博客存档 - FordeFables

February 28th, 2014

28/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Real men don't lift weights; they lift women off their feet and carry them across the threshold of their pain and concerns. Real women seek access to a man's heart through likes and not looks. They discover his likes and try to satisfy them. Happy and contented lives reside not in the the domain of extraordinary people, but in very ordinary people who do ordinary things in extraordinary ways." William Forde: February 28th, 2014.

February 27th, 2014

27/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Oh heavenly fields of springtime flowers that smell so sweet in meadows fresh, wave proudly in the still breeze of a summer's afternoon. And when the day is done and evening shadows return to rest across the ground to cloak your roots, let stand out those spots where lovers lay their heads and bodies as they secretly kissed among the long grass of your green blades.

Disturb not the flattened grass of mispent youth and fervent passion, for it reveals those places on this earth where love did both blossom and flourish in sweet abandonment. Yesterday, this precise spot was little more than a charming field of flower and grasses, whereas today it served the cradle of creation.

In years to come, this precise spot will be revisited by family additions who were first conceived beneath the summer sky many years earlier in meadow reborn.The human child will run the field in delightful ecstacy, touching the floral sons and daughters of the field poppies and cowslips of earlier generations without knowing that this was not the first time they helped to flatten its blades of grass.

And so human life goes on and the wheel of nature inexorably turns full cycle, allowing man and woman to lie down in love and become one with the earth below and the Creator above." William Forde: February 27th, 2014.

February 26th, 2014.

26/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Who can doubt that the closest of all bonds on earth from all of the relationships ever experienced is the one between a mother and her child. Throughout the centuries, many mothers have been accused by their partners of having spared the rod and spoiled the child. Over-protectiveness and over-indulgence have rarely been the reason though. It is simply that the mother will always love her child, even more than she loves her man! She may say, 'I love you both equally, but I love you both differently' in order to justify this distinction to man, child and self. It won't alter the fact however, that she will always love the child more than the man as the child became wholly dependent upon her from the moment of its birth. That is also the reason why the man remains more dependant on his mother for her approval than he does his wife.

So, there we have it. Look to all of your loves and responsibilities in this life, but never forget to look to your mother, for her bond of love will endure from cradle to grave." William Forde:February 26th, 2014.

February 25th, 2014

25/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Humans who believe that animals are not capable of expressing emotion obviously have never had one to share their life and experiences with. I believe this so strongly that throughout my life, any woman whom I met that neither had time for animals nor didn't recognise the importance of families, however rich or attractive they may have been, they certainly weren't the one for me.

I've never done this conventional type of 'speed dating' where one has a three minute conversation in rotation around the room in the hope that one will find true love; although I did rotate my female conquests pretty quickly as a handsome young man in his early twenties with an abundance of 'testosterone to burn.'

If I did enter into the practice of conventional speed dating today however, my top three questions to potential partners as I chased them round the room would be, ' Do you like animals? Do you appreciate the importance of families, and thirdly, can you make a steak pie, a malt loaf, homemade jam and a bakewell tart that will make my mouth water as much as watching you undress?'

Answer all three questions correctly and the jackpot is yours and I'll make you my Sheila to the exclusion of all others. I got a resounding 'yes' to all three questions that made up my love test and I've not looked back once since! Merry Christrmast everyone. x " William Forde: February 25th, 2014.

February 24th, 2014

24/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Try as one may to hide it, in time the truth will always out. Buddha knew this and told his followers so.

In 1973, the then British Prime Minister, Edward Heath took us into the Common Market and lied to the electorate that it was no more than membership of continental countries concerning uniform trade barriers and agreements. Every government since has lied to the electorate about the true aims of the European Union and today, we are unable to deport criminals and terrorists because of our membership to it and all its treaty commitments and obligations to the Human Rights Charter. Don't they realise that even if we withdrew from the Human Rights Charter, it doesn't prevent our country independently observing human rights in all of those areas it agrees with and remaining free not to observe the areas of the Charter which are blatently bonkers?

British Prime Minister,Tony Blair told the electorate that Sadam Hussain possessed weapons of mass destruction which could be employed within 45 minutes and was therefore an immediate threat to the security of this country because of his chemical, biological and nuclear capability. This was also a blatant lie that he told to Parliament in order to sanction war against Iraq.

