Category: What’s new!

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Here’s the thing…

Here’s the thing about looking at everyone else and wishing you were them because it looks like they’ve got it better than you…

1. Not everything and everyone is what they seem – especially on social media.
2. If they really are as fabulous as they appear, then I can guarantee they got there by working harder than everyone else and becoming the best version of themselves.
3. If you want that for yourself, you are going to have to take the hard road and do exactly the same.
  • Be inspired by fantastic people, use them as the evidence of what can be achieved but don’t spend too long there, step away from your device and go and get yourself sorted!
  • Find the things that light you up from the inside
  • Help others as much as you can
  • Make no excuses
  • Do whatever it takes till you get where you know you should be
  • While your doing all this – just be you!!!
  • Get to know yourself better and learn to love yourself a lot more

You can only ever be you so find the very best version of you and share that awesome person with everyone 💕

Mandy Breen 6 February 2022

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More Tanners and Bobs by Anon

My oh my, every word rings a bell, not only ‘jumpers for goalposts’ but other things as well.
Throwing sticks into trees, those conkers WILL fall, bikes with no brakes, a fixed wheel was all, ‘cowhorn’ handlebars, no mudguards at all.


Throwing stones at each other, health and safety unknown, no hard hat playing cricket, plastic ‘box’ for your manhood but no case for your phone. Phones were in boxes that stood on the street, bright red, firmly they’d stand, no phone in your pocket, that was just for your hand.


No TV at home, that was a luxury for the others, Saturday morning pictures with a shilling from our Mother’s. Sixpence to get in, sixpence to spend, hours in the sweet shop, the choices? No end. Blackjacks, fruit salad, sherbet fountain, gob stopper, maybe a jubbly? or maybe a ‘whoppa’?


A teatime, a bedtime, no ‘raking the streets’, food that was ‘good for you’ with very few treats.


School uniform, short trousers, cap, satchel, a tie. Darned holes in your socks, leaky pens, that awful blue dye. Blackboard dusters, ammunition for ‘Sir’, It came your way if his wrath you’d incur. The cane, the slipper, or the flat of his hand, no redress for violence, parents didn’t understand. “You must have deserved it, they don’t punish you for nought” “you’re not there to have fun, you’re there to be taught”.


Well taught I was, and taught well may I say, It gave me the values I hold to this day.
Respect for those wiser, consideration of others, role models to emulate, love for our Mothers.


At the time there were no grudges, it was just part of life, we had FUN without telly, or computers, no strife. Modern kids miss out on the lessons we learned, they expect all to be given, nothing is earned.

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Tanners and Bobs by David Wood

Back in the days of tanners and bobs, when Mothers had patience and Fathers had jobs. When football team families wore hand me down shoes, and T.V. gave only two channels to choose.

Back in the days of three penny bits, when schools employed nurses to search for your nits. When snowballs were harmless; ice slides were permitted and all of your jumpers were warm and hand knitted. Back in the days of hot ginger beers, when children remained so for more than six years. When children respected what older folks said, and pot was a thing you kept under your bed. Back in the days of Listen with Mother, when neighbours were friendly and talked to each other.

When cars were so rare you could play in the street. When Doctors made house calls; Police walked the beat. Back in the days of Milligan’s Goons, when butter was butter and songs all had tunes. It was dumplings for dinner and trifle for tea, and your annual break was a day by the sea. Back in the days of Dixon’s Dock Green, Crackerjack pens and Lyons ice cream.

When children could freely wear National Health glasses, and teachers all stood at the FRONT of their classes. Back in the days of rocking and reeling, when mobiles were things that you hung from the ceiling. When woodwork and pottery got taught in schools, and everyone dreamed of a win on the pools. Back in the days when I was a lad, I can’t help but smile for the fun that I had. Hopscotch and roller skates; snowballs to lob. Back in the days of tanners and bobs.

