Blog Archives - FordeFables

April 30th, 2017

30/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Summer is like seasonal spring unfolding into fullest bloom. It is a time when butterflies invade the stomach and the air is filled with romantic rebellion and foolish notion of breaking rules. Summer days for young lovers are days of daring; days when we stand apart from our elders and follow our first instinct, however wrong. In the life of every girl, there is a young man and a summer where it started. In every boy's life, there is a summer he never wanted to end.

I have always felt that spring carries with it a package that only a summer can unwrap. The warm weather when walking down a country lane with a beautiful partner opens the woman's heart to all possibilities and closes the man's mind to none.The step of youth stretches forth with a confidence of stride that only love can fashion as the hope of future happiness escapes neither mind nor heart.

Imagine what it would be like to live in a world of summer and remain forever young. If only I could make this moment last and make summer stretch until I make him/her mine. For such a prize, who wouldn't risk one's reputation? Who wouldn't gamble all in a moment of romantic madness for the prize of eternal love?" William Forde: April 30th, 2017.

April 29th, 2017.

29/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Sooner or later in life, we will all take our own turn being in the position we once had someone else in. It is a form of Karma; a spiritual principle of cause and effect where the intent and actions of an individual influence the future of that individual.

Good intent and good deeds contribute to good Karma and future happiness, whereas bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad Karma and future suffering. In short, be good to others and life will be good to you, or be bad to others and life will return with a sting to bite you on the bum!

Having insight into the lives of others and being able to feel their happiness and pain requires a knowledge of how we and the cosmos work in conjunction. We must be aware of our own emotional landscape before we can recognise the perspective and outline of others.

Three days ago was the 31st anniversary of my mother's death who died in her 64th year. I never met a person to whom she was not respectful, sensitive or generous and I know that she will most definitely be in receipt today of the Karma that she is truly worthy of; her place in heaven. Love you mum. Your eldest child, Billy x." William Forde: April 29th, 2017.

April 28th, 2017.

28/4/2017

Thought for today:
"When I recently came across this image, it instantly brought my mind back to the cake shop of my youth. Twice in my young life cakes have caused me great embarrassment.

The first occasion was when I was three years old. My father was in England working in a Yorkshire pit near Bradford. He was trying to get family accommodation to bring my pregnant mother and my one-year-old sister, Mary, across from Ireland to live here. On the day in question, my mother took me and my sister into a Dublin Tea Shop. As was customary at the time, the assistant would automatically bring a pot of tea to the table without the need to order, along with a cake stand that contained a dozen different types of delicious buns. One ate what one required and then paid on the way out. My mother only had enough money to buy herself a cup of tea and by the time she realised what I'd done, I'd scoffed down one cream cake and was feeding my face with a second. The story she told us afterwards was that we quickly did an Irish runner.

The second occasion that a bun embarrassed me was when me and Geoffrey Griffiths (deceased for 25 years now), dared each other to enter a confectionery shop on our way to school in Heckmondwike and steal a cream bun. I was 9 years old and Geoffrey was 11 years old. Both of us considered ourselves to be the best thief on the estate and yearned to be proclaimed 'the winner' to the much-sought-after title. Now, the bun in question just wasn't any old bun, as that would have been too easy a task to accomplish for a pair of thieves with our shop-lifting abilities. We identified a particular large cream bun in the middle of the shop window crowned with a big, red cherry and said that we would steal 'that' bun. Geoffrey went into the shop first and when the owner wasn't looking, he swooped to steal the bun. After he came out of the shop grinning from here to the other side of next week, we noticed that he'd only managed to steal half of the cream bun; leaving the remaining half on display for all to see. It, therefore, fell to me to enter the shop, distract the owner and then steal the other half of cream bun which surely would have drawn suspicion on the two of us, had it been left there in its half-naked form.

Stealing was probably the strongest of urges in my early youth, and it was years later, in my adolescence that my propensity to steal stopped.I stole an apple from the display box of the estate greengrocer and instead of reporting the theft he saw me commit to either my parents or the police, he offered me a Saturday morning job in his shop for which I received half a crown wage. I started to find my own natural goodness which had never deserted me and I became a Probation Officer.

It was customary whenever a colleague's birthday arrived in the probation office, for the birthday boy/girl to buy cream cakes all round. They were over thirty colleagues who worked in the Probation Office and so there was always a birthday to celebrate and a cream cake to eat. I rarely ate one without recalling the two incidents of my life this morning's post refers to.

Despite it being over 60 years after my illegal foray into the world of cream cake confectionery, I never forgot my original sin as I licked the cream of temptation and allowed it to dissolve into the satisfaction of having 'made it' as a decent human being." William Forde: April 28th, 2017.

April 27th, 2017

27/4/2017

Thought for today:
"The great Mahatma Gandi had no earthly possessions to give, but what little he had to spare, he gladly gave. Such generosity of spirit he displayed breaks me with shame at the smallness of my charity.

Giving of oneself is not an instinctive thing that we are born with; we grow it within ourselves from birth. It is a behaviour that we develop along the way and need to practise regularly to reinforce and strengthen within our automatic response pattern. It is not a natural thing to do for any person to give away one's last penny in their purse or freely bestow a cherished item or belonging on another, but it certainly is a good way of life to aspire to.

My late mother was the most generous person who ever lived as well as being the biggest cadger. She found it impossible to walk from one end of town to the other without emptying half the contents of her purse into the outstretched hand of whichever beggar was the first to approach her. I knew that the beggar would buy a beer with my mother's charitable offering, whereas she also guessed he would but hoped he just might not. When we arrived back home from our outing she would then pester my father for money so that she could buy a packet of cigarettes. She was a chain smoker for most of her life. She lived for the taste of her next a cigarette yet they undoubtedly killed her in the process and took her to the other side long before her natural time in her early sixties.

Between 1990 and 2002, I visited and held assemblies in over two thousand Yorkshire schools. Of all the lessons that the teachers taught their pupils, the greatest one was the act of giving. Every week of every school term, teachers teach young pupils the power of giving. Almost every children's class in the country is encouraged to send their money to one charitable cause or another or to sponsor this or that poor child in a foreign land; despite their own shortage of funds. I believe that this lesson to be as great in the construction of character as being taught to read and write! I have always believed that it is through the act of giving that we travel farther and reach our destination more easily in our lives; truly becoming the good people we naturally are.

Wherever you are today and however rich or poor you feel yourself to be, there will always be another somewhere who is worse off; someone whose circumstances could benefit enormously from receiving a little from the bit you have. Please start your day by remembering them and end it knowing that you didn't forget them!" William Forde: April 27th, 2017."

April 26th.2017

26/4/2017

"Often, dreams are the answers to questions that we haven't yet figured out how to ask. If you forget to do something very important before you go to bed at the end of the day, don't be surprised if it screams out in your sleep and awakens you startled.