Both Heath and Blair through their deceit left this country with a cost that is still being paid for daily by every family in Great Britain. The Liberal Leader, 'Clever Cloggs Clegg' has been no less inclined to tell lies to the electorate and to renege on their election promises, dependent upon which way the political wind blew.

Indeed, every single Prime Minister and Government in my lifetime has been shown retrospectively to have blatantly and deliberately lied to the electorate. Even the late Margaret Thatcher, for whom I had a sneaky liking, has recently been shown to have deliberately lied to the country about having had no plans to decimate the coal pits of Great Britain!

Every main political party in Great Britain has told the electorate for fifty years that the totallity of emmigration to GB adds to the British economy instead of taking more out of the pot than they put in. While during the 1950's and 60's under the rules of the Commonwealth and other trade agreements, this claim undoubtedly held some credibility and we wouldn't have had properly staffed hospitals and public transport without immigrants from the West Indies, the Philippines and India, but since Edward Heath took us into Europe, such a claim can no longer be substantiated.

Now you Tories, Socialists and Liberals know why fringe parties like UKIP are no longer remaining on the fringe of British polical opinion, because their tendency is to 'tell it as it is' whereas the three 'main' parties is to deceive. Perhaps this is the reason why too few people can even be bothered to vote for the lot of you every four years a General Election comes round?" William Forde :William Forde: February 24th, 2014

February 23rd, 2014

23/2/2014

Thought for today:
"I cannot wait for sunshine to come back to us in Haworth. Hopefully, it will be drier this year than the year we have just experienced. Most mornings between May and September, 2013 I grew accustomed to seeing hundreds of Japanese tourists pass our house taking photographs of almost anything that moved in Bronte land. A few even stuck their heads inside the stable door to our house and photographed me eating my toast and marmalade.The Japanese love this part of the country and shall no doubt continue to descend upon this holy land of literature, strong ale and pork pies, whatever the weather.

However, the constant rain we experienced last year made many of the visitors button up and hurry by beneath their oriental umbrellas.This spring looks like it could be as wet as last year was. Even those visitors from Tibet, who are not themselves strangers to inclement weather, had to wrap up well upon alighting from the bus that brought them into Haworth recently. The Edinbourgh Woolen Mill did a roaring trade in the sale of red blankets.

The Dalai Lama has been reported to have said that he'll come when it gets drier. I guess that we won't be seeing him here this year either then!" William Forde: February 23rd, 2014.

February 22nd, 2014

22/2/2014

Thought for today:
"If tomorrow starts without me, don't let it spoil your day,
I'ii still be there to guide you, I know you'll find your way.

For you're everyone and everything that life did mean to me,
I wouldn't see you wanting and I'd always see you free,
to walk where Nature takes you, to do what you must do,
to dance when the urge moves you and to learn to sit out too.

If tomorrow starts without me, you will not be alone,
for you have nought to grieve for, no fond memories to disown.
The thing that made me love you, on first sight that day we met,
was how you stood out from the crowd, in a way I won't forget.

You stood so proud and walked so tall as though you wore a crown,
I turned at once to leave you there, you bade me to sit down.
I gazed upon your features as you softly spoke your name
and when I sat beside you, I sensed you'd lit the flame.

Once ignited with your power of love, the onslaught of your heart,
the passion of my loins stirred deep, no movement there could part
the marriage of our very souls, the gel that bound our love,
the joined-up sparks of mis-spent youth, the love coo of a dove.

We laughed, we kissed, we talked, we joked, we courted, then we wed,
and though fourteen years divided us, you took me to your bed.
Even though you were my lady, the one fit to wear the crown,
you placed that bauble on my head and let me rule our home.

Each hour and minute, every moment since, you've met my every need,
from morning light 'til evening dark, you let met take the lead.
No more could one man ask for from the woman of his dreams,
no Sheila better served or loved a man like me it seems."

To my Sheila, the love of my life. William Forde: February 22nd, 2014.

February 21st, 2014

21/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Those people who engage in extreme sporting activity like motor racing, mountaineering, sky diving or base jumping love to live their lives on the edge. I have often thought that the sheer distance between experiencing exhilaration or extinction is so small that it's virtually immeasurable.

The distance between one unconnected thought and another is often no more than a small misunderstanding. The distance between the states of happiness and sadness can be as little as a smile and a held hand. The distance between the loving or hating of another is the willingness to care about their feelings.

