Somewhere

So I have been a bit out of action since Barcelona. I now have a gum infection and am dosed up on antibiotics which makes me feel rather strange and unworldly. Nothing new there you might well say!

So I sat yesterday in my local Quaker Meeting enjoying the silence - Quakers in Britain meet mostly in silence unless someone is moved to speak for a few minutes and then we have more silence. It is a bit like meditation but different...

Anyway I suddenly had a vision of us being in a video clip - some shots of us silently sitting there and then some music and singing. I did not know what at the time. Later talking to Sheila and Grace about this it became clear. The music was 'Somewhere' as sung by the Pet Shop Boys among others.

So first off a shot of the Quaker Meeting House with a new LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans) friendly message on its message board then some shots of the silently Meeting - a slow pan across the faces. Later some shots of the forthcoming Gay Pride march in Manchester including some shots of some members of the Quaker Meeting marching under a Quaker banner. There was some heckling of the Gay Pride march last year from evangelical Christians and we wish to show that you can be Christian and LGBT.

"There's a place for us
somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
wait for us somewhere

There's a time for us
some day a time for us
Time together with time to spare
time to learn, time to care
some day, somewhere

We'll find a new way of living
We'll find a way of forgiving
somewhere

There's a place for us"
-Somewhere.

It's self evident to me that we are all created equally and that we should try and treat each other with equal regard and not fear one another.

Best to all,

The Boss, Frankie and Q.

Barcelona days with Frankie (11)

The Boss was livid - "4 hours, 4 hours stuck in the departure lounge at Manchester airport - we culd have cycled there in that time". (Well maybe Jonathan could have -Jonathan is the Boss`s new secretary and a keen cyclist he did 8,000 miles last summer!)

But eventually we got airborn and I blagged a brandy off an airhostess - off her trolley(!) and soon the Boss was snoring away with his mouth wide open, "He´s not with me` was all I could mouth to my fellow passengers who were appalled at the noise - But I didn´t want to wake him up. The Boss can get very very mean!

It is just as well that the Boss gets some sleep in for the way he goes at it at these conferences ´over tired and over emotional´ is absolutely NOT the word for it.

He gets so tired he is almost hallucinating. For instance he becomes convinced that he can sing. Oh my God the embarrassment! Terry will not longer got out with him and Clare sits as far away from the Boss as possible. But Dori only encourages him, in fact she sings along with him which is a shame as she has such a good voice, likewise Dave or El Gringo as the Boss calls him.

The Pets are on my headphones "I get along without you very well" a song Neil wrote about Blair and Mandelson but also about a failed love affair - like me and Lesley - Oh boy what could have been (sob, gulp). Oh shit I have woken up the Boss - better put the headphones on him quick.

That´s better - where was I? Oh yes Lesley...can´t keep brooding on him, I am thinking about him too much... better to think of...hmm... Nadal! Now where can I get a Nike Lime green top to strut my stuff in Barcelona. Ole.

Love and kisses,

Frankie

Introducing Q

This is Q here, I am the Boss' spiritual director or soul friend. The Boss meets me from time to time - usually over a long lunch - and pours out his heart and soul to me. He has asked me if I am willing to allow him to quote me here and of course I said 'Yes'.

Indeed my latest words to the Boss were "Consider the lilies..". I also reminded the Boss that doing God's will in whatever sense these words have for him might not necessarily lead to an easy life.
"So God wants me to suffer?" asked the Boss, direct and straight to the point as ever.
"No. If anything to learn-"
"But why does it hurt so much?"
"It just does... and All Things Must Pass."
"You are not much comfort today!"
"Do you want to be made to feel easy or do you want to hear the truth?"
"Both" replied the Boss vehemently.
"OK... I can see you need a rest... Let' sit in silence for a while."

Out of the silence came a profound sense of stillness. All things stopped. Everything made sense. The Universe seems to hold its very breathe ... and then breathed again, a bit more easily.

The Boss smiled with tears in his eyes.

Frankie and the Boss going to Barcelona (10)

Yes it true, the Boss is taking me to Barcelona this Wednesday! He has even promised to take me to the final night banquet and out clubbing afterwards! Well!!!! Mind you have you ever watched a bunch of therapists dancing it is rather hideous! Sorry Boss I didn't mean you, honest!

The Boss was dead pleased to be invited to the student end-of-course picnic last Wednesday. he planned to wear dark shades and his black Pet Shop Boy baseball hat. Well in the end it was held in doors but the Boss still wore the hat - I could have died of embarrassment - And And! he wants to take the same hat to Barcelona! Well as long as he doesn't club in it! Me I will be wearing a lime green T shirt modelled on that dishy Spanish tennis player Nadal plus my long black cycling shorts - can you see me?

