Dress Them In Their Sunday Best

But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I cannot see,
I guess an’ fear! – Robert Burns

Dress them in their Sunday best

Let them lie let them rest.

Their bodies lay among the others equal in death alone

Remembered simply by head stones.

January winds wipe away

All the struggles all the pain.

Our youth that we poured straight down the drain.

Every day we live in vain

Until they forget our names.

Perhaps they will remember me

With happiness and songs full of glee

Trapped in these four walls of rhyme

A glimmer only of a time

That you’ll forget just like mine.

Winter Woes

Hi for some strange reasons I did a post called Autumn lows last year and it got quite a lot of attention for some reason (You guys are really nosy) I also wanted to hit one thousand followers by the new year. Well sadly I barely put a dent in that but I’ve been writing this blog for like three years and have around five hundred followers so I going to be reasonable and say one thousand by the end of the year. That’s an easy enough goal, I think. So what are my winter woes to be honest my Christmas was quite nice I’ve not been affected by Covid (yet) I got some nice presents I tried Bailys it was ok. What are my goals for the new year :

1. To finish my Highers
2. To get a Job
3. To read more
4. To eat better
5. To blog more
6. To watch less YouTube

Simple right even someone like me with cripling depression can do that. What I’ve achieved so far.. January is a year where I personally want to just be comfortable I’ve watched all the seasons of Him and Her , and am working my way through Doctor Who and Skins. I’ve been taking baths , eating even doing Jigsaws. I’ve not really been studying or dieting I’ve read a wee bit mostly poetry.

There are things I regret though I wish I had been that teenager who wore doc martens and studied like five Highers and smoked pot and listened to I kissed a girl. I wish I could have my youth back and do it differently but I can’t. I still live with my parents, I don’t have a job. I’m not where I want to be. That’s my winter woes I think January isn’t just about the future but reflecting on the past and living in the present no matter how shit it is.

A Letter

(This is a fictional letter I wrote. )

My Dear Jen

I hope you are well. I always expected France to be warm but its quite cold here. Its a bit like camping all us lads together just without the songs and sausages. My uniform is slightly itchy and I smell a little as there’s no hot baths here sadly. I long to be in a warm bed with you , here the gunfire makes it hard to sleep so I feel slightly delirious. The one good thing is there’s no light pollution like in the cities so you can see hundreds of stars. I’ll be home soon my darling and I hope when you look at the night sky you’ll think of me.

Love Colin.

Part 1

He splashed his face with cold water. The heat was unbearable. Even without his full kit on and the cover of the tent his brown t shirt stuck to his back his cargo trousers heavy and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

“Alright private” he heard someone say behind him. He swiveled round to find a robust looking chap who chucked him a can of cold coke. “Thanks “ he said giving him a smile and nod of approval. “I’m John” the other man said holding out his hand for him to shake “Roy” he answered. He clicked open the can taking a swig the liquid fizzy and sweet in his mouth enough to pick him up a bit. Roy wiped away another bead of sweat that had escaped from his forehead. “ You’ll get used to it” said John. Roy wondered how anyone could get used to this heat. You better get your stuff on quick if the Sargent catches you like that he’ll make you run around the camp for an hour in full kit. The thought made Roy quite terrified.

They were fighting in Iraq a pointless war his father had said but Roy loved being in the army. Loved the routine , Loved the thrill of holding a gun , loved wearing his uniform for all to see. Before he joined he was on the dole for a year after he left school. It was humiliating having nothing just hanging about smoking pot and staying in bed all day. so he relished every experience now , even the heat and that was saying something.

Why I write ?

Why I write?

I’m not sure exactly why I Write , I suppose before you write stories you read them. As a child I devoured books I would literally start reading as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning. I enjoyed it so much. I wanted to put my mark on the world and like the amazing authors I read , I wanted readers not just be entertained but to see something through the eyes of the writer. Me. I owe a lot of my talent (if I can call it that without sounding too arrogant) To my grandparents my gran would read the wishing chair to me as a child and it would take me off to another world. I think there’s something different about reading and writing as a child. My talent wasn’t really discovered until secondary school after it had been nurtured for eleven years or so through the education system. I also liked to write my own stories in my spare time , I remember as an early teen I got more into young adult fiction and liked thrillers. I would write stories about kidnappings and bizarre things like that.

 I left school prematurely and grew very depressed this is when I started writing poetry. I remember finding a thin paper back book of T.S Eliot poems in my family’s loft and running through to my mum to tell her how amazing they were. Poetry I found a lot easier to read and write. My first poem was called Lang Town which is near where I live. I started to write about things around me which at that point and I suppose still is poverty. I would write about bus stations and dreary things like that. The characters I suppose had my voice but lucky for me I don’t live in a damp run down flat like the protagonist in my story.