David Wood

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Translation Service

Translation Service

French to English/English to French translations
Carried out by certified Translator working in conjunction with French Counterpart
A very personal and efficient service.
Rates upon application.
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Now, that sounds interesting!!

For Girls Who Are “Too Much”: The True Story of Althea Gibson

by Megan Reid

‘As a child, I was often told I was “too much”: too opinionated, too headstrong, too tall, too skinny, too black, too energetic to fit in. Maybe that’s why I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of girls and women who were also told that their interests and goals made them “too much” for the society they lived in. My idols were Janet Reno, Michelle Kwan, and Dominique Dawes (not to mention Anne of Green Gables and Meg Murry)—but I wish I’d known Althea Gibson’s story…..’

 

 

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Write Your Memories Down Before They’re Gone Forever

Kirstie Taylor 

Jun 3, 2019·4 min read

Photo by David Iskander on Unsplash

We hear it all the time: people we know getting older, their memory slipping through their fingers like sand; each grain another moment, another time in their life forgotten.

Or maybe you’ve experienced it now. You can’t quite remember the name of the city on the coast of Italy that you loved visiting so much. The name of your best friend from middle school effortlessly evades you.

It’s bound to happen to all of us; we only have so much room in our mental vault for storing our life memories. At one point in time, we’re going to start to forget some of the most significant parts of our journey on this planet.

That’s why I write. That’s why you should write. That’s why we all should write.

Putting our memories down on to a physical medium that will be engraved for us to forever look back on is doing our future selves a great service.

So I implore you: begin writing down your most significant memories.

Start with the ones from your childhood; the ones that feel like they impacted your life most as it is today.

Perhaps your parent’s divorce was traumatic. Maybe you shared your younger years with a loving grandmother that taught you a unique perspective on life. Perhaps you went on a unique adventure that, through the eyes of a child, was magical, to say the least.

Write that all down. Write down all of the smells, feelings, sights you saw, and people you spent the time with. Write down every detail you can possibly remember. The more real the story seems, the more that you can vicariously re-live your memories through your writing, the better.

Write for no one else but you

Don’t be concerned if other people will like your story. Don’t be worried if you will even publish them all anywhere: that’s not the point of why you’re doing this.

Simply put onto paper (or computer) everything that you remember in whatever way you want to tell it; a way that yourself relates to, not other people.

And don’t be afraid to tell the story as you saw it. Your perspective on your memories is what truly matters; not the objective view of it all. Because, as I said, these stories are for you and you only. Even if you do decide to publish them, your perspective was your reality. Again, that’s all the matters.

Don’t worry about editing, you can do that later

When you’re recalling a story, type as fast as you’re able to in sync with your thoughts. This method of writing is called stream-of-consciousness. Whatever comes to your mind, write it down. Don’t get hung up on using a fancier word or looking up specifics, you’ll have time for that once you get your story down.

Because there’s nothing worse than having an idea or concise thought and then experiencing it disappear in a matter of seconds because you were too focused on spelling a word correctly.

Get all of your ideas down and edit afterward.

You’re creating something pictures can’t

Sure, a photo speaks a thousand words. But writing speaks all those words with details that will never be forgotten.

A picture is a great visual memory, but stories can express more about an experience than simple images ever could. And with technology nowadays, your writing can be accessed anywhere in the world you go to.

Your future self will thank you

You will never wake up regretting you wrote down your most cherished and significant memories. But you sure as hell will wake up one day and be sorry that you didn’t.

Our memories are ours alone to be responsible for. Think of them as receipts or essential documents. If you don’t keep careful track of them, they’ll eventually be lost amongst the chaos.

Our mind works the same way, we experience new memories everyday. Sure, we may remember things in a general sense, but the details will eventually stray, and we’ll be left with a vague idea of what happened, sometimes with the details even getting skewed.

Though none of us want to think of getting old, it will eventually happen. And if we take our life into our own hands, we can put in the work to forever remember the most extraordinary moments in our lives.

So write down your memories and avoid losing them forever. Of course, you can always get Your Memory Book to help you!!