Author: Sue Young

Quote Of The Week

‘You have to believe in yourself even when others don’t, or you won’t achieve anything.’

Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself

A Brighter, Better Springtime

Let’s celebrate this season

It’s springtime at last

So far, we’ve had heat waves

And cold winter blasts

A spiritual awakening

A time for hope

A moment for faith

An era for growth

While we may not have sun

That’s warm enough to burn

The cycle of life

Has finally returned

There’s a bitter side to spring

Many people get depressed

Overwhelmed by expectations

To be their very best

Spring is when many

Mental battles are fought

And not just at Christmas

As is commonly thought

For some, spring is often

When morale takes a dive

It is also when people

Take their own lives

Outside is now thriving

But inside not so

The heart may be frozen

And cold just like snow

When I was summer

I resisted spring

But now I’m in Autumn

It’s a wonderful thing

I hope that they see

Through the dark and the grey

A light shining through

To a brighter day

I pray that all

Of the shadows are chased

For those who can’t smile

When the sun strokes their face.

-Sue Young

Vanished Into Thin Air

Sue Young's avatarThings In My Head

My 18 year old daughter got a job

as a magicians assistant

But one day came home

Sobbing

The magician had ‘too many hands’

“He’s like an octopus,” she said

and More Besides, but

She Wouldn’t Tell

And I delved into The Magic Circle

Learned some tricks

And armed with a rusty saw

Went to see the magician

And made him Vanish Into Thin Air

-Sue Young

I wrote this just lately but it is based on a real experience that happened twenty years ago. I was 26 and a colleague of mine was 18. We were both on a drama course and were given the opportunity to apply for a job as a magician’s assistant. I was going to apply but at the last moment had misgivings, can’t imagine why and I didn’t apply. The 18 year old girl applied and got the job very quickly and easily…

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Vanished Into Thin Air

My 18 year old daughter got a job

as a magicians assistant

But one day came home

Sobbing

The magician had ‘too many hands’

“He’s like an octopus,” she said

and More Besides, but

She Wouldn’t Tell

And I delved into The Magic Circle

Learned some tricks

And armed with a rusty saw

Went to see the magician

And made him Vanish Into Thin Air

-Sue Young

I wrote this just lately but it is based on a real experience that happened twenty years ago. I was 26 and a colleague of mine was 18. We were both on a drama course and were given the opportunity to apply for a job as a magician’s assistant. I was going to apply but at the last moment had misgivings, can’t imagine why and I didn’t apply. The 18 year old girl applied and got the job very quickly and easily. Perhaps a little too quickly and easily. I was really pleased for her but at the audition, he asked her to take her top and bra off. It was that kind of magicians assistant. She didn’t do as he asked and she didn’t take up the job as a result. I was both surprised and relieved that she hadn’t done as he asked because she was so niave and had injured instincts and let men paw her left, right and centre normally. (I’ve been there myself, so I know) So glad that she took a stand on that one. I’m pretty sure it was touch and go.  Just remember feeling protective and upset as a result.  And it’s only now as a wiser woman, with a wisdom and a confidence and an anger, that I didn’t have at the time, that I feel I would actually take some revenge. Or at least entertain the thought. Maybe not revenge but some action. And I’m sorry that I was too young or too selfish at the time to do that. She may not have been my daughter, but she could have been and as an older, wiser woman looking back, those feelings rise up now.

And that’s where it comes from.

Quote Of The Week

‘Tried to write a startlingly new and original, brilliantly funny and thought-provoking piece for Python. Did this by staring out of the window, playing with paper clips and shutting my eyes for long periods,’

Michael Palin – Diary Entry- Friday 7th March 1980 Halfway To Hollywood. Volume Two. Diaries 1980-88

I’m In Love With Today

I’ll have rage on the rocks with a bitter twisted lemon

Peanuts in a bowl, to kill the hunger in my soul

There. That’s better. First one down the hatch. Now I’m starting to get the feeling that’s it’s not going to be such a bad day after all.

Put something on the jukebox, something tribal, incoherent, no sad songs, or weary ballads.

Won’t you join me in a vodka tsunami?

Let’s put the world to rights. Problems solved in a flash

over liquid lunch and liquid dinner

Let’s bring water to this desert

Let’s bring foliage sweet and green

Because this day is turning out to be a great day

Oh, look, there’s an oasis

Oh no, it’s just a mirage

Of time lost

And people wasted

Or is the other way round?

It’s a lovely day today, don’t you think?

Come on, it’s your round, make it a double, or a pint.

Something to soak up this dried up emptied out hallowed out I’m-spitting-feathers sponge

Nothing left to say

Nothing left to do

But celebrate

Because I don’t know about you…but quite frankly

I’m so in love with today right now.

I can see the bottom of the glass

And I don’t want to see the end of anything

So keep ’em topped up

‘cos it’s a wonderful day

Have I mentioned this? Oh, I have?

My memory’s not too good lately

God know why.

It’s a mystery.

Well, I’ll say it again

I’m in love with today

But I’m going to hate tomorrow.

-Sue Young

Quote Of The Week

‘Like bullies the whole world over, my mother did not mess with strength. She messed with weakness.’

Anne Robinson– Memoirs Of An Unfit Mother