Whereas nightmares possess the power to poison sleep, dreams stimulate the creative processes of the brain. There is nothing so pleasurable as when future fact and past dreaming meet. It strengthens one's belief in destiny. However vague one's dreams are, they are always valid to one's life. My mother was a life-long dreamer and she often reminded me, 'Billy, every dream starts with a dreamer.'

As Mrs Beeton advised in her famous cookery book of recipes, Rabbit Pie: Instruction one: First catch the rabbit. Likewise, before your dreams can come true, you first have to dream." William Forde: April 26th, 2017.

April 25th, 2017.

25/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Not to smile at a child's innocent happiness is to swim in the well of life without tasting the waters of all the pleasures it has to offer. Hold on to their tiny hands with a gentleness of mind and heart, a softness of spirit and a bucket of eternal hope, for in those small fingers lie the future of generations and the aspirations of potential happiness yet to come.

I love being a dad and there was never a happier time in my life than when my children were babies and during their first five years of life. While I know that I was always destined to turn out a good man and decent husband, I believe deep down that parenthood was my happiest and most wonderful of vocations.

I know that the greatest gift my parents gave to me was that they believed in me. My father used to tell me that if I was fortunate to find a job that I loved to do, I'd never have to work another day in my life before I got my old age pension. While dad was a strict man and tried to raise his three sons as heroes in the 'John Wayne' mould, his greatest misjudgement was not to realise that if one raises their sons good enough, they will automatically become heroes.

Having only one daughter, like many fathers in my position, I was undoubtedly overprotective towards her on occasions. The thing I found hardest to discipline myself in was to refrain from having uncharitable thoughts about the manner of boyfriend she brought home when she entered her late teens. I found that watching Rebecca being collected at our home on a date was like handing over a £1 million Stradivarius to a gorilla on the prowl.

And yet despite any worry or heartache that my children have caused as they grew, they have brought me more happiness and joy having seen them grow into good men and women who possess all the qualities that goodness defines and hope embraces. I love them all." William Forde: April 25th, 2017.

April 24th, 2017

24/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Life's treasure chest is filled with personal assets that perform greater goodness than gold and coin ever could; assets like good character, love, patience, consideration, compassion, generosity and a belief in others. Your treasure chest was never meant to stay locked in dungeons deep while grief or the lack of opportunity to help others mourned its passing up above. Save not your assets lest the day arrives when you open the chest and find it empty with no longer presents to bestow.

Spread your wealth far and wide as soon as it comes into your possession and your friendship even wider and you will never want for lack of company or the love and kind thoughts of another.

It takes a boldness of spirit to give away all that one possesses, especially when the recipient may not be fully deserving, but it is only through the act of freely giving can one truly become the good person that our Maker meant us to be. It takes a greater boldness, however, to open our heart to all, our house to the stranger, our conscience to scrutiny and our soul to our God.

So, be generous in spirit, open in heart and you will never walk this world alone or cast lasting fortune to one side whenever it comes your way." William Forde: April 24th, 2017.

April 23rd, 2017

23/4/2017

Thought for today:
"When a feather falls to the ground and breaks the earth asunder, the Gods smile down upon mankind's fragility and inability to resist a higher force greater than themselves, however, light the substance. Were every person in the world to forcefully blow upwards at the descending feather, they would be unable to reverse gravity and the earth's natural pull and prevent it landing on the ground any more than they could pluck a feather from an angel's wing without the angel ever knowing.

Like a falsehood told in spite and malice that is intended to impugn reputation and character, once released, there is no telling here it will end up or the ultimate harm that will be done when the untruth finally comes to ground.

Tread lightly when you speak about the character of others, for they too carry the fragility of potential slander by the mere utterance of a false word and suggestion of character assassination.

I wish that I could go back in time and take back any untruthful or uncharitable words I have ever spoken about another. If I could, I would willingly place any danger of ill-thought or slander against my own name instead of theirs, but sadly I know that I cannot. All I can now do is not to repeat the wrong to them or another in the future and hope to be forgiven for past trespass.

This morning's 'Thought for today' has given me a wonderful idea for a future book to write when I feel well enough again to write it." William Forde: April 23rd, 2017.

April 22nd, 2017.

22/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Please forgive me if I have not commented on your many posts over the past two months or answered your daily queries, but quite honestly, my body has been tired and in need of total relaxation throughout the day in order to keep me going from one chemotherapy session to the next and my mind has been taxed sufficiently by simply composing my morning post.

I am, however, managing to negotiate the treatment despite the constant muscular pain it produces in my feet and hands. Sickness is being kept to a minimum although my body requires constant warmth and can be found in front of the fire most of the day. Sheila says that the lounge is like a furnace.

To say that I have had three separate cancers diagnosed in my body since early 2013, and am presently three-quarters of the way through my second course of chemotherapy, I am so greatful still to be alive to deliver my morning posts. There was a period of six weeks hospitalisation after I was admitted as an emergency on Boxing Day just past when it looked like I wouldn't make it and unknown to myself or Sheila a 'Do not resuscitate' (DNR) was medically placed on my hospital file. Thanks to all of your daily prayers and thoughts I did make it and have been fit enough to battle on since.It is good to be alive and is better still to be alive and to know that one is much loved and is in so many people's daily thoughts and prayers.

While I have believed in God, the power of prayer, miracles and the love of my wife and family since embracing all, there is presently within me a will to live that defies the very circumstances that surround me daily. I know in my own heart and soul that my time has not arrived and it shall not be this year; and I give my cancer full notice that though it gives me stomach ache from time to time, however much it disturbs and plays havoc with my inside, it will never prevent my determination to see out another spring, enjoy another summer, prevent me kicking autumn leaves one more time and see through another winter.

It is not much different to the story I was told as a youngster when a fox trapped a child and threatened to eat it. In his entreaty, the boy offered the greedy fox a deal he'd be unwise to turn down when he said, 'If you eat me, Mr Fox, I will only give you a stomach ache and you shall still require more food to satisfy your appetite. But.......if you spare me, I shall tell you where the fattest chickens roost and are to be found in abundance.'

There are so many of my Facebook friends who are visited by cancer and whose daily existences become the hardest of struggles. Please do not give up your heart or life to the greedy predator who wants to devour you. Instead, take a deep breath, pray for a sunny day and give warning to your cancer that if it wants to take your life, first it must take your 'will to live.' Like the reformed alcoholic, the person with cancer or other terminal illness has to learn to live each day one day at a time, and in the full knowledge that every sunny dawn one wakes to is God's blessing and mankind's reward. Have a good day, for I intend to make the most of mine." William Forde: April 22nd, 2017.

April 21st, 2017

21/4/2017

Thought for today:
"For most of my life as a staunch socialist between the ages of 18 years and forty, you could have marked me as a Republican through and through. Had Oliver Cromwell still been around then there would have been nothing square about my head!

