Harbingers of Fear

[DAEDLUS]

I am a Fan of The Luke Thanet Books and would like to know what Harbingers of Fear is about. It is a Book written before the Thanet books but by the sme Author, I have no luck when putting the Title in Google

[oddboddy]

Our freecycle you dont swop you join and you can offer stuff anything you dont want and you'd be surprised what goes. Or you take what others are offering or you can advertise what you want and people give you it if they have it and no longer want it. Only condition is nothing can be sold it has to be given. Theres always books coming up on ours. There was a stack of Agatha Christies last week but they were paperback or i'd have had them.

[DAEDLUS]

Thankyou for telling me, I will have a look to see if there is one in my area, I am disabled and aswell as having a week day Carer I have a Weekend Carer, she is the person who introduced me to the sites I mentioned, Anyway, when a previous Weekend Carer left I gave her all the Paperback Agatha Christies I have as I started collecting them in Hard Back after seeing them advertised on the Television but I now regret giving the lady my books as thinking about it I don't think she will appreciate them and I really liked the Covers and there isn't what I would call 'The Blurb' on the back of the Hardback books but they do feel nice and a Magazine did accompany each book and Different publishers had a different style of doing the Covers or It was just the same Company and they just changed their style I can't remember, In hindsightr I should have given them to a Charity Shop like I did with other Papernack by Authors like Georgette Heyer, Ruth Rendell, Patricia Wentworth and Ngaio Marsh, I gave those away because I read one sdtory from each and couldn't get on with them but if I ever get the space I might persevere with the Authors.

[oddboddy]

Ive done that given something away on impulse then wished I hadnt because ive known it wouldnt be loved as I loved it. I can appreciate how difficult it must be in your circumstances having to rely on others a bit as although I dont have a carer I am a full time carer to my 15 year old who has health problems and recently I had a stroke so I can appreciate something of what its like. You mentioned Patricia Wentworth thats a name I havent heard in a very long time. I read all hers but I felt she was a bit of a cheap take off of Christies Miss marples. Not a big fan but I did read them. I Know what you mean about the covers but I think it depends on the different publishers a great deal and the year of issue as alot got changed with each reprint. I much prefer the older ones they somehow conjour up pictures of dusty of bookshops (I read too much lol ) Might be worth you having a look at freecycle sometimes you have to advertise 2 or 3 times as it depends if anyone reads it who has what you are after. Lots of people only read a book once and it ends up at a car boot or charity shop. I quite liked Georgette Heyers I recently re-read one of hers.I dont like her historical ones im not a fan at all of anything like that.

[DAEDLUS]

It must be so difficult for you having to care for your boy and recovering from a stroke, I do hope you get the help you not only need but considering your kindness in replying to me I think you deserve help aswell, you seem like a very kind and caring lady, I hope your other children help you. I will look up Free Cycle like you suggest, I might start a whole new adventure, If I remember rightly Georgette Heyer's sleuth was called Hathaway - the surname of Shakespeare's wife and Patricia Wentworth's sleuth was Miss Maud Silver

[oddboddy]

Maud Silver yes thats it ..bit too much of a likeness to Jane Marple for my liking.
Thank you thats very kind, I was very lucky as the stroke was very minor and I have no lasting effect except I cannot concentrate for long and forget things like if running a bath I have to stay with it or its forgotten lol I use the wrong words a lot too that doesnt make any sense at all worse thing is I know it doesnt make sense when I say it but I still say it its like my brain has gone out of sync with my mouth. The kids reckon they cant notice any difference in that ive always been crackers lol.
I hope you are lucky if you join freecycle as its very hit and miss. Ours is at any rate.
I had forgotten the name Hathaway you should do a quiz on sleuths /mystery fiction. I'd buy it. I love quizzes I do loads but i'm not very good at them.