Thus the distance between heaven and hell can be reduced to nothing more than an attempt to understand your fellow being along with a willingness to smile, hold their hand and care about their feelings." William Forde " February 21st, 2014.

February 20th, 2014

20/2/2014

As the Irish Rugby Squad would say, 'One minute the ball's up in the air and the next it's down on the ground.What doesn't make you laugh will make you cry.' Are there things in your life that you simply hate doing? Do you have a wicked side also? Some of my pet hates, I must admit would be quite strange to some born outside the Emerald Isle.

Top of my list is answering the telephone. I don't know why it is, but I never answer the house telephone. I might deign to answer my mobile, but I won't speak any longer than is necessary when doing so. It has nothing to do with cost, but rather more to do with an often perceived interpretation of time wasting by me.

If someone phones me and asks a specific question, I will politely answer it and if no other immediate question is forthcoming, simply put the phone down. I have to admit that I wouldn't speak to the Queen (were she to phone me any more regularly than she does), one second longer than is necessary.

While not knocking those who do, I have never been able to indulge in 'small talk' or 'tittle tattle.' When I was first married and attended some social gathering or house party, my then wife had this annoying habit of apologising to the present assembly in advance, just in case I said something that may not have been as polite as an untruth would have been.

Anyway, back to the telephone. Here are a few helpful tips I have developed over the years of my anti-socialness. To get rid of the Friday night telephone sales team wanting to give you the prize you have won, simply tell that that you have had such a good day that you'd like them to give the prize to some other poor soul who needs it more. Or; if the cold caller begins by saying,' Hi there. I'm Jack the lad. Do you have a few minutes to give me?' just say, 'So glad that you phoned, Jack, as I've been trying to get through to the Samaritans for the past hour and If I don't talk to someone soon, I'll not wait 'til tomorrow to top myself!'..............or......... 'Take as long as you want,Thomas, but just hang on two minutes while I get my Jehovah's Witness Bible!'

I have just devised a perfect phone message for when I am not available to take a call on the house phone: 'Hello there. This is Bill. I haven't come to the phone at this precise moment because there is a particular nasty person whom I want to avoid talking to. Please leave your message after the tone and I'll get back to you soon...........unless of course you are that nasty person!'

William Forde: February 2Oth, 2014.

February 19th, 21014

19/2/2014

Thought for today:
"However tough the task seems to be, however high the problem to be scaled, together we shall succeed better than alone; together we are more likely to get there.

While there have no doubt been past occasions when the heroic actions of one acting alone has been to the overall benefit of the many, there are many more examples when the measured response and combined actions of the multitude have proved the most beneficial for all.

For example, while one lonely person blocking a line of fortified tanks in Tiananmen Square provided the free world with a powerful symbol of rebellion on the rise, it took an entire nation of Germans to physically break down the Berlin Wall, which for 28 years divided their peoples between communism and democracy and distanced even further, the east from the west.

So however strong we may be acting alone, the combined force and effect of the many will always prove greater." William Forde: February 19th, 2014.

February 18th, 2014

19/2/2014

Thought for today:
"One of the aspects of growing older is that one rarely passes by a bathroom or toilet without thinking, 'I may as well use it now that I'm here!'

Another advantage of getting on in years I've discovered is how one deals with the art of practised civility. There isn't anything as demeaning to self as having to impress in order to gain favour, just as there is nothing more liberating than occasionally 'not giving a damn!'

Discovering that you can at last tell it as it is releases all your powers of best expression without any cost to true friendship or casual relationship. You are most unlikely to lose the good friends you have made by being 'true to yourself' because it was such truth that probababley endeared them to you in the first place. And with regard to those acquaintainces who are likely to take offence where none was ever intended; well, they are as well lost anyway!"
William Forde: February 18th, 2014.

February 17th, 2014

17/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Few people truly think for themselves more than three or four times a year. Our time is used up displaying either automatic or voluntary behaviour. The overwhelming portion of one's behaviour is automatic. This is the behaviour that is patternised and governs our responses, requiring no conscious or creative thought to reproduce it.

A large part of our behaviour concerns itself with survival and safety cosiderations, but as large a part involves attempting to act upon or against the thoughts and actions of others or endeavouring to prove them false or true.