And yet, like millions of children who were reared in the 40's and 50's, I was a monarchist. I even recall selecting to sing 'In a Golden Coach lies a heart of gold riding through old London town' at a school concert when Queen Elizabeth the Second got crowned on June 2nd, 1953.

When I was growing up on a council house estate in West Yorkshire, I recall being one of many thousands of children waving little flags stood by the roadside as the Queen passed by in her car from a distance. Even today, sixty years on, I remember the smile she wore that day, especially as I saved the mug that all English schools gave their pupils. It says something about us not being a throw-away society then as such ceramic mementoes are still intact in their millions and can still be picked up at car boot sales for coppers, whereas little effort is devoted to preservation these days, not even marriage or life itself!

Little did I realise as a child, that one day in the years ahead that I would see that royal smile up much closer when I called around to her house to see her. It had earlier been indicated in a somewhat official letter to me by 'The Honours Committee' that she wanted to pin a medal on me. It was an MBE; that's one up from a 'Blue Peter Badge' for the uninitiated. Though my official letter of recognition was stuffy, I could never say that about the Queen's smile. It hadn't seemed to change since the first time I'd glimpsed it from afar some forty years earlier.

Indeed, the more I think about things, how little I ever imagined as a child that one day I would have a number of brushes with royalty. I have been privileged in my time to have spoken with Princess Diana and Princess Margaret by phone, to have had Princess Anne open a Disability Centre for me in Dewsbury by personal request. I also sat five rows behind the Queen and Prince Philip at a stadium in Leeds many years before my investiture; although on that occasion I could only see the back of their heads as they nodded their royal approval. I couldn't tell what they were mouthing at the time; it might even have been a Yorkshire pork pie they'd been scoffing.

Many years ago, the famous photographer, David Bailey, released an image of Her Majesty, who he described as having a mischievous smile. I can most certainly testify to that.

Which leads me nicely to my investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace during 1995. As I approached the Queen to receive my gong, I was gobsmacked by Her Majesty’s lack of height, so much so that when she politely asked,'What kind of books do you write Mr Forde?' the only reply I could muster was, 'Good ones, Maam, good ones!'

As the Queen gave me a straight-faced glance with a look that reflected confusion instead of amusement, I could sense one of the Beefeaters behind her raise his axe in anticipation of her next command as he moved forward three paces. Suddenly that royal ‘We are not amused’ look suddenly changed. The royal face softened, the majestic cheeks widened and the Queen laughed: not smiled as protocol decrees, but palpably laughed! It may have been the quiet mischievous laugh of a reserved lady and not the raucous outburst of a ‘Barnsley belly buster’, but a royal laugh it was nevertheless; I’ve got it on video and photographs to prove it. Isn't life strange when all the water has been drained from the cooking pot?" William Forde: April 21st,2017.

April 20th, 2017

20/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Today is my son, James, 43rd birthday. When James and Adam were very young and I used to tell hem bedtime stories before they went to sleep, James would always guess the ending. That was when I decided to abandon their book and I started to tell them stories about a fictitious fox called 'Sleezy'. Now, when smarty pants James guessed the ending I simply snookered him by changing it.

In later years when I became a children's writer of some acclaim, one of my first story successes that the late Princess Diana used to read to her children at bedtime was the 'Sleezy the Fox' stories. She had heard about the theme of the book which is 'second chances' and wanted to acquaint the young Princes, William and Harry with this theme and stories. I often think amusingly that James was probably responsible for my becoming a children's author initially and that he and his brother were acquainted with the 'Sleezy Fox' stories before a future King of England had them read to him by his mother. Happy birthday, James. I love you, son.

Anyone can freely hear these four stories about 'Sleezy the Fox' by simply accessing my website through the link below:
http://www.fordefables.co.uk/sleezy-the-fox.html

Never underestimate the worth of a good book. I used to think that books were made only for those times when people involvement appeared too hectic and unpredictable and where a bit of escapism was required instead to still the mind and settle the soul. However, I have long ago learned that books are designed for all manner of person and situation.

Ever since spending one year in a hospital bed led me to read my first book from cover to cover at the age of eleven years, I have been hooked on the magic of books and have loved the written and spoken word. Books have grown my imagination and have represented landmarks in my life and development. They have nurtured, stimulated, sustained and supported me in times both happy and sad where a degree of emotional distancing from the world and the cruelty of reality was required.

By the age of twelve years, I was reading medical books to better understand why I was unable to walk and why I had no feeling below my waist. Between twelve and fifteen I read every classic adventure book I could get my hands on. Being unable to walk with the prospect of always remaining immobile, I learned how to mentally run alongside the book characters. Between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, I read all manner of meditation book to get me walking again and to minimise the effects of a limp that had been created by over fifty-three operations on my left leg which had stunted its growth; leaving a three-inch disparity between the two. By eighteen years of age, I was the youngest shop steward in Great Britain and was reading about the Jarrow March, The Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Luddites and all manner of industrial and trade-union history, dispute and tradition.

My two years in Canada and the USA during the early 1960's led to me reading all of the most renown American writers, along with some of the most obscure ones. During my late twenties, I read around five books every week; mostly classical, historical or biographical. It may have been a character flaw of mine, but I loved reading about men and women of small and common stature who went on to do rare and great things for the betterment of humanity.

I was in my late twenties when I read a book which was to have a profound effect on me and was to put me back on my path to destiny; Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables.' This book was to change the course of my life again and eventually lead me to stop being a Mill Manager and guided me towards a career in Probation Officer work. As a child I had grown up learning to steal and to stretch the truth with the best of them and by the age of sixteen years, I vowed never again to steal or to deliberately tell an untruth; a promise I have been able to maintain with some great difficulty ever since.

My years as a Probation Officer between the ages of thirty and fifty-three led me into the disciplines of behaviorism, emotional disturbance, relaxation training, hypnotism, assertion training, fear reduction, anger management and stress management consultancy. Almost all my reading had to be obtained from either France or America as I was involved in pioneering work and needed to keep abreast of research studies around the world as I engaged myself in closely examining the essence and composition of behavioural response patterns. I needed to learn more about the functioning of the human body and so much of my reading involved medical papers and books on psychology and neurosis; most of which needed to be obtained from the USA or Sweden and which cost an arm and a leg to purchase.

At the grand old age of forty-eight years, I was asked to provide relaxation training to children of Primary School level. Given the complexity of the concepts to be communicated to the 5-8-year-old to make this possible, I found that the best way of getting them into the process of relaxation was through telling them a story which I had constructed. Having a higher than usual public profile from my pioneering work in the field of Relaxation methods and Anger Management which was daily attracting increased regional publicity and national attention, I was then asked by the Probation Service to write a children's story book which covered themes and emotions that children found difficult to deal with or healthily express like bullying, jealousy, bereavement, homelessness, separation and loss etc. I wrote my first published book for children called, 'Everyone and Everything' in November 1989 and after selling over three thousand copies to primary schools in West Yorkshire within the space of four weeks and allowing all £10,000 profit to go to 'Children in Need,' I've been writing for children, young persons and adults ever since.