[DAEDLUS]

I am glad the stroke didn't affect you too much, I don't think I could do a qui9z on Fictional Detectives as my knowledge on them like with alot of subjects I am inmterested in is like your Free Cycle very hit and Miss, I could tell you the names of Agatha Christies Detectives and which Books they appear in but I am not up to the standasrd of someone like John Sessions who was answering questions on the short stories of Sherlock Holmes on Celebrity Mastermind over Christmas, I wish I was, There was a Celebrity programme years ago called You Bet and Celebrities had to gues if people could do something like for instance someone claimed if you showed a clip of an episode of Star Trek (I think) He could tell you what happens next or he could recite tyher next line of dialogue, I am not that good I wish I was, My brother the other day asked me about an episode of Poirot, I could picture the episode but couldn't tellhim wehich one it was but that might be because up to now I haven't read the Poirot short stories even though I have watcherd them. My brothber says he would have me as a Phone a Friend on Who Wants to Be A Millionair and I would choose him but as I say my knowledge is too Hit and Miss, I think the Questions would be too easy if I set one up, I wouldn't know where to set it either I did a Crossword for the School Magazine once but the clues were very obscure.

[oddboddy]

I set quizzes for my theatre group and its easier than people think. I wish I was better at answering them though.
I think Oh I know that but then cant remember the answer or where I know it from. Im struggling with one for a last line of a book at the minute Ready, Henry nodded, opened his mouth and began to sing. Only Henrys I can think of of Henry the pig from Blackberry Farm Horrid Henry and Henry in Thomas Tank Engine so im not doing too well Henrys in books seem in very short supply lol.
We abandoned Jane Austen today in favour of a trip to a museum. Not exactly ideal as he isnt doing history but it was fun. I wished he was doing history as I love it but we decided to just focus on the subjects he needs IT Maths English and just do other subjects as and when.
I

[DAEDLUS]

I have just looked Henry's up and one of William Brown's Outlaws in the Richmal Crompton books is called Henry and of course there is Henry's Cat but I am sure your boy is too old for him, My Mum was a Teacher before I was born and in the 90s she did supply Teaching and for a time went to the houses of people of school for some reason and she used to take them out on trips as something different but she is retired now.

[oddboddy]

I never gave Just William a thought thanks you are right one of the outlaws was a Henry. I liked Just William. Stanley prefers fantasy more like The Hobbit but he loved Children of The New Forest which I didnt think would appeal at all. I dont know if he's read Just William books i'll have to find out. Thanks for the suggestion I never thought of Henrys cat either. Your mum had an interesting job I used to love going on trips with my lots schools when they needed a helper. Ive spent most of today on IT as i'd like him to take his GCSE a year early which means we have 4 weeks to submit the application but he'd still take it the following year but the higher level paper as he wants to get on a computer course at college. He's way above my level but he finds it difficult writing down what he knows.

[DAEDLUS]

I am glad you are pleased with the suggestion of Just William, I thoughht one of The Owtlaws was called Henry, As soon as you wanted Henrys I put William Brown in Google. My mum had to teach me to slow my thinking down and Marshall my thoughts before I could put them down on Paper, You are probably doing this already and if so sorry but why not sit with him and get him to think slowly and you can write down what he wants to say.

[oddboddy]

Thats a very good suggestion. I will try it and see if it works thanks. He is good at discussing a book or character and makes good valid points but soon as he writes it he writes something totally unrelated. He's getting better. He should have learnt so much by now when he was going to school and didnt. Its like starting again at the beginning. He can read html code and write computer programmes standing on his head and he'll talk you to death with ancient greece but ask him 6x6 and he looks at you like you've spoke in a foreign language.

[DAEDLUS]

Is he Autistic? People have said I am Autistic slightly, I can talk for hours on somke subjects, Crime Fiction, P. G. Wodehouse etc. but am not interested in my body, It's as if below the waist doesn't exist.

[oddboddy]

No he's just like me i'm afraid if he's not interested he doesnt want to know straight in one ear out the other. I didnt even bother turning up at school for subjects I had no interest in. Mind you I could go now and enjoy the learning process I think maybe we go to school at the wrong end of our lives.