I am determined to think a thought that is brand new to my mind at least once a day; even though I know deep down that I will probably fail in this task and was not the first to think upon it. I know deep down despite my best efforts, that my thought has preceded me in the mind of another and has already travelled through the passage of time from place to place and mind to mind. For the most part, I am no more or less than another humble person who now wraps the thoughts of another in different words and different packaging whilst retaining the same meaning first expressed long, long ago. As with the renewal of fresh waters on the beach, each new tide brings forth an old thought to wash around our senses, making all models for the future no more than mere vessels from the past." William Forde: February 17th, 2013.

February 16th, 2014

16/2/2014

Thought for today:
"I love beauty in all shape and form, whether it be the grace of a woman's walk through a field of barley or the wild beauty of prancing stallions in a flower meadow.
Of all the loves I will ever love though will be my Sheila. I am the horse to her monkey ( our Chinese Year birth signs). She is my one true love, my eternal Valentine. I love you lass and I'm so glad that you came into my life and enriched it with your gracious beauty of heart and face and superb baking. xxx" William Forde: February 16th, 2014.

February 15th, 2014

15/2/2014

Thought for today:
"The Indians tribes of old America believed that all aspects of nature from the plains, rivers, mountains, buffalo and sky were there to feed, clothe and provide them with natural materials, warmth, shelter and purpose. They respected all aspects of the natural world around them and they loved the country of their birth.

Today, many patriots of America raise their national flag outside their homes each dawn and lower them at dusk. They feel more secure knowing that the American Bald Eagle and bird of freedom flies above them daily; much as the Indians of old who occupied the plains in their tepees once felt in days gone by. All felt that the eagle of the skies protected their spirits.

I have just spent half a day up at the Dewsbury General Hospital accompanied by my sisters Mary and Eileen. We were visiting my brother -in-law Richard ( Mary's partner) who is very poorly and is sedated in his recovery in the Intensive Care Unit. Richard has always loved birds and in this time of his recovery I pray that the eagle above us all protects him also and restores him to full health." William Forde: February 15th, 2014.

February 14th, 2014.

14/2/2014

To you my sweetheart on this celebration day that marks my desire to be your Valantine. If you be the one for me, your 'like' will indicate as much and before you know it my arms shall be around you faster than a Yorksire Whippet can catch a rabbit. In true Victorian tradition, I have offered you my love in complete anonymity and I only hope that all ladies from my darkest of pasts do not on this occasion respond in kind. All my love, Goosey xxx" February 14th, 2014.

February 13th, 2014

13/2/2014

Thought for today:
"One of the sayings of a late friend of mine who also once lived in Haworth, author Stan Barstow, was 'Life is too damn short to waste it in constant civility!' While I've no doubt that it's perfectly normal to give proper attention to manners and what one does and says in the public gaze, it equally makes good sense to give expression to one's more wicked side from time to time.

I recall one occasion when another famous friend of mine (who I won't embarrass by identity disclosure as he is still active in the public eye), remarked that he could tell the difference between the working and the middle-class person without ever hearing them speak or observing their manner of attire. When asked how, he simply indicated that he had two sure ways of telling: whether one initially detected the presence of their fart by smell or sound and upon it being detected by present company, did the perpetrator of the foul air acknowledge through a look of embarrassing admission or did they simply shrug it off as belonging elsewhere!

With this in mind, I say, 'Bring it on, man. Go on; blow me away!' " William Forde: February 13th, 2014.

February 12th, 2014

12/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Dry not my tear ducts with memories of permanent regret, but instead give me a well of hope to sup from once more. Give me the strength to risk love and loss again, for without the prospect of ever finding my soul mate I will wither and die in a crowd of isolated sadness. When the time is ripe, let me love again as I first loved. Fill my mind with images of good times past when my love was rooted deep and sustained my dreams upon clouds of eternal hope. Open my heart and mind to all new possibilities and guide cupid's arrow of desire to its centre.

And should fate shower me with the constant love of another yet again, on this occasion please provide me with caution. Let me take care of my thoughts when I'm alone and watch my words when I'm with people. Make not the desires of my heart like a twisted corkscrew that jealously binds itself so closely to its purpose, lest any freedom of movement in bottled-neck moments of narrow outlets ensures but one of two outcomes; either fracture or fulfilment of its corked dreams.