During my earlier years of getting my work published and more widely read, I never actually saw myself as being a writer; more as a 'social crusader' masquerading as an author in disguise. Not only was I doing something that I loved, but apart from the £200,000 profits that my published book sales made for charity, my reading and writing continued to nurture, stimulate, sustain and support me at all times ever since.

It is only in later years that I have been more prepared to take on the mantle of 'author'. Since 2010 when my wife Sheila persuaded me to take up the pen again, I have been writing short stories for adults which can be freely read on my website www.fordefables.co.uk under the umbrella title 'Tales from Portlaw'. I recently had my first two 'strictly for adults' novels entitled 'Rebecca's Revenge' and 'Come Back Peter' published. They can be purchased from www.smashwords.com and all established e-book providers, or if you prefer it in hard copy from www.lulu.com and amazon.

I have just had my sixty-sixth book published and cannot wait to start writing my next story. For the moment though, with my current course of chemo treatment being only part way through, apart from my 'Thought for today' I do not seem ready to take up my pen again yet, For the past three years, all of my previous published books have been made available in both e-book format and hard copy, with all book sale profits, pledged to charitable causes in perpetuity. Have a nice day and good reading.

I attach a photograph of my four sons (James is the second from the left). As for my son, James, enjoy your birthday and never forget that your dad loves you deeply, always has and always will. Love Dad xxx " William Forde: April 20th, 2017.

April 19th, 2017

19/4/2017

Thought for today:
"When I was growing up, being the eldest of seven children born to my Irish, Catholic parents meant having additional responsibility within the family setting. The family functioned largely by each member of it being responsible for the next youngest in line to them while my mother cooked, cleaned, washed, ironed and darned her day away. With my father labouring 12 hours a day in the foundry or the mine to economically support us, and with my mother being regularly in the hospital giving birth to another trooper of the 'Forde Regiment', I assumed the role of Commander-in-Chief during my parents' absence from the home.

People born into smaller and financially sound families never experience the second-hand and hand-me-down practices and responsibilities that were a part of our survival kit. Not only were clothes and shoes passed down to the next brother or sister in the pecking age order, but so was the prime responsibility of looking after the next younger sibling! I'll never forget the first tricycle that my brother Patrick received as a birthday present. It was second- hand, of course, but by the time he passed it down to his younger brother, Peter a few years later, he'd run it around the garden so much that he'd buckled the front wheel.

My overall responsibility was to oversee 'all' of them 'overseeing each other'. Although now 74 years of age, I still have that feeling of responsibility towards my six younger brothers and sisters who have grown stronger since both of our parents died many years ago. I strongly suspect that it is a feeling of responsibility that will pass to my sister Mary when I eventually go to my grave. Until then, Mary and the rest of my siblings, are you each sure that you are still keeping your eye out for your younger sibling? I'll know if you're not, and so will mum and dad!" William Forde: April 19th, 2017.

April 18th, 2017

18/4/2017

Thought for today:
"I can never understand why most psychologists and matrimonial guidance counselors in the West think that they were the first ones to come up with the concept of advising quarrelling couples to 'Take time out' as a means of resolving domestic issues.

There's nothing new in this. Men with wifely ear-ache have been seeking refuge in the pub, in their garden shed or down at the allotments for centuries past while wives have visited friends houses or other establishments to rid themselves of the tedium of their husbands. I can remember my father going out for many a long walk or even cutting the grass of his large house lawn for two or three hours (even when it didn't require mowing), just to get his 'time out' and away from mum.

I once read that couples in Indonesia and the Polynesian Islands have found it just as effective to achieve their 'time out' during the past four hundred years simply by sitting at opposite sides of a tree trunk, and staying there until their problem has been resolved. This process inevitably leads the warring couple talking to each other with their backs to each other. During this process, they 'get it out of their system' what they think is currently wrong with their relationship, even if it involves hurtful truths. They believe that giving criticism comes easier when one isn't looking directly at the person they are criticising. They also believe that listening to severe criticism of oneself with backs turned, forces the offended person to be less dismissive of what they hear and leads them to consider their action from a more balanced perspective; thereby being more willing to amend their ways. They found that this method of 'time out' makes it possible to look at life from a different direction and finish up happily looking at one another again!"

It is in short what modern therapists would call 'emotional distancing' and invariably charge you £40 for the knowledge and which is totally unnecessary, especially in these economically lean times. In fact, it could be said to be a 'rip off.' Far better instead to simply advise both disputing partners to find an old tree trunk and sort it out on their own and save their money for a celebratory drink and make-up meal out afterwards. And should that not work, then there is always a visit to friends for coffee, the pub or the allotments!" William Forde: April 18th, 2017.

April 17th, 2017

17/4/2017

Thought for today:
I was recently going through some old posts of mine and came across one I did following the sad passing of Denise Gibson's faithful dog, Balou, some three years ago. When I initially heard of Balou's passing and saw his picture walking the moors, it reminded me of a number of ageing creatures who are slowly approaching their end and the immense pleasure they derive from the experience of 'just one more day' enjoying God's country of Haworth.

My friend Denise Gibson kindly gave me initial permission to offer this humble tribute to Balou who was much loved and is sadly missed and it greatly pleases me to remember Balou's anniversary around this time of year.

Often when we walk alone, we do not have to be alone. Sometimes when we walk alone, we choose to be alone. We all walk alone when the path way isn’t wide enough to take another. Yet to occupy space alone where two could easily walk side-by-side is wasteful in the extreme.

Throughout our lives each of us will come into contact with wonderful people and beautiful creatures. If we are wise, we will chose to walk alongside them in their exploits and adventures. If we are fortunate they will elect to walk with us, stay with us as long as possible, laugh with us and show us how to wag our tails in all weathers.

Our love for each other will remain forever constant as long as one chooses not to be the lord and master over the other and both are afforded a respect that is just and proportionate. And when the time comes to part and walking side-by-side no longer occurs, tread carefully as you retrace old walks, as feelings of the heart are often too fragile to easily settle until the ground has hardened and is softened once more with the season’s turning.

Farewell old friend. Farewell Balou." William Forde: April 17th, 2017.

April 16th, 2017

16/4/2017

Thought for today:
"I woke up this early morning with a great deal of muscular pain in my feet, legs, hands and arms, but feeling very positive about the day ahead. As my chemotherapy course enters its second half, the body effects of the treatment becomes more aggressive and I need constant platelet and blood transfusions (usually weekly), to fight off infections as I have no effective immune system and to keep my major organs working from one course of three-weekly chemo treatment to the next. Consequently, I shall spend Easter Monday visiting hospital and getting a number of vital blood tests, and Easter Tuesday as an inpatient for the day receiving platelets and blood transfusions.

