To all of you who have started following John’s Story book you may notice that there is very little traffic. This is because I now concentrate almost all my posts on https://paolsoren.wordpress.com So if you want to continue it just might be a bit more realistic to go to where I am now. That is if…
If you are one of those who took the trip across to my’other’ blog you will have seen an absence of activity there. It is because I have lost my way. I thought I should change my password on it an for the email address. But I had forgotten my passwords, I had lost the…
Nostalgia. I don’t believe my children would believe me if I told them (and you) what it was like back then. When? Nostalgia time, that’s when. 6 o’clock closing! You can’t buy a drink after six. True. Oh if you go to some La Di Dah licensed restaurant then you can. Pay through the nose.…
Well, well, well. I have got 200 followers. Some only want to sell me industrial fencing for my inner suburban unit or women’s cosmetics, but at least there is a core who stay regular. I got an inspiration from “Flash 365” to write this post. I don’t think you should go to their site, because…
After Katie died it was the only logical thing to do. I didn’t want to go into a home but my hands don’t work as well as they should. Anyway the idea of having lots of single ladies for this old man to talk with seemed to be a compensation. It didn’t work out. They…
ANZAC Day has gone for another year. There have been a few comments – all positive – but one stood out for me. That came from Lloyd Marken who posted the following comment in response to my story about the villager who took me to see a group of Ist AIF graves in a small village.…
When I taught teenagers back in the olden days I would often use songs that I could turn into a part of the lesson. Songs like Dylan’s “I will not go down under the Ground” or “Last thoughts on Woodie Guthrie” or Australian songs about War and peace. I also used Simon and Garfunkle’s song…
Before I met Marguerite, her school teacher and the Harbour Master in Port-Vendre all those forty-two years ago I met some other Frenchmen and women in a small village. It was on the way from the North and down through the centre to Marseille. Now there are some details in what I have to tell you…
I do need to put the following poem on for today. Wilfred Owen was an English Army Officer who wrote many poems about war but only four were published while he was alive. He was killed in France on 4 November 1918, one week before the signing of the Armistice. He was awarded the Military Cross for…
I just stole something off Facebook. One of my students was a young Japanese girl who couldn’t speak English when she arrived in Australia. But she was a great student. In English she excelled at learning off by heart Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’ and a couple of Shakespearean soliloquies.In fact she was good in all academic areas. So I…
One day, after Marguerite had taken Daniel for a promenade dans le poussoir she told me that tomorrow I must be ready early, and dressed nicely and to behave myself. She would not explain anymore than that. You need to understand that this was all in her very simple way of talking which she thought would…
Marguerite wasn’t the only person who treated us well. One day I went to the small magasin alimentaire where I bought our few essentials and asked the shopkeeper where I could find a small fishing line as I wished to try my hand at fishing off the wharf. He called to his relatively sour looking…
I still want to know what Marguerite looks like now she is a mature woman. And what kind of a woman she became. She is no figment of my imagination. She was real, as real that is as any girl of twelve can be. I am sure she is beautiful and strong but I’ll have to…
It was well after one o’clock and all I needed was a chance to sleep. I was safe from Hank and Marken and the two goons. I took my shirt and trousers off and crawled into bed. My first thought as I closed my eyes was that tomorrow I would like to have a chance…
After my second whisky the idea started to make sense. Now, whenever I come up with a good idea I usually try to include a lady in it. Preferably one who is easy to look at and has a sense of humour. The trouble is that most ideas I have had, that include a lady…
