Russell and Carol - hayle and hearty

Quote - "We will love her while the light lasts, and when darkness comes, we will not forget her.”

‘Do animals .. .” she said, and paused to consider, ‘feel disappointment
in each other, Jack, the way humans do?’

‘Well...

‘Or is that what makes us human, the fact that we can feel
immense disappointment in each other?’ She poured herself another
glass of wine.

‘I don’t know,’ said Jack, cautiously. “What do you think?’

‘I wonder if they ever go through the trauma of sensing that
someone they once liked, maybe even loved, is now turning into
someone they don’t respect.’

‘Why do you say that, Martha? Where’s that coming from?’ Jack
was chewing on his cheeks again.

‘Do animals, birds, fish, whatever, fall in and out of love?’

‘I believe they can.’

‘In that case,’ she continued drowsily, ‘can a fish, Jack, listen, can
a fish love another fish, but then one day imagine that they do not in
fact love that fish and that they now love another fish, only to realise at
some later date that they did actually love that first fish more than they
would ever love another fish for the rest of their lives, and therefore
feel that their existence is overcome with a feeling of regret that they

‘I learnt a lot of things during the war, Irene,’ he said, after a
pause.   ‘Most of them of no use whatsoever.   But there’s one thing
I can’t unlearn, even if I wanted to, and it’s that life is very short,
and very precious, and if we can’t find a way to be happy in the
one brief span we’re allowed, then there really isn’t a lot of point
to any of it.’   He paused again and Irene finally turned to look at
him.   He smiled slightly, kindly, and she knew he lived in a
different world to the one she did.   ‘So I’ve a proposition for you,
and I don’t want you to think about it too much. We get so
tangled up in knots, we humans, trying to think everything
through, trying to guess at outcomes we can’t possibly know.   So
please just listen. I adore you. Marry me.’

"The Hiding Places 76 hb by  Katherine Webb"

August 1814  : Well, I still hate novels. They still seem to me to be tissues of exaggeration, simplification, a sweetness that falsifics; and now I know this truth from, as it were, the inside, having written one myself, and marked all the sleights and tricks required to tease out a very partial understanding, a perished cloth more holes than thread, into what seems a smooth continuous fabric.

"Golden Hill 335 hb by Francis Spufford"

Ten years. Everything can be divided into decades. Three of Brendan. One of Bruno. How many more did she have before her time was up? Two perhaps, three if she’s lucky? Measured like this how short it all is. We spend most of the first half of our lives getting used to it. Learning the ropes, making mistakes and preparing for what lies ahead. And, for a moment, there’s a feeling that it all finally makes sense, that we’ve arrived and understood something about the world. Then, before we know it, it’s all over. The tide coming in and washing away our footprints to leave an unmarked beach.

"Rainsongs Page 7 by Sue Hubbard"

You know the worst thing about this government? It’s the war on woke. Woke means caring for people and it can only be a good thing to care for people no matter what.”

Chinese

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/24/jeremy-hunt-fac...

The pleasure of what we enjoy is lost by wanting more

Chinese