I always remember my mother telling me, 'You may as well enjoy yourself today,Billy, as be a misery.Today is as good a day to be happy as any other day.' Today is Easter Sunday and in the eyes of all Christians, it is a day of celebration and rebirth. A very happy Easter to my family and friends wherever they are. I hope that your day is filled with peace, contentment, happiness, love and a generosity of spirit that knows no bounds.

As I grew older I knew that my mother was right. Days are what we make them. We make our own days, we make our life; we make our own happiness. We must learn to make our own decisions as we make our way in the world.

Enjoy the rest of your day. Keep it simple and uncomplicated. Easter is the most spiritual time of the year. Confuse not your wants with your needs and your desires with demands, for demands and needs are like a twisted corkscrew in the mind and cannot easily be pulled apart.

To tell ourselves that we 'need' something is to automatically go on to tell ourselves that 'needs must be met and if they aren't something bad will happen.' Our perceived need can then lead us to 'demand' as opposed to 'desire.' When we demand, we are essentially trying to get someone to meet a perceived need of ours which we wrongly believe to be essential; a need which is no more in reality than a want or desire. Through such entanglement of twisted thought we turn potential wants into needs, desires into demands, hassles into horrors, irritation into enragement, and good days into bad!

A very happy Easter weekend everyone. I will rest up today and prepare for Monday and Tuesday in the knowledge that today is a good day." William Forde: April 16th, 2017.

April 15th, 2017

15/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Dogs never miss a thing! I remember dear Lady, who we lost a while back. She had this uncanny capacity to sense when you were on top of the world or a bit under the weather and her mood in your presence would readjust accordingly. I still miss her absence from my life deeply as she was was of the few creatures who truly understood my idiosyncrasies.

Whenever I was thinking things out she would always give me her puzzled look of uncertainty and as a reassurance, I would simply hold her head tenderly, look into her searching eyes and say something like, 'Look not into my eyes too deeply for I am presently thinking and I need to work things out. I don't want to worry you; merely protect you until I am no longer able to.'

I particularly miss her first thing on a morning as seeing her made me instantly know that we were both pleased to be alive and up and about. Every day that Sheila and I sat across from the table on our computers, Sheila doing her stars and me my writing of another novel, she would nuzzle us in turn (I mean Lady not Sheila), but as soon as I put a piece of food to my mouth, her total affection would be turned towards me, or was it her attention?

I miss you, Lady. I am so pleased I have your mistress, Sheila, to be there for me now that you aren't." William Forde: April 15th, 2017.

April 14th, 2017.

14/4/2017

Thought for today:
"I was never blinded by the moonlight until that night when we first kissed and held hands by the foot of the mountains. I still vividly recall your touch, your smell, your 'little-girl' smile when you laughed and tossed back your hair in the wanton abandonment of all prior relationships. Then, you had the strength of an ox and the courage of a lion as you spoke about all the things you planned to do with the remainder of your life and all the different places in the world that you would visit before old age struck down your freedom of movement and impaired your ease of limbs.

To now hear your shallow breath as I watch you sleep pains me deeply and wraps my heart in the barbed wire of pending loss to come. To see you now, my dearest, as your feeble body sinks effortlessly into the sheets of the bed you have lived in for nigh on two years this September, no longer reflects the woman you were to me in robust health and unbridled passion; the woman of old who was so determined to live life to the full and to brook no nonsense in its making. No more does the mountain cast its image across the lake in a true reflection of what once was.

Soon, dearest, I fear my darkest day to come when the moon will set forever behind the mountain and only your shadow shall remain in the places around me. Oh love of my life, why did you have to go and die before me? Could you not have lingered a while longer so that we may have journeyed together one last time to our favourite place by the mountain in the moonlight?" William Forde: April 14th, 2017.

April 13th, 2017.

13/4/2017

Thought for today:
"There is nomistaking happiness when the heart is filled with love, for that is the time when the face is resplendent in fulfilment. That is the moment when one is happy with what they have and like the child, are excited about what they want and what is yet to come.

The wisest among us have known for centuries that doing what you like carries with it a freedom to rejoice and liking what you do brings happiness. If our purpose in life is to have few regrets, it makes good sense to be happy as often as possible, for when we smile we forget the chains of life which trauma and everyday problems tend to shackle us with.

Happiness, once caught is infectious. I first caught the virus of happiness when I developed the confidence to laugh at life and myself. Fifty years teaching Relaxation Training taught me that we use less energy to smile than to frown, so we may as well laugh at life instead of pulling a face when the choice is offered. I have always been lucky to have a job that was highly satisfying and soon discovered that once you do something you love, it comes more naturally and you find that you never have to work at it again. I found that I used less energy being happy instead of being sad and also learned that happiness, like love, wasn't particularly a goal I had to pursue in order to find it: it was all around me, just waiting to be picked up. I learned that happiness was the immediate product of a genuine smile and an open heart. I remember my mother telling me as a child, 'Billy, only the fool seek happiness in the distance when it is here for the taking.'

Until more recent years when global weather patterns have become more extreme and widespread, we were blessed in this country with the splendid bounty of our four seasons, all which I love and each one special for their different experiences and shades of happiness which comes with it. I long wondered why some people liked all four seasons of the year whilst others liked some yet disliked others. I have now come to strongly suspect that all seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within and that just as much glee awaits those who are prepared to dance in the rain as well as relax in the sun. In short, if you want to be happy you need not be a fair weather person. If you want to be happy, then just be so!

I have always been blessed with never once having to experience boredom or depression and though I have always enjoyed life to the full, I have tended to just get on with it and try not to measure the amount of happiness it has bestowed on me. I am now 74 years old and despite having a terminal illness, I continue to look forward to tomorrow every bit as much as I ever have. As the French novelist Colette, whose best-known work is probably the novella 'Gigi' once said, 'What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realised it sooner.' "William Forde: April 13th, 2017.

April 12th, 2017

12/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Today is my brother, Patrick's, birthday. I still recall the very first time that Patrick brought home his girlfriend, Elaine, whom he later married. It was during the season of spring. She was the very first girl he ever brought home and the only one he introduced to my parents. A very happy birthday, brother. May your special day be filled with much happiness, love, peace and generosity.

Whereas spring may bring forth the unbridled passion of young lovers, it takes a summer to truly understand those romantic feelings, an autumn to feel comfortable with them and a winter to adapt to them; knowing that they will stay in your memory until the end of your days.

Many hope in a second union that those emotions of full-blown passion that enabled them to throw all caution to the wind in order to be with and do the things that they did with their past love can be resurrected in the warmth of their second spring of life, and few, I understand, manage to achieve something akin to their original experience.But no two experiences can ever be the same or as satisfying to the heart and soul. To receive the 'Lasting Love Dividend', only those who experience all four seasons will never feel short changed.

