#and when the 2019 fire broke out i was devastated the universe would take my then bf from me

[hersurvival]

Five years since the cathedral fire,

Renovations yet to be finished,

We fell to our own ruin.

Where I once made a wish for you

And cried as it came crumbling down,

I am now rebuilding on my own.

@nosebleedclub September 20th - French

[nightkitchentarot]

The Secret Of The Quiet Mind

FROM THE ATLANTIC -- JUNE 17, 2021

I Know the Secret to the Quiet Mind. I Wish I’d Never Learned It.

Of all the injuries we suffered, mine is the worst. My brain injury has shaken my confidence in my own personality, my own existence.

By Hana Schank

The worst things can happen on the most beautiful days. My family’s worst day was a perfect one in the summer of 2019. We picked my daughter up from camp and talked about where to go for lunch: the diner or the burger place. I don’t remember which we chose. What I do remember: being woken up, again and again, by doctors who insist on asking me the same questions—my name, where I am, what month it is—and telling me the same story, a story that I am sure is wrong.

“You were in a car accident,” they say. But this cannot be. We’re having lunch and then going on a hike. I had promised the think tank where I work that I’d call in to a 4 p.m. meeting.

“You are in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital in New Hampshire.” Another ludicrous statement. I started the day in Vermont. Surely if I had crossed the river to New Hampshire I would know it.

“What’s your name?” they ask me, and I tell them and tell them and tell them.

“Where are you?” “New Hampshire,” I say, except for one time when I say “Vermont.” “New Hampshire,” they correct, and I want to say, “Really, we are so close to the border here, can’t you just give it to me this once?”

“You were in a car accident,” they tell me again. “Your husband broke his leg and your son broke his collarbone.” These do not seem like horrible injuries, so I am waiting for the worse news, the news that my daughter is dead. She is the youngest and the smallest. She was born with albinism, and her existence has always felt improbable, and so now it must be over.

But—thank God—it’s not. “Your daughter has fractures in her spine and damage to her lower intestine from the seat belt.” They tell me that my lower intestine was also injured, and that I’ve had surgery. I lift up my hospital gown and am surprised to see an angry red line and industrial-size staples. I remember an article I’d read about seat belts not being designed for women, and I ask the doctor if he sees more women with these injuries than men. I have yet to take in the reality of what has happened to me, to my family. Instead I am thinking about writing an exposé about the sexist seat-belt industry.

They wake me up and ask me where I am and what my name is. A doctor asks me who the president is. “I don’t want to say,” I reply. He smiles. I am at Dartmouth for three days before I am transferred to the University of Vermont, where my husband and children are. The days pass like minutes, a loop of sleep interrupted by people asking me questions and telling me terrible things.

One of the things I am told is that I have a brain bleed and a traumatic brain injury. I wonder if this is why I am slurring my words, but am told that the slurring is from the anti-seizure medication I am on. This sounds good. The slurring will stop. A doctor tells me I “got my bell rung.” This is a bad analogy. Bell clappers are meant to slam against the side of the bell. The brain is not meant to slam against the side of the skull.

Of all the injuries my family is suffering from, mine is the worst. This is my totally biased opinion. My husband’s leg will take almost a year to heal. My daughter would have died if not for the surgery to repair her flayed abdomen. She is 10, and one of her friends tells her that because of the scar she will never be able to wear a bikini. She spends many days attempting to suss out whether she cares. She doesn’t yet know if she is the bikini-wearing type.

My 13-year-old son is the only one who remembers the accident. He remembers a woman in a ponytail calling 911, the smell of gasoline and burnt metal. He remembers his father yelling “Jesus Christ.” He will have to live with the memory of his sister looking at my body and asking, “Is Mama dead?”

These are terrible injuries, and yet, the other members of my family don’t walk around thinking, Am I still me? My brain injury has shaken my confidence in my own personality, my own existence. This is the worst injury.