Whatever you do to your true love, with your true love and for your true love, do it with whomesome purpose and unquestionable intent, for action alone can never stand in isolation of its meaning. Far better to mean well and do wrong than to will wrong and produce goodness in consequence. As the poet T.S. Ellis once wrote in his play, 'Murder in the Cathedral' which dealt with the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Beckett, ' The greatest treason is to do the right deed for the wrong reason!' " William Forde: February 12th, 2014.

February 11th, 2014.

11/2/2014

Thought for today:
"When I was a child, I often tried to catch the moon as it created a silhouette on some wall or water surface. As a growing teenager of romantic inclination and poetic vision, I would frequently make use of it as a backdrop when walking home a girl friend from a date or as a prelude to one proposal of mine or another. In my early years of being a parent, the moon featured regularly in my interaction with my growing children through the bedtime stories I used to tell them. Now that I'm in my senior years and can see the rapid advancement of science and technology, I know that during the lifetimes of my grandchildren, it will become possible for them to physically touch the moon. For myself though, I will have to die content knowing that I was able to frame it and use its majestic mystery to fashion my lifetime's purpose with the immense satisfaction that it has given me. If I come back again, I shall most definitely return as an avid student in Astronomy." William Forde: February 11th, 2014.

February 10th, 2014

10/2/2014

Thought for today:
"I have previously heard of 'Millionaires Row' where the wealthy property owners reside and display a lavish lifestyle of flashy cars, large, tended gardens and all manner of maiden and man servants to service their every whim and need. Even their much publicised donations to charitable causes is their kindest way to avoid paying taxes to the Exchequer along with the use of 'off shore funds' and the establishing of family trusts.' They have even been known to plant forests of trees as a more efficient method of reducing their overall taxes paid, not because they love trees particularly; more that their love of money is even greater.

I have heard of families of parents and three children being forced to live in one dingy,damp and rented room all day while the man goes in search of work in an area of high unemployment because they refuse to play the benefit system for all its worth and instead would rarther retain their pride.

I have heard of rich men light their fat cigars with a bill of large denomination; the amount of which is more than an ordinary Joe Soap earns in a week and whose modest income wouldn't allow him to smoke and would oblige him to break the habit for the sake of his health and family even if he did.

I have known of too many people who deliberately obtain as much money as they can from as many different benefits as the State will pay them either without seeking them to prove their disability or accepting it because it cannot be disproved, even though it may not in reality exist at all except in the mind of the claimant.

I have heard of soldiers who returned from war zones without limbs, blind, badly burned and scarred beyond recognition or with stress and recurring nightmares, who have been declared fit for work and not entitled to benefits. I have heard of people with terminal illness whose benefits have been withdrawn and they have been declared fit to work months before they subsequently died, along with old people who survived the World War, worked hard, saved hard, spent prudently all their lives; only to have their homes sold over their heads to pay for their care in their old age.

I do not hold the answers as to what this country should do to reform this unacceptable and grossly unfair system in which the only economic survivors appear to be the feckless parents who smoke and drink all day long and sill complain that it is the foreigners who are robbing the country blind and are stealing our jobs (the jobs they are not prepared to do), but I am convinced that root and branch reform is necessary in order to make the system fairer once more and fit for purpose.

Finally; while foreign aid is a noble act for any country who seeks to help poorer countries in crises, wouldn't it be better for one year only to suspend such payments and redirect the billions of pounds to the water defences and drainage systems of our own country? As anyone who is truly interested in saving lives knows, the vessel of rescue is of no effect if it isn't regulary maintained and fiitted out for purpose. Even life boats that are overfilled will eventually sink and drowned every passenger on them.

I'm not meaning to moan too much, but isn't life a bit too shitty to stomach some days?" William Forde: February 10th, 2014.

February 9th, 2014

9/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Dear God, thank you for giving me the very best daddy in the whole wide world to look after me and to make sure that I grow up healthy and know the difference between 'right' and 'wrong' and 'good' and 'bad.' Thank you for the food you have given us all year, the clean clothes to wear and all the friends with whom I play. Thank you for the little brother mum left behind for me and daddy to look after. We have called him Joe after Grandpa Joseph and dad says he looks just like my mum.Thank you for looking after our happy family, God, and please, please look after mum who is in heaven with you and who dad says I will see someday when I am very old like grandpa Joseph. Amen." William Forde: February 9th,2014.