Should ever you feel the loss of love you once shared, return to the field of your dreams and remember what it was you once dreamed there and why. It is only in this way can you best hope to recapture those magic feelings of unfettered romance and faith in the future. Feel the closeness of the way he held you; recall the wildflowers that grew at your feet, the silent river in the distance as the the wind blew ever so slightly; just enough to tell you it was there. And know that even though your field of dreams was Nature's magic feat, without my love still beside you, the magic's incomplete." William Forde: April 12th, 2017.

April 11th, 2017

11/4/2017

Thought for today:
"Today, my youngest sister Susan celebrates her 60th birthday. Having been born at the opposite end of a seven-sibling family (she the youngest and me the oldest), we were brought up in the same family, the same household and by the same parents, and yet the 14-year generation gap we experienced essentially meant our growing up experiences would never be similar. As I grew into family life, I knew that I was the eldest to parents who were still deeply in love, but by the time Susan was in her teens, the romantic gloss had worn off our parents' marriage and the normality of struggling to survive week to week, along with more arguments between mum and dad was a permanent household feature.

Over the past few years, our Susan, who has been gainfully employed as an Area Social Work Manager for many years, has become a grandmother and dotes upon her grandchildren. Her daughter, Evie, is also scheduled to get married this summer. Despite having had her share of domestic difficulties in the past, our Susan has always remained a person content with her life. Happy 60th birthday, Susan. I love you lots, little sister.

When I was a young boy, my mother would say, 'Billy, you may never know what you want to be until you grow up, but whatever you turn out to be, I pray that you'll be content!' I learned very early on in my life that 'contentment' was the art of getting out of every situation all the good that there is in it. Being born the eldest of seven children into a family of materially poor circumstances taught me that the richest person isn't the one who has the most of material life, but the one who needs the least.

Sometimes when I complained that I didn't have the things that other boys had, my mother would remind me, 'Billy, you have much more. When I die, I will leave you the greatest inheritance of all. I might leave you a few debts to clear off, but you will have the knowledge that I always loved you, and have left you the legacy of your six brothers and sisters by your side. There is no greater treasure I can leave you, believe me.' She was so right.

Over the years that followed, my mother's words proved their weight in gold. I learned that when I didn't get everything I wanted, that I could at least be content with the fact that the things I didn't want, I didn't get either; things like depression, despair, destitution, lack of confidence or doubt in myself and the future, and very importantly, lack of brother and sisterly love and support!

Whatever powered my mother to get through her arduous days with a smile and a giving heart, it was the ability to see the good in every situation and never focus on the negative that provided her with the inner energy. Her power of positive thinking taught me that nothing is either good or bad in this world that thinking it so will not make it so! I also learned through positive thinking that I could always get what I wanted out of life once I learned to make do with what I had and learn to want what I got!

Finally, teachings from my Catholic religion, along with teachings ascribed to the Buddha taught me that 'less is more' once I started to appreciate and accept that everything we possess that is not necessary to one's life and happiness has the potential to become a burden, and that a day rarely passes when we do not add to it. Therein lay the wealth of my inheritance and legacy that my mother left me when she died. She was a woman who often carried an empty purse and would give any outstretched hand her last penny. She had the biggest of hearts; a heart filled with an amount of generosity that never stopped giving, and a mind stuffed with Irish wisdom that she gladly shared......when she wasn't looking after a busy household, a husband and seven children!" William Forde: April 11th, 2017.

April 10th, 2017.

10/4/2017

Thought for today:
"As a general rule, my sleeping pattern has always been pretty good as I'm in bed most nights around 10.00 pm, I am asleep by 10.30 pm and I'm awake, refreshed and up by 8.00 am to face a new day. Since I contracted my terminal illness, however, and especially when I am receiving a course of chemotherapy, my pattern can be sometimes irregular. Occasionally, like tonight, because I slept a long time last night and rested all day, it is almost 2.30 am and I have still not gone to bed and am wide awake. Sometimes, I may wake up around three and if I don't go back to sleep again, I simply get up for a few hours and occupy my alert mind.

I have been a Relaxation Trainer for over fifty years and could if I so wished to, encourage my body to go to sleep through the employment of imagination exercises. However, I learned many years ago that it is the 'quality' of sleep that governs one's daily behaviour and not the duration! Providing one can get six hours good sleep on average, nothing untoward is likely to adversely affect one.

Now, going to sleep with a worried mind is a much different matter to worry about and is a state of affairs that should not be ignored. Being constantly untruthful, occasionally unfaithful, behaviourally proving unreliable and untrustworthy in your dealings with others or generally not living a good life are all things that are capable of the disruption in good sleeping patterns and the loss of good sleep. Also, money troubles, partner troubles, child concerns or for that matter anything that is able to trouble your daily mind and is still mentally unresolved by the time your head hits the pillow will trouble your potential of exercising a good sleeping pattern. If you go to bed with worries inside your head, they will not resolve themselves when you close your eyes. You will either be unable to get to sleep or if you do have small spells of broken sleep or a mixture of broken sleep, your sleeping pattern may be disturbed by nightmares.

Many people who have lost a loved one that they miss so badly in their lives can be adversely affected by not having mentally and psychologically allowed their body to move forward since their loved one's death even many years later. Their mind tells them that they ought to 'move on', their body can shout at them to 'move on', yet their inner worry tells them it would be a betrayal and be wrong to 'move on' and give one's future love to another. I know so many bereaved persons in this psychologically sinking boat that will never allow them to place their feet back on steady ground with establishing romantic and loving relationships again, and the vast majority of them have poor sleeping patterns.

Gandhi once said that the human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience. I know, that for me, I sleep better each night when I have lived a wholesome day in which I have tried to be a good partner, friend and neighbour. When I hit the bed to settle down, I know that there is no pillow as soft and comforting as a 'clear conscience.'

Most of us instinctively know what is the right thing to do, and the hardest part we often find is doing it. We often ascribe conscience as being an arbiter of truth in all matters great while forgetting that a clear and sensitive conscience is no more than a steady and scrupulous integrity in the small things as well! We have to acknowledge what our body needs, even when our mind is not yet quite ready to fully accept or readjust to it.

Conscience is no hider of the truth and is forever witness to the wrong we are part of. It is that silent part of the inner conversation that warns us that someone may be looking so we 'd better do right. Well, let me tell you as a Christian, someone is always watching you! I have always been interested in discerning the 'poker face'; the person who can tell you a bare-faced lie without a blink of their eyes or a look of deception. whereas others cannot deceive anybody and disguise the lie that is written large across their face. None of us, however, can truly deceive ourselves. Sleep patterns can often be unhealthy simply because we are attempting to do the impossible; deceiving ourselves throughout the day in both thought and deed. And all the sleeping pills in the world, however much they initially knock you out, are incapable of convincing you in your sleep that a lie is actually the truth!

In terms of society as a whole, I frequently ask myself, 'Where is man's conscience to allow such and such to happen in their world without intervention?' We can be remiss when it comes to looking out for our friends, families and neighbour, yet we save the greatest loss of way far too often for ourselves. It is only when we neglect conscience does the mind and body become disjointed in purpose and the commission of wrong, and in rarer circumstances, evil, become possible.The best way to have inner guidance to signpost our way is to let our conscience be our bodily compass.

