really good. Better than I ever could have imagined it being. Yeah, we have no money, fewer job opportunities and perhaps things are too tight for comfort, but what is life right? Is it just money? Is it just material shite and fucking acquisitions? I don't think so. Sure, I'd love to have a pile of cash but it's not important when matched to stuff like love, fulfillment and that weird soaring feeling I get whenever someone says they liked what I've written. So screw it! Life is stunning dude! That's the fact I wanted to impart.

     In truth I have to say I miss you, or rather I miss the days we could have had. I figure you'd be out of the navy by now and doing something awesome and that we'd still be in touch. I can't say I know what you'd be doing but I figure you'd be doing it well and if you didn't like it you would have kicked it to the curb and be started on something new an hour afterwards.

      I know we didn't always get on, not when we first met, but we had a total blast when we did finally click. Those times were great and you had my back. Thank you. I know we'd never say much more than this and so I'll just say I miss ya still, that whenever Hotel California or Wish You Were Here, or Sweet Child Of Mine and Paradise City comes on then I cast a thought to you. We wave when we drive past the graveyard and Sauraus was told all about you and knows that you would have been a part of his life as his Godfather.

     Thank you for writing to me dude. I'm more glad that you did than words can ever really express.

Edd.

Tigger's Dead.

Today is the last day of my wife's thirty-sixth year. I was working with a local plastering outfit and so she decided to go somewhere cool with the kids and make the most of the day. She elected to take all the kids she could fit in the car to Ashdown forest, the place where Christopher Robin played; the home of Winnie The Pooh. I was at work, Sauruas (16) was left at home to 'be' and off they set.

I returned home shortly before they did and when they staggered through the door they were all very happy, they'd had a wonderful time! Awesome! Everyone was chatting away, telling me about Pooh and the 'Pooh sticks' bridge and Eyore's house and all the great stuff they'd seen when Dot (3) leaned in and started whispering in my ear.

DOT: *Whispers* Pooh's dead.

ME: Pardon?

DOT: *Whispers* Dead. Very dead. Dead Pooh.

ME: Are you sure Pooh's dead?

@Mamacrow: A.A.Milne is dead. Yes he is. Pooh? I don't think Pooh's dead.

DOT:*Whispers* Pooh's dead.

ME: Oh dear.

DOT: *Whispers* Owl's dead too... And Rabbit.

ME: Erm...

DOT: *Whispers* Piglet too. Pig
let's dead. And Kanga and Roo.

ME: I don't think they're dead if we remember them and still read their stories sweetie.

Dot stares at me for a short while and then leans in again.

DOT: *Whispers* Tiggers dead. All dead now.

Dot wanders off to watch t.v, I'm left traumatised on the stairs.

TIGGER'S NOT DEAD!

Is he...?

Silent Sunday

SWIMMING! #TrojanHero Makes A Splash!

#TrojanHero is nearly six months old and is feeling all robust and adventurous and so we decided to take up our swimming lessons again. As we home school we normally do them throughout the warmer months and then stop over winter as everyone seems to get colds and its generally a bit crappy walking home in the freezing cold after a long swim.

We were organised and excited; the last lessons we had for the kids were almost six moths ago and at that point Sauraus (16) was swimmingly with ease, Roo (12) had gotten over his co-ordination issues and was able to do a length or so and Wig (9) was a strong beginner.

Fluff (7), Petal (5) and Dot (3) were all still getting to grips with the swimming thing and so have to be considered as non swimmers.

Leaving the house wasn't too bad, en-route Sauraus picked a number of arguments which saw us fall out and so we arrived late and moody. Great. Our wonderful CARAVAN OF COURAGE (sorry, didn't mean to remind you of that Ewok brain punch but whenever I say it in my head it's done in bold, terrifying letters sooooo... ) split at that point. @mamacrow took Petal, Dot and #TrojanHero into the ladies changing room while us MEN went into the... well, the men's.

(FAST FORWARDS THE NAKED BITS)

In the pool we saw some surprising things! It had been six months since we'd gotten to a pool, funds have been very tight, getting tighter, but with some sport money from one of the grandparents we could afford this trip! I was expecting a large amount of sinking, floundering, shouting and arm band wearing. What actually happened was that Sauruas got straight over his baseless grumps and started doing laps cheerfully, Roo and Wig flew around the water, swimming under, on the surface and around without touching the floor at all and Fluff, Petal and Dot were super confident in the water!

But how did #TrojanHero do you ask? Small, chubby little lump of love in a massive big blue wobbly thing? Well, he loved it! Fluff was all 'sinky' when a baby, Petal and Dot were very buoyant, so I was expecting him to be quite heavy in the water but instead he floated beautifully! Obviously he is far more like @mamacrow than me. :-)

We were in for an hour and the teen worked out his problems in the water and then turned up to play with the little ones and give them piggy backs around the shallow end. Roo spent as much time as possible swimming under the surface and got a good bit of time with the lovely local teacher we have lessons with.Petal, Fluff and Wig also got a good amount of time with her and Petal in particular seemed to really enjoy herself. Our teachers not just lovely, not just very much in love with the kids but she was also very surprised by how much the kids had come on and asked if we'd been coming a bit before.

That was cool.

Obviously we'd love to be down the pool every week, pursuing a physical education to the fullest but sadly, as noted earlier, we are really unflush and so have to keep the visits to the pool infrequent. Bummer.