Your in anticipation,

Frankie and the Boss (signed in his absence!)

Bike thought/you were always on my mind

OK so there I was on the bike cycling through Alexander Park - this was the park where I had one of my early spiritual experiences back in 1970, more recently I had to stop my bike to catch a falling poem ('Catch a falling poem and put it in your pocket/never let it fade away' to the tune of that last 50s song 'Catch a falling star').

So I am singing 'You were always on my mind' Pet Shop Boys style not Elvis. The difference apart from arguably Elvis has the better voice, is that Elvis does regret his failings and you think maybe he might just win his woman back. In contrast Neil end up with a final line of 'Maybe I didn't love you' in other words he recognises that his failure was a statement about the relationship and not about his failure to love.

Anyway leaving all that aside I took a leaf out Neil's approach to his and other song writers' lyrics and to see if the words worked on a different level.

OK get this, sing the first verse:

Maybe I didn't treat you
quite as good as I should
Maybe I didn't love you
quite as often as I could
Little things I should have said and done
I never took the time
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

As if you were singing to our planet! 'The little things I should have said and done' are illustrated by a video of humans - us - throwing away waste, sitting in traffic jams - the whole bit by bit way we lay waste to our planet. What do you think? email me or Frankie.

Best to all,

Bill-on-bike, Frankie on keyboard

Frankie says (9)

The Boss here: I think this Frankie business is getting out of hand. Why only last Tuesday at my therapy session with Dee I found myself talking about Frankie. And then I thought I am paying good money here to talk about Frankie who is a figment of my overheated imagination-
"Oh Boss, that's not-"
"True?"
"Well have you not heard the expression 'I blog therefore I am'? And have you not heard of the Second World which is virtual and recently had a virtual Pet Shop Boys concert?"

And another thing said the Boss changing the subject as he is want to do when he is losing an argument Frankie is getting better fan emails than me ("Now we are getting the truth Boss". "I'll ignore that!") Why F the Greek says she likes Frankie and that he is fun implying that I am unliked and unfun ("Well if the hat fits wear it Boss!") and Tony has asked Frankie to spill the beans on my lurid past. ("Oh Boss I wouldn't. I wouldn't dare!" Aside encrypted message to Tony "Not unless you offered me a huge publishing deal, well any deal - beggars can't be choosers - and a safe house - you know what a wicked temper the Boss has got - you remember the time he trashed that restaurant 'in a West End town/there's a madman around' - that was the Boss!, or the drunken so-called therapy group/truth telling session in that Moscow hotel, his team has never really recovered..."

Love and kisses,
and in the words of Oliver Cromwell 'Keep your powder dry!'

Frankie

Frankie says (8)

Hi,

The Boss was in a right state this morning. He had to do a big powerpoint presentation and he brought in his laptop specially but forgot to bring the mains leads and his batteries were flat. Panic phone call by yours truly to the audio visual man Peter who is cool and into jazz and up he comes with a spare laptop and the Boss offers him his presentation on a floppy disc would you believe? Well floppies went out with the ark(!) and Peter's laptop simply does not take them. Another panic by Boss and yours truly to the rescue yet again schelping up and down the corridor searching for a memory stick! Finally, finally the Boss is launched on his presentation.

The Boss was admiring the memory stick I cadged from Liz, 'Small isn't Boss?' I said innocently.
'Size isn't everything, Frankie'
'It is when you are wall papering a room!'

You know something? Every since the Boss has let me loose on his blog the number of hits has gone up by 10% - the Frankie effect I call it. The Boss is not so amused. 'What's wrong with my postings on biking' he asked me rather crestfallen.
'Exactly' I couldn't resist replying even though ii was a tad cruel.

Love and kisses,

Frankie, going to Barcelona if not Hollywood
(So he hopes - the Boss)

Frankie says(7)

Hi,

The Boss says I must stop sending you my missives unrequested. Indeed he mentioned the dreaded word spam. Well I never! So if you want more of Frankie Text F, and no more Frankie NoF... But seriously(!) email me at frankie.says@live.com or visit the Boss' blog at www.billonbike.blogspot.com where he promises to upload my messages if not my Youtube and webcam performances. Mind you the Boss is getting, dare I say it, hip? Cool?? (NO that's going waaaay too far!) At the Cardiff Conference he read out one of his poems to 200 people (I nearly died of embarrassment but actually it was not that bad). And he is full of himself today because when he walked through the park to pick Grace up from School yesterday a teenage girl asked him where he got his jeans (yellow cords actually - yeuch!) from. Being truthful he replied 'M & S'. Now I would have said Next, Primark (that's irony!) or Monsoon.

Love and kisses,

Frankie