Writing is a very personal act you are basically turning out your soul for others to read and scrutinize. I suppose we all want to live forever and a good poem or book is the closest thing we have to it. We don’t know what it was like to live one hundred years ago but through some of the great writers we can have some understanding of how they lived. I write to change people’s perspectives and make my mark on the world. That is why I write.

Daz For Zoe Review

It is unusual that I polish off a book from cover to cover but this novel I devoured in two sittings.

The story follows the life of both Daz and Zoe who live in different communities in a future Dystopian Britain. The chippies live in the poor zone and the subbies live in a rich part next to them. The subbies have a high quality of living with large houses , good schools good future prospects. On the other hand you have the Chippies named after their staple diet of chips they live in derelict ghettos. They fear the police. The Chippies cannot enter the subbie neighborhood without paperwork. The class divide which is still very relevant today it is a major theme in the book but other themes also pop up like love and friendship.

The book starts with Zoe and her friends sneaking into a night club in the chippy part of town. This is where she meets Daz they lock eyes across the bar and instantly know they like each other.

They end up meeting in secret as her family and society are strongly against the chippy. Zoe’s grandmother though has a more humane approach and Zoe confides in her about her love for Daz.

Zoe expresses some of her views about the chippies at school and gets the label of “chippy lover” Zoe’s ideas create interest from the Domestic security and she is interrogated. luckily she does not give up her relationship with Daz she is given warning of the problems that might come her way because of her ideas.

In the end zoe runs away with daz she manages to climb under a dust bin lorry into the Chippys neighborhood , there Daz hides her in his apartment. Daz worries about what Zoe thinks of his run down flat and his mother who wears old clothes , more than he does getting in trouble from the police for harboring her.

Zoe gives up everything to be with Daz her comfortable way of living and her family. In the end she finds out her grandmother was part of an illegal organization called FAIR which fought for a better life for the chippys. Zoes friends family are a member and get kicked out , they go to live in the countryside and at the end of the book Zoe and Daz leave the city to join them and make a life for themselves.

Gremlins Film Summary – Blogmas Day 1

gremlins is a 1984 Christmas comedy horror written by Chris Columbus. The film is based around the Mogwi that is given to Billy for Christmas. However there are three rules. Don’t get him wet or he’ll multiply , keep him out of sunlight and most important don’t feed them after midnight. They end up getting Gizmo wet and then Billys clock ends up breaking so he feeds them after midnight and they turn into evil gremlins.

The film is quite comic at first with Billys mum ending up microwaving a gremlin.  They kill most of them except for Stripe the leader. Billy ends up chasing him to the leisure center where they multiply into hundreds of Gremlins in the swimming pool. The Gremlins cause chaos killing people around the town. Thankfully they all go to the theater and start watching snow white , Billy grabs this opportunity to set fire to the place and ultimately blow the Gremlins up. Overall it’s a great classic Christmas film that you should watch.  

The Winter Of A Wasted Year

This is quite a personal poem and I wasn’t sure if I should share it but here it is.

The winter of a wasted year , a time when folk are full of cheer

The trees lie bare , summer a distant memory in the air.

We hum along to Christmas melody’s , in the darkest days we fear.

and try and fill the time by emptying out our pockets of each and every dime.

For those who sit on benefits , this time of year blows one hard hit,

leaves you heaving in the gutter but at least we have each other.

Our lively hood was similar and drear , although I never new you dear

No one cares for likes of us , not enough to kick up a fuss.

Their they lie in unmarked graves , forgotten by a malice state

we stuff ourselves at Jesus’s wake , the fascist heart that drove a stake

In one to young to heavens gate.

What I Hate About Scotland !

I’ve done a post on what I love about Scotland blog post but never one about what I hate. So here is a list of what I Hate about Scotland

Hate – This might shock some but I hate traditional Scottish literature Robert Louise Stevenson and Walter Scott I find their books dry and not to my cup of tea.

Hate – The way we treat people – It might be worse in England but Scottish people like to label people junkies a lot.

Hate – Shortbread its just not a good biscuit

Hate – Nationalism. I’m just sick of our country saying they want to stay in the EU it might be alright for skilled workers to sit back in their chairs and call us racists but we have family’s to feed , houses to heat we need jobs and there all being taken by immigrants. I wouldn’t go as far to say I’m a unionist but I hate how the younger generation all want independence and that its stupid not to want it when most of them are students and are not actually full time workers or on benefits and think its easy to get a Job I can tell you now. Its not. The rich look after themselves it wouldn’t matter if we were independent or not.

Hate – Our stereotypes. I think people think that us Scottish people are a lovely friendly folk when in reality most strangers look like they want to spit on you for saying hi.

Please leave a comment on this blog post and share your thoughts.

Day In The Life #1

So recently I’ve been going on Autumn walks here are a few pictures.

I love being out in nature especially when the leaves are golden and beautiful.

Then I went home and did some studying

I’m currently studying terrorism and let’s just say I t’s quite a hard topic to grasp.

And then I curled up with a bacon roll. It was very tasty !

Thanks for reading and please like and follow 😘