A rather late book recommendation - The Other Hand

I read 'The Other Hand' by Chris Cleave some time ago now and consistently recommended it to friends and colleagues as well as packing a close friend off with a copy as he headed off for his new life in France.





I was gripped from the start with this inspirational piece of writing and had read the entire book over just a couple of days.

With little time to write a review, I would suggest visiting the official website to take a look at what others have had to say - http://tiny.cc/0sCO3

But what I will say is, if you haven't read 'The Other Hand', you're missing something really very special.

And the point of Christmas is?

Christmas is a time for reflection, expressing compassion and love towards our fellow beings, being kind, thoughtful and caring.

Yeah, right, clearly not in the town I live in!

The festive period has become so disgustingly commercial these days with retail giants generating a false pressure on every living soul to deliver the biggest, the best, and the most desirable - the latter also being false and manufactured - so that they can whip up a positively repulsive activity that is known as the pre-Christmas sale.

I find the fear of disappointing a friend or loved one by not delivering the perfect present on the big

day, really quite concerning.

A simple phone call on Christmas day from someone I love would mean the world to me. The thought of them being pushed and elbowed in a retail jungle, close to tears because they can't find me something that I 'would absolutely adore' quite frankly sickens me.

I couldn't wait to get back to my desk this lunchtime. I popped in to the town centre to pick up a Christmas card for my partner (we don't buy each other presents by the way, just being together for the Christmas break is enough) and had to plough my way through a torrent of stressed, rude and even angry people. I'm not sure I even saw anyone smiling.

Heavens above, it's Christmas! And even if you're not religious or a Christian (I’m neither), it should be a beautiful time of year when we can, even if it's just for one day, express a little love. Good grief, I'm nearly crying writing this!

It's excruciating watching people putting themselves through this absurd pursuit. What is the western world turning in to when we're afraid of giving a token gift to say 'I'm thinking of you this Christmas and by the way, I love you', in case the recipient thinks it was cheap or not the model they wanted?

I utterly refuse to be influenced by marketing hype at Christmas. If I see a little gift that I can give someone to show them that I'm thankful that they're there, I buy it and the smile I receive is the only gift I want in return.

Please, let's not let this situation become worse, because I'm fearful about how it will all end.

Merry Christmas, with love

Dean

I'm back!

Oh it's good to be back and although this posting will be short I will be back in to the swing of things in due course.

What with a mammoth project to complete in a very unreasonable timeframe, a compere script to write, final exam 'mock features' to compose and submit, a holiday and then more work my poor blog took a bit of a back seat and I was so enjoying getting it going.

And worse, I've not been keeping track of all the wonderful blogs I love to read...I miss you but look forward to catching up with you all.

Dean x