[DAEDLUS]

I hope you didn't mind me asking? I wish I could have not trurned up for subjects but after Junior School I had to go to a Residential School as the one all my Junior School friends went to mdidn't have facilities for disabled people (It does now). My Mum had tro argue with the Paediatrician for me to go to the normal Infants and Juniors but the Head Mistress allowed me to go to the Infants but only half a day for quite a while.

[oddboddy]

That must have been difficult for you as you'd have made your friends only to be seperated from them but more schools now are opening their doors to disabled children, I know alot have installed all sorts of special facilities so children with various disabilities can then go to them. Society is making good progress in this area, it needs now to do alot more to tackle the other issues like bullying as these pupils are more vulnerable and more likely to be targeted by bullies. I sometimes wonder if they tackle problems from the right angle as there is all this in the news about overweight children and in their wisdom they
reckon increasing pe, sports etc is a way of tackling this as
it ensures they get the exercise they need to combat this, Pe and sport in school is the worst nightmare of overweight children, they get bullied, it reduces their already low self esteem and they often eat more to take comfort from it. If they allowed them to skip pe and attended a different class like healthy eating or participate in something they are good at instead it would go much further to reducing the problems they face. PE on the school timetable is one of the worst areas for anyone who is vulnerable to be singled out and targeted. Sorry its my soap box subject lol Hows the reading did you find any June Thompson yet.

[DAEDLUS]

You are right things are improving. Don't apologise for talking about a saubject you feel Passionate about, for nme it is the fact that Care Assistants seem to do anythbing but, It sems to me although there are alot of good and Caring Care Assisdtants in Residential Homes there are too many it seems to me who go into the Proffession because they want to have control over the people they are Paid to look after and they can get away with it because either their bosses - the people who own the Residential Homes want to be their friends more than their boss or the person between them and their boss want to be their friend more than their boss and it sewems to me that too many people who go into Care Work because they want to have the Control they didn't have as Children Also Social Services are too keen to let Independant Residential Homes of the Hook because if you make a Complaint the people you make the complaint about about Have to have their say and they lie and their Colleagues Cover for them for reasons of their own. No I haven't got that book yet but I will. There was a 2-Part Documentary this week where a Journalist had spent 2 weeks without spending money, he did it in Bath and he got involved with this bartering scheme where by he did things for people inreturn for a bed for the night or food, In Bath they trade nin OLIVER's and for 75 Oliver's he got 3 night's in a Hotel, In Stroud the Currency hasn't got a great name. I was surprised the Journalist didn't mention Free Cycle, during the 2 weeks he drank people's left over Coffee and ate biscuits he found on the Ground

[oddboddy]

My mum was in a home for the last 7 years of her life, not my choice I got outvoted in the family but although it was a really expensive fancy set up I was forever complaining about the level of care she got. It was abysmal, they just wanted the money. I think they got sick of me going in every day as I was always kicking up over something.
I never watch tv I'm not even sure mine works its been so long since it was on but that sounds interesting. Im surprised freecycle wasnt mentioned too. I watched one ages and ages ago about where people had to live on a council tip and build a home out what they found. One man was really enterprising but they didnt work together as a team well and to some degree that was its downfall.
There is I think a swap system on freecycle where you offer a service in return for a service like you babysit gets so many points you need a plumber that costs so many points. Dont know if its still going as it wasnt kicking off too well when I saw it advertised and I havent seen it mentioned since. Years ago they used barter as a currency and it worked fine and in the war years communities shared their produce more even though they had less. I used to make fairly unusual home made wines and I used to swap that with a butcher for meat and someone else for trout. Worked very well.

