fine a point on it...
I have always cut to the chase and said it like it is... preferably with knobs on. Not ordinary common or garden knobs but big ‘have some of that!’ hairy ones!
Like Boudicca, along the way, men, women and mere babes have been subject to my advice as the law according to LL (Lettice Leaf) has been pronounced from on high. Or rather from my chariot as it rides rough shod over all sensibilities.
A much loved cousin who always whatever time of day you visited looked for all the world like she had stepped out of a current copy of Vogue, alright Vogue of the early fifties... but still!
She would saunter to the door having peeled herself up from scrubbing the kitchen floor looking a million dollars. Her home was immaculate, her body was slim and svelte like with creams and portions applied vigorously. There was a chink in her armour: for all of the above she had a vice... smoking! Me, looking for all the world like a bag lady crossed with a tramp felt, I hate to say superior as I strolled in... not to put too fine a point on it... a flaming scruff, saying
‘Chris, you are top show, you care so much about your appearance but have no care for what is going on inside!’
What gave me the right?
Another given the ‘benefit’ of my advice was a Highlander who I thought the world of, he when I lived there was away with the fairies with the demon drink. He would come to visit with a bottle of whisky and drink it until it was gone, along with ours. Then he would demand more, I would get my hands on his shoulders, stand him up, turn him round, open the door and gently boot him out. On one occasion when he demanded more I gestured to the bottle of meths on the window sill and said...
‘Here have this!’ He wasn’t too far gone to not feel mortified at my suggestion!
We are now firm friends. Many years later and since I left the Highlands, he no longer smokes or drinks alcohol and is the first to say, he wouldn’t be alive now if he had carried on the way he was.
Nothing to do with me and he smiles at our reminisces of past arguments!
A lovely, lovely man.
My cousin sadly I have lost touch with, so who knows where she is at?
As I sit in the garden thinking back over a life well lived,
warts n all it is interesting to know how I’ve flaming got away with being such a
blooming battle axe?
As we all face our mortality in these most taxing of times it is interesting to look back and wonder?
Where we went wrong, where we went right, where we could have ‘put a sock in it!’ especially pertinent to yours truly! And more importantly how we will/must behave in the strange new world waiting for us as we emerge from the darkness into the light.
Let us never forget!
Where we went wrong, where we went right, where we could have ‘put a sock in it!’ especially pertinent to yours truly! And more importantly how we will/must behave in the strange new world waiting for us as we emerge from the darkness into the light.
Let us never forget!
I think we are what we are! I too am too quick to hand out my 'advice'. I know I'm opinionated and now that you've seen some of my recent history, you'll understand my need last year to attend, for a short time, a counsellor. She was a lovely lady and very wise, in my opinion! She told me to stop mothering everybody! She said I couldn't fix everyone to the way I thought they should be and to allow all my grown up children to make their own mistakes and work out their own remedies to said mistakes. She was right! I wouldn't say I was a helicopter parent, but I was always very pass remarkable about how they should tackle things! I've tried really hard since then to stop doing that. I still find myself 'telling' people how I would do it, but its a learning curve I'm on! Now I'm desperately trying to only give advice if asked for it! Like I said, its a learning curve so forgive me if I spout forth to you L. I know I do sometimes - at least you can ignore me, the kids not so much lol!! xx
ReplyDeleteI’m not a natural mother, from the off I found it a huge responsibility, my mum dying shortly after I had my son maybe had some bearing on the position I found myself in. Oh, that and post natal depression. I seem to of late, found the diplomacy tablets himself is always suggesting I take... are working !!?!!
DeleteLX
Saying it like it is, is far better than lying
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more... but hold tight... I would won’t I?
DeleteLX
We certainly are what we are. Some friends have thanked me, some have not.
ReplyDeleteWarts n all! True friends love you just the way you are,
DeleteLX
I tend to be very much 100% with people too and I think the vast majority appreciate Honesty tempered with speaking the Truth in Love. If we didn't Care we wouldn't say anything, if I have zero Investment in someone I could care less what they do so long as it doesn't intrude upon my Life. But, I won't give unsolicited Advice, it's rarely appreciated so if someone asks for my advice or opinion, they just have to be ready to hear the Truth, unvarnished and given with the best of intentions. Of coarse the Road to Hell is often paved with Good Intentions, isn't it? *winks*
ReplyDeletei agree: those I care about get the benefit of my opinion. Hands up I have in the past been guilty of giving my view, even if it is unlooked for. Not anymore, as I’ve got older I have got wiser, sad to admit...
DeleteLX