Blogs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000df09/being-gail-porter ‘I’m no longer a pretty girl,’ Gail Porter says in a conversation she’s having with an old friend, but she’s also speaking to the viewer. We judge so much by appearance. And she’s right. She’s no longer young and she’s no longer pretty. Alopecia has robbed her of her trademark blonde hair. In 1999, she was one of the most well-known presenters on telly. Her naked image was...

https://www.abctales.com/story/marandina/final-message-moscow To anyone that has read my recent story about my son’s homecoming from Moscow my genuine thanks. In the story I referred to an unpublished allegory of sorts. This is the piece I wrote on 28 th February 2022. Having read it back, it’s still appears to be mostly current which is a reflection of how the conflict has become bogged down in attrition. Again, I hope sense prevails soon and...

Fergal Keane: Living with PTSD, BBC 2, BBC iPlayer, presenter Fergal Keane, Director Mike Connolly. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0017795/fergal-keane-living-with-ptsd There’s a contradiction Fergal Keane suffers from Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder (PTSD) but he’s in Ukraine. He’s on the frontline. He’s been there before. Cutting his teeth in the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. He’s been in South Africa and Rwanda. The British...

A lot of big hitters in this movie. I wasn’t sure about it, but I gave it five minutes and watched to the end. It jumps between 1973 and 1986. Daniel Raneri (with very long eyelashes) plays J.R. Maguire, a kid returning to his grandad’s house in Long Island. Tye Sheridan plays an older J.R. His mum, Dorothy Maguire (Lily Rabe) has a mattress attached to the roof of their car and all her worldly belongings. She’s going home, but carries with her...

Many people overseas would already be informed but still this may be interesting. We have real trouble you might know of it unfortunately the first part of this blog entry is bad news. Our main challenges are of an internal social nature. Going into winter available electricity is the immediate and pressing problem the network already cannot cope there are regular interruptions then there is a 5th Corona wave, in effect just after lifting the...

The longer days and warmer weather has definitely brought something out in ABC Talers - there's been some cracking stuff on the site this week. That being said, one poem in particular stood out for me. Our Poem of the Week is 'Stories I won't tell you' by london_calling79. It is a visceral piece, digging down into the realities of a particular kind of grief. It pulled me into its narrative, and although I immediately wanted to read it again, it...

Well as you can see I'm still under a black cloud, I moved away as the landlord, bless his little cotton socks wanted to sell his flat in Norwich from far away America. Leaving me struggling to find a suitable alternative, and then my older son, who suddnely felt like his Mother should come and live closer, invited me too... So I set about struggling to find something suitable, near by, not on top of, but close enough. I couldn't find any. I was...

Some of you have been having issues with posting your work using an android phone. Ewan and John our techie have been working really hard to fix this. We think it's an issue with your phone rather than the site, but Ewan has finally found a workaround for which we're very grateful! Details below: Open ABCTales as normal on your phone, via your browser. (works for Firefox and Chrome) Log in Look for the three dots top right of the phone screen (...