[DAEDLUS]

I am sorry your Mum had to end her days in a Home you weren't happy with, It sounds asbout right that they would only be interested in the Money, I thought there was a Government ruling that said the state paid for people to stay in Old People's homes, The woman who ran the Home I was in was still accepting new admissions afew weeks before she turfed us all out, One guy who died was really upset for one woman they admitted because it wsas obvious the woman who ran it only cared about this girls money but when the Woman who ran the home closed it she changed its use from a Home for disabled people to a Home for people with Learning Difficulties and Challenging behaviour, the way she did this to make it legal was to appear to be selling to her sister buit I think she became a silent partner, One angry parent tried to get the Presas involved but the Managment just lied all the time and the staff left in dribs and drabs rather than protest. In my view the staff were Gutless Wonders., I saw a Documentary about the way the elderlyt are treated in Homes and in one bit she interviewed an Actress who made a short film about how her Mother (another Actress was treated in a Home and the Presenter of the Documentary who presents the Today programme was saying that it was all due to ignorance and I was really angry, I felt I wanted to write and ask why she insisted on letting the staff of the hook but I didn't know if she would care about my point of view. That Bartering system sounds great but if I had a child I don't think I would want them to be part of a deal unless off courser they had been checked out but I suppose you wouldn't offer unless you had the qualifications you were offering, a seamstress wouldn't offer to put up shelves would she?

[oddboddy]

I definately wouldnt let a stranger sit with my children but alot do. I agree with you on care homes. I watched a nurse shove an old lady into a chair and I went spare at her I said if I ever saw her treat anyone like that again i'd not only have her job off her i'd thump her. When I complained to the owner she looked at me so surprised and said But it wasnt your mum. So what, it was still a very vulnerable person and it could have been my mum when I wasnt there. The owners split up and now the woman is a councillor specialising in care for the elderly-Yeh right.
Im sorry you had a bad deal in your care home. I think they are all pretty much the same funds before folk. I presume you live by yourself now with carers coming in or have I got that wrong. Do you get any say in the provision of care like who is employed to care for you or is that made for you by various powers that be. Its a sad old world when its geared toward money and that incites greed somewhere down the line compassion and care go out the window. If you can call it lucky and I use the term very reservedly you are lucky in as much as you are intelligent and can think and speak up for yourself I often wonder how these people that are unable to do so fare with the care in the community legislation. I would think many get taken for a ride by unscrupulous carers and they would have no way of knowing they arent being looked after fairly or properly. They must be extremely vulnerable and easy prey. Mans inhumanity to its fellow man makes me furious.

[DAEDLUS]

Right sit tight, this is my story, In 1989 I moved ionto a Residential Home Owned and run by 2 men and 2 women who all usd to work at The Star Centre in Cheltenham, after a while for some reason one of the Men was got rid of by the others then the other Man was accused of Physical asbuse by one of the Residents and was told by Sociasl Serviceds if he didn't go the Home would be closed and he went, afew years later one of the women sold her share to a different lady (I use the term in its loosesed sence). shortly after the second owner gave her share to the lady "No money changed hands" she kept on saying. anyway from 2001 the "Lady" kept the place going and in 2003 decided that in 2004 the place would close so she could change the usage, I told my mum who was very ill at the time Oct 2003 and meantime a Membver of staff said it would be great if I employed him as my Carer, which seemed a good idea as My Mum was ill and it would solve problems but It has been hard fgor him to adjust to not being able to dictate to me and the standards required in a Residential Home are not very high and he is clumsy so as My Mum needs help with me when his probationary period was over we decided to take him as a challenge, I think of him as Gladys Miss Marple's Maid, both sides still fvind things difficult but he is a help to my mum and he knows that and itg means I can stay at Home. Unfortunately onced a year a Social Worker comes and I have a review and a I am asked if \I like him which to me is a stupid question because either I do or there is a reason why wee keep him, All this is financed withb the help of a Charity and a Government ruling saying didabled people shoulkd be given the opportunity to live at home, unfortunately it is a postcode lottey, I am allowed 24 hour care , band my Aunt who lives in Leicestershire and has MS only gets 3 hours a day