@mamacrow got out and changed with #TrojanHero and then returned for Petal and Dot. They headed off to the ladies and the kids got out and walked around the edge of the pool while I swam down the length underwater. I haven't been able to swim for such a long time and normally I'd just walk round with the kids but I enjoyed the freedom of the water, felt the pressure of the minimal depth and had a good look about.

I loved it.

In future I want to make sure we all get to the pool and get the lessons and the confidence flowing... But I want to get there alone or even better, with @mamacrow. Probably be a few years till we can but it's something to look forward to. For now, I'll enjoy going with the kids.

Oh and #TrojanHero? He is looking forward to his next visit :-)

WORLD WAR Z (THE MOVIE); A Review

 To start with I need to point out that I am a huge fan of Max Brook's book entitled 'World War Z'. It's one of those books that enthralled me from the very first page and kept it's magic working through my brain long after I'd read the final words and placed it down. I personally think it's a work of utter brilliance.

Now when the word came out that an adaptation of this towering book was to be made I felt the fear, knowing that this would be one of those times when Hollywood rocked up, didn't like the fact that a 'cure' was found by the end reel or that they didn't all die in a shack in Alabama, and so change it completely. It took a very short time for us (the fans) to find out that was indeed the case and Max was going to have his book crapped on and Brad Pitt would deliver the world from disaster while always having perfect hair...

(GUN SHOT RINGS OUT, MY ENTHUSIASM FOR THE FILM DIES)

If you look hard you can see a cat :-)

The production was 'troubled' to say the least, the final reel was completely rewritten and reshot and the fans of the book led a campaign of pre-release hate that saw them (including me) regularly found foaming at the mouth and shouting at strangers in the street that 'THAT ISN'T WORLD WAR Z! THAT ZOMPITT! FUCK YOU!'

Having said all that I have to tell you that I LOVE IT!

I know, that should be impossible but it's really not. You see I'd come to accept that this was not going to be the film I wanted to see and so was indeed expecting a terrifyingly muddled hunk of crap. Not so! What I watched was a tight, tense, well shot movie that pushed all the right panic buttons.

We start right at the point of 'outbreak' and we get to see the zombie disease spread, there's plenty of urban panic, society fracturing, hiding from the zoms and screaming. It continues to investigation and takes you round the world and with each location we are led to a logical ending that avoids huge set piece battles for a far more tense and personal battle for survival.

Yes, there are things about Pitts character and the decisions he makes that are a bit shoddy, but on the whole this is an excellent high budget zombie flick that's bigger than the rest and for most of the time smarter too.

By widening the scope to global conflict and attitudes you avoid retreads of the usual survivors in the cabin, you also get a feeling of greater threat, more intense action sequences and a mission that may be doomed in most films but still follows all the clues to a good ending point.

I was dead against World War Z before I'd even seen it, but once I had I honestly hope we get more. There is so much more of the story to tell, that can be done so much better!

World War Z is the best Zombie film you'll see this year. I'll wager it's one of the best Zombie films you'll ever see. Leave your baggage at the door and get some!

WORLD WAR Z 8/10!

Pitt runs from the Zombies. Give him a sequel please!

Music Monday: What's Funny?

What do you classify as funny? What makes something funny anyway? Is something repetitive and silly funny? To some people, yes, but then others love their humour sophisticated  and wordy, with knowing nods to multiple sources.

Here we have five very silly tracks that may tickle, though each one has a chance to annoy, irritate or enrage.

Lets do this shit shall we?


THEY'RE TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD!

You may feel the need to punch me after hearing this but I'm willing to take the risk. The idea that someone has taken the time to do this is, well, somewhere between crap and awesome. I've shown it to several people and the mix of reactions is hilarious, from horror to laughter.

See for yourself.




MAD WORLD covered by Smeagol

This is a cover, of a cover, by a man pretending to be a fictitious character, that was a computer generated image using an actors movements. It works on a number of levels and I can't watch it without laughing till I turn red. Is it just me?





THIS IS SPARTA

Yes, another Youtube dude, yes another repetitive sound bite, techno hell.... And yet this always makes me smile. Why? I have no idea, but it does.




PREJUDICE by Tim Minchin

I'm not the world's biggest fan of Tim Minchin, I mean yeah, he is funny but I'm not his biggest fan. This song however? Inspired! Brilliant, witty, funny, knowingly on the edge but never quite crossing it. A touching subject eluded to, then swings to give you something else that still hits the mark but does it in a gloriously comedic way.

Well done sir.





THIRD REICH by Frank Sanazi

This is complicated act, both to perform and watch. I've shown one of Frank's tracks before but this is a bit closer to the knuckle.

Why do I laugh at Nazi's? Simple, they are the bigoted, evil, single minded bastards that they are and anything... anything that takes the piss is good! This dude works my funny bone because I should be shouting at him, it should press my buttons so that I go nuclear straight away, but it doesn't and I don't. I think it's the blatantly controversial style that makes me laugh, at first in shock and then? Then its still the shock. :-)

He obviously is very good at what he does, the act is damn confrontational and it invites rage and disapproval, and he has to be stupid or very brave to walk on and think people are going to be on his side. I love Sinatra, I also love what this guy does.

So sue me, I think he's brilliant! (I fucking hate Nazi's though, just to clarify)



Next time we'll have great songs, by great artists.

Thanks for listening and reading.

Silent Sunday