While the voice of conscience is so delicate that it can be easily stifled, it is nevertheless impossible to mistake it. It is a peace above all earthly dignities morally measured and is never far away from the good cause. Should you ever engage in either a misguided or bad cause, it will stir you and leave you unsettled; making inner peace once more only possible after you have righted the initial wrong or resolved your problematic feelings."

So the next time you are up looking at your laptop during the middle of the night when most folk are fast asleep, ask yourself first, 'How do I really feel about my life right now? Am I happy with it and the things I daily do? Or are there things that I would like to do, places I would like to be and persons I would prefer to be with if only I 'could move on.' If the answers to some of these important questions suggest that a change is needed to make you happier, have a piece of three o'clock am toast and a cup of tea and return to bed resolved to do something tomorrow to start such change. If on the other hand, you have a perfectly happy life, still have your three o'clock tea and toast before going back to bed with a clear conscience. It really doesn't matter if you don't drop off to sleep when you are happy and your conscience is clear as mental and bodily rest is in the process of total resolution; it only matters when you worry!

I hope that some of these issues may provide possible answers and solutions, both clarifying things for some poor sleepers as to what is happening to interrupt and disturb their sleeping patterns while reassuring those without unresolved daily problems that it isn't the invention of new problems when you are in bed that is preventing you sleeping. We don't find ourselves hatching new problems at nighttime in bed; merely unresolved daily ones!I'm off to my bed now for a good sleep and will be up around 10.00 am."::William Forde: April 10th, 2017.

April 9th, 2017

9/4/2017

Thought for today:
"There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull of a person in a loveless/failing relationship that is most unlikely to improve: how do you hang on to someone who won't stay or how do you get rid of someone who won't go?

The dilemma of many in a once-loving but now sterile relationship is that we hate change, want it, yet fear it at the same time. What we really want from such relationships is to remain together, but to get better.

Life constantly sways between the sharp horns of uncertainty and the guarantee of occasional disappointment, especially in matters of the heart. Imagine finding your true love yet not having the courage to declare your affection and losing all chance of lasting happiness? Vacillation is truly the loser's dilemma.

There are some in life who have not yet found true love once, whilst there are others like myself, who managed to find love a number of times, thankfully at different stages in my life. Imagine therefore the dilemma of finding two people at the same time; each of whom wants to be your suitor and each you truly love.

Such decisions of the heart must be the hardest of all decisions one is ever asked to make and yet, if one is to be true to oneself, it would be wrong to marry either while still holding as much love for the other. There is a part of me that says, 'Far better to lose both loves, retain one's memories and keep one's heart intact. Either that or marry one and maintain a life-long affair with the other.' Dilemmas....dilemmas.

When I was growing up, my mother constantly bragged about 'Tommy Stone', the most handsome young man who was ever born in Portlaw and one who eagerly sought her hand (or some other part of her attractive anatomy) prior to my father coming on the scene. One holiday in our teens, myself and two of my sisters happened to meet Tommy Stone on a holiday to Ireland and I can tell you most certainly that we never let my mother brag about their brief contact again. Gone was the fair-haired muscular Adonis with his manly jaw structure and pearly white teeth and a smile and mouth of Irish sweet-talk that could disarm the resistance of any Portlaw virgin in minutes, and in its place hung a paunched-bellied, bald-headed, toothless wonder who looked like he'd experienced the wringer of life instead of its smoothest path since my mum and he last walked the road to Sunday Mass together as he chatted her up.

We returned back to England preserving our recent snapshots of Tommy Stone, just to remind mum how much she could change the image in her mind of 'the good old days of her courtship youth' whenever it suited her purpose.

At this point, I remember the advice my mother would have given me, had I ever found myself in such a romantic dilemma of loving two women at the same time in my life. Had she had a few rum and black currents to drink following a night out playing bingo she would have undoubtedly advised,'Go for it, Billy. If you can have the two instead of one, why not live lad?', but in the clear head of another day, her advice would have been more sober and reflective. She would have undoubtedly warned, 'Billy, choose one but choose wisely. The moral dilemma is to make peace and not remain faithful to the unacceptable, and make sure that whatever you give her as a token of your love; always give her flowers every week.'

My mother loved her flowers and asked that we placed them in her hands while she was capable of smelling them and not waste them on her grave." William Forde: April 9th, 2017.

April 8th, 2017

8/4/2017

Thought for today:
"We shall get so few opportunities in our lives to make a significant impact on the world in which we live. So when such opportunity arises, we should be ready to abandon all doubt,'reach for the sky' and 'fly with it,' for the chance to truly shine may come but once. Those who dare to dream their dream do and those who don't are destined to remain in dark obscurity.

I have always thought that the best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up to all of the possibilities that this big world offers us. The world is vast enough to handle anything we dream and is capable of passing each of us our unopened parcel of possibilities.

My mother used to tell me that dreams are the touchstones of our character, or to use her words, 'Billy, dreams will make you what you are and not what you do, that is why it's important to go to sleep every night with a clear conscience, so you can dream your dream.'

Just imagine what one might dare to dream if one knew one wouldn't fail? I do truly believe that the future you see is the future you get. I've always believed that we miss out when we don't pursue our dreams.

I will end with a quotation by the writer John Updike who said, 'Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.'" William Forde: April 8th, 2017.

April 7th, 2017.