February 8th, 2014

8/2/2014

Thought for today
"As a child, my all-time boxing hero was Rocky Marciano (born Rocco Francis Marchegiano; 1/9/23 to 31/8/69). Rocky was the World Heavyweight Champion from September, 1952 to April, 1956. He is the only person to hold the heavyweight title and remain undefeated throughout his career. Rocky Marciano defended his title six times, against Jersey Joe Walcott, Roland LaStarza, Ezzard Charles (twice), Don Cockell, and Archie Moore.

Despite his magnificent record as a world champion, he was far from being the best boxer there has ever been. Far from being refined in the ring or particularly graceful out of it, it was his indomitable spirit of just being able to carry on fighting and fighting long after his opponent had thrown in the towel which I will remember him best for. He was undoubtedly a fighter from the old school who refused to ever stay down if ever knocked down! Whenever I see anyone take a knock-back in their life today, I always recall the unbreakable will power and sheer determination of Rocky to keep on fighting.

The world is full of 'Rockys', but sadly like the great prize fighter who was and shall always remain world renown, we will not know their names or how they arrived at their knock-down in life. What we do know about them however, whether they be autistic, mentally challenged, physically mutilated or limbless, is that they are all as great a champion as was the great Rocky Marciano." William Forde: February 8th, 2014.

February 7th, 2014

7/2/2014

Thought for today:
"If you have more than another, the least you should do is be prepared to give a helping hand. Starvation is a sin in any world that contains a God. It is a crime in any country that believes in basic rights and in any place and heart that endorses humanity.When the hand of a starving, mature woman is no larger than that of a sickly child's hand, then we know that we live in world that is grossly unjust for some and is over-privileged for others; then we know that any division of basic resources is gravely disproportionate." William Forde: February 7th, 2014.

February 6th, 2014

6/2/2014

Thought for today:
"I have three ladies in my life; my wife Sheila, our dog, 'Lady' and my only daughter, Rebecca. Today is my daughter Rebecca's birthday. Being a gentleman, I wouldn't dream of revealing her age, but I can say that I first laid eyes on her during my 43rd year of life. I was recently thinking about that saying of where the sun best shines when I came across this photograph of Rebecca, who now lives in London. While some twenty three years older now than when I took the snap shot, the sun still shines where it always did. Now, I don't know about you, but there is cute and then again, there is cute. I love you, Becky. Dad xxx" William Forde : February 6th, 2014.

February 5th, 2014

5/2/2014

Thought for today:
"During the first five years of my life, I believed that the moon was indeed made out of blue cheese. Why else would one find a cat up there?

I'd also believed that men had been made to rule the world and women had been made to rule men!

Then, one day I came across a list of things that our mother's are and it was then that I truly realised the difference between fact and fiction, nature and nurture, what mattered and what didn't.

I started to learn that a mother is brighter than all the stars in the galaxay, more encompassing than all the planets and more valuable than all other things to be found above, below, in the heavens or on the face of the earth!

So never forget your dear old mum and she will always remain near to you. Her values will act as your moral compass in times of danger and her caution in moments of absolute certainty.Even when dead and she lies not in the next room to you, but on the other side of the green sod; even then her power to touch your very senses and shape your intended actions will remain with you.

Wherever you travel she will always walk alongside you, but only you will know that she is there. She will always be near you and never desert you. She is the whisper down the wind, the gentle curtsy in rooftops of old whenever you pass by, the fragrance in the first spring flower, the gentle warmth of summer's sun, the rustle in the autumn leaves and the first snowdrop of winter. She is in short, the one who has always represented the reward at the rainbow's end. She is the intoxication of life itself; the one who heard your first breath, saw you take your fist step. She was your first true love. She will be there for you on your last day as she was on your first because she's your mum." William Forde: February 5th, 2014.

February 4th, 2014

4/2/2014

Thought for today:
"Someday when I am grown up, I'll see what's on the other side of this water. There could a 'Magic Land' that awaits good little girls who do what mother tells them, keep their rooms tidy, eat up all their meals and say their prayers every night.

On the other hand, the sea might go on and on and never end, like mummy does when she's angry with dad.

Then again, the magic land I seek might have been at this side of the water all of the time I've spent looking over there for it? Yes, that's it! It's been here all the time in my home, with my mum and dad and my pets, dolls and toys. Yippee for happy families! They're magic! " William Forde: February 4th, 2014.