7/4/2017

Thought for today:
"How different is the life and times of young men and women of today compared to the period when I was their age. I remember my time in the mill and having to walk two miles to start work for 7.00 am as the bus either got there forty minutes early or ten minutes late after the hooter had gone. In those days, the penalty was one half hour's wage docked for being one minute late clocking in on the first occasion and if it happened twice in the same week, it was a sacking offence and you were promptly given your cards!
My first job was at Bulmer and Lumb's Mill, Cleckheaton in 1957. I started on two pounds and ten shillings a week, from which I received ten shillings back from my mother to spend on myself from one payday to the next. Until one was engaged to be married, one's unopened wage packet was always handed to the woman of the house and woe betide any male who'd been found to have tampered with it betwixt work and home! Once engaged to be married, the young person would be allowed to pay 'board and keep' until the happy day they planned marriage. This allowed the possibility to save for one's bottom drawer when you moved from parental to the marital abode. It was only by the late 1960's when a young man began feeling a bit aggrieved if he was still tipping up his wage packet to mum after the age of 21 years.
It mattered not how posh or poor a property was that a couple could afford for their first matrimonial home, so long as it was their own place. Anyone with an ounce of self-respect would have preferred to have lived in the allotment shed with their newly-married bride than have her share the kitchen space in their mother's house or occupy the adjacent bedroom! As for saving for a place of one's own and starting off married life on the property ladder, all that was required was three year's economic hardship, scrimping and saving, working all the hours God sent in overtime and forgoing 'the nights out with the boys' for 'the nights in with the girl.' Sticking this out for three hard years was what was required in order to get together the deposit on a modest one-up and one-down terraced house in a cobbled backstreet, in the hope that you would be able to save more money for a larger property before the second baby was born.
Occasionally, there were those shot-gun weddings where a couple who'd been found wanting had been 'caught short' and were given what neither had expected. At such times, the parlour curtains would be partly drawn by the shamed parents to signify the loss of a lifelong dream for their once-virgin daughter while the pregnant bride-to-be would be forced to abandon hope of her all-white wedding dress along with the full church ceremony she might otherwise have had. Instead of walking proudly down the church aisle with her father by her side, she'd have to borrow a two-piece Marks and Spark's costume from Aunt Dot to wear at the five-minute-do they'd have at the Registry Office to which only close family members had been invited; though not all might come. For these trapped couples, they had no other option than being obliged to live with their mother-in-law until the baby had been born and a return to work was again possible.
Once newly married, the new husband and now man of the house returned to a lifetime of handing over unopened wage packets to the new woman of the house; his wife! She had now assumed the role of the chancellor of his exchequer and would grant him an agreed spending allowance for sweets, tobacco and beer rations after the rent and other necessities had been met. And if there was nothing left.......(wait for it)......... he got nothing but fresh air to put back inside his pocket to play with!
Though work in the mill or factory could be arduous and life in the home wasn't always a bundle of fun, there was always merriment to be had between the mill workers, whether young or old. All the mill hands seemed to have been born with a wicked sense of humour. Workers in mills came in both sexes, all sizes and all ages, and it was this wide and varied mixture of daily social contact that kept the tedium of one's routine working day at bay. During their first day of work, every new worker in the 1950s and 60's was sent to the storeroom for the 'glass hammer' or a 'long weight' and were not seen on the mill floor again until day two. If today's Saturday night revelers and boozers think that they invented the practice of 'mooning,' then they never saw what happened to the new boy's trousers the very first day he had occasion to walk through a room of women machine workers who were determined to baptise his manhood in their tried and tested textile tradition, by oiling his todger!
By 1960 and the age of 18 years I had changed textile mills and was working a standard 11-hour-day with only one break of a half-hour at dinner time. We could all go to the lavatory, have a smoke or mash a cup of tea, providing we didn't stop the production line and kept our machines running in our absence. Hence, the practice of one machine operative looking out for their mate's machine was born and 'multi-tasking' first came into existence! You see, mill workers knew that to keep the cogs of the British Nation turning, a pairing agreement was essentially required with one's work mate; a practice that the Members of Parliament later stole off the mill workers of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
For the vast majority of us workers, we stayed in the same job for life. We lived on the same street with, played with, went to school with and worked in the mill with the same village folk we'd grown up with all our lives. From this close community bond, we forged lifelong friendships and found marriage partners who knew and accepted our ways. When we married, it was invariably within our own class and those who dared to attempt to cross the social divide via the back door of wedlock were soon discovered once they opened their mouth and started to speak or were presented with a knife, fork and spoon to eat with in polite company. Often, the first 'give away' sign as to which side of the railway track one had been born on was discovered whether one 'ate' or 'dined or 'went to the 'lavatory' or 'toilet.' The clincher though was the time and title of their daily meals: you see, their 'dinner' was our 'tea!'
And yet despite such social differences and class distinctions that aren't experienced today, I wouldn't have changed one bit of my early life and work experiences for all the Cappuccino coffee one could find in today's Costa coffee houses. Bright children from working class homes could progress to the university via the 11-Plus exam pass to Grammar School and social mobility was possible for most to better their lot in life, if they chose or had the opportunity to take it!
I progressed from mill labourer through the ranks of working foreman, supervising foreman and mill manager between the ages of 15-26 years of age and I will always remember my earliest years in the mill as some of the happiest days of my working life. It was a hard life at the time, but it was a good life and an honest life and I'm so pleased that I was a part of those memorable times.
When I look back on the 1950s and 1960's, I know that I lived through a time when great change was happening throughout society, though I could never have realised then how much of the country I had grown up in and loved would one day be lost forever to the people of England. Never could I have imagined the loss of proud practice, treasured heritage, cultural values, community spirit and the breakdown of the nucleus family which have occurred since. Never could I have believed that, as a nation, we would forever lose these precious aspects of 'the good life' to the ravages of sterile modernity and European emptiness!
I feel so so sorry for the youth of today. Though it was always a struggle from crib to grave for the working class man and woman, even in the 1950s and 60's there were choices we could make and there was always light at the end of the tunnel one could glimpse. Any struggle felt during those years wasn't a fight for sheer survival as it appears for so many to be today. I feel intensely for the young of the New Millennium as they continue their struggle through the economic collapse, mass unemployment, insufficient housing stock, educational loans, credit card debt and the moral morass that leaves millions mired in seemingly hopeless circumstances. Never in my wildest of dreams would I have believed how many people in their late thirties still live at home with mum and dad in 2017.
I will end for now as I'm about to have dinner in two hours' time. I'll leave you to figure out the time of day it is!" William Forde: April 7th, 2017

April 6th, 2017

6/4/2017

Thought for today:
"You must take responsibility for your own life if you want contentment and satisfaction to be a constant part of it. You can't keep blaming someone else for your disappointments. Life is really about seizing the moment and moving on, not looking back in permanent regret. Do not let the past steal your present or rob you of your most precious dreams. No one has ever been known to get a life looking backwards instead of forward, where one's future lies. Let the past bury its own dead; you've got your future to look forward to!

If you want to love life for all its worth, you must first learn to value it. Look always in the direction where 'positivism' is to be found and negative thought is forbidden to dwell. This requires one being constantly channelled within an energy force that is determined to do good. Everything around us is made up of energy and therefore, to attract all things positive in our lives, starts with oneself giving off positive energy.

Positive people believe in self as well as others. I have always done things that others tell me I cannot do. That is how I get them done. I will not be defined by what others think of me or by 'what I did,' as opposed to 'what I do.' I refuse to be prodded, pressurised and pushed by problems when being led by my dreams makes me a more content individual. In the final analysis, there are only two ways to live one's life. One way is to believe that nothing is a miracle and the other is to believe that everything is! Looking around at the birth of a child and all the mystery of nature and its four seasons, I much prefer to believe the latter.

So look forward to tomorrow by being purposeful in all you do today. One of the biggest mistakes in life is to travel through it without purpose or self-belief. If we are wise, we will always have a goal to pursue. The trouble with not having a goal to direct oneself is akin to spending one's life running up and down the football field and never scoring! Like an old Indian once could have said, 'When you look away from self and towards heaven, you are able to capture the beauty in another's smile and feel the warmth of a grateful heart.'(William Forde Quote: April 6th, 2017)." April 6th, 2017.