When we leave the hospital and move into a hotel, I frequently get lost in the hallway. The first time I roll into occupational therapy with my walker, I am grateful for the obvious signage pointing me toward the check-in desk. It’s almost as though the clinic is expecting people with brain damage.

My therapist is a smiling, 40-something woman with dirty-blond hair. She reminds me of me before the accident. She asks if I am having any thinking problems or memory problems. I tell her about an incident with Parmesan cheese.

“Can you get the Parmesan?” my husband asked.

I opened the fridge and looked. I looked and looked.

“I can’t find it,” I said with a shrug.

My son opened the fridge and pulled out a block of Parmesan.

It hadn’t occurred to me that this was a brain issue. Sometimes you just can’t find the Parmesan. Right?

A test confirms that I have trouble scanning a visual field for objects. My brain is struggling to recognize what I see, but without a pre-accident baseline to judge from, there is no way to know how much worse I am at it now. Have I always been bad at finding things? Maybe? There are limits to how well an injured brain can scrutinize an injured brain.

I have other visual-processing issues. At first I can’t watch television because my brain is unable to merge the images from my two eyes, so I see doubles of everything—two Phoebes, two Chandlers. I can watch with one eye closed, but I’m distracted, seething at my brain for failing to do such a simple task.

In one session, the therapist tells me we are going to play a game. She pulls out a deck of cards and asks me to turn cards over while saying the number or the color or the suit. The game is so difficult, I want to physically remove my brain from my skull and hurl it against a wall. I will never play this game again as long as I live.

Eventually I graduate from occupational therapy. But occupational therapy isn’t about getting people back on their feet so they can return to think tanks. It is about making sure they can run errands without getting lost. I am someone who has always taken pride in my intelligence, and now I am not so smart. I am just a functional human being, according to occupational therapy.

When we go out in public as a family, we are a walking nightmare. “Wow,” a stranger says, marveling at the device that is bolted into my husband’s femur. And then my son appears with his arm in a sling, my daughter limps over in her back brace. An injured couple is potentially funny. There is nothing funny about an injured family. “What happened to you guys?”

When we tell the story, we explain that we were in no way at fault, which feels important. We wore our seat belts and drove the speed limit and the weather wasn’t bad and yet this happened to us. Someone was driving a pickup truck in the opposite direction. He was late to a job interview or to get his kid, or maybe he was just antsy. In front of him was a motorcycle slowing him down. Maybe he’d been behind that motorcycle for miles. Maybe he liked to take risks. He pulled into our lane and passed the motorcycle while going up a hill at 70 miles per hour. I don’t know who makes this kind of decision. Did he think, I can’t believe I did something this stupid? Did he also yell “Jesus Christ”?

Because we are not at fault, accident feels like the wrong word. Not just wrong, but unfair. My husband starts calling it the incident, but an incident is a small thing, not something that scars you for life. The smashing? The destruction? Newbury, after the town where it occurred? The only thing that comes close is the devastation.

The devastated me is different. My brain used to race, making lists and plans, skipping from an article I was researching to whether my kids were in appropriate after-school programs to what vacation we should take in February. Now it does none of that. There are no plans to make.

A few days after regaining consciousness, I check my Twitter feed. I have always been a news junkie. But I have missed nothing. The news seems to be not just familiar but actually repeating itself. Something bonkers happened in the White House. People are dying in a country I’ve never been to. A company did something possibly illegal. There was a house fire in the Bronx. Are these the things I used to care about?

The most interesting piece of news is the one I am experiencing. In the hospital we are waiting to make sure my daughter can poop through her reconstructed colon. This article isn’t in The New York Times.

When we return to New York I take the subway to doctor appointments. I don’t take out my phone, I just sit. My brain is quiet, which I find suspicious, but also soothing. Before the accident I went to yoga retreats and tried meditation. I said things like “I just need to unplug.” Apparently what I needed was to get hit by a truck. Perhaps I have discovered the secret to a peaceful mind, and it is traumatic brain injury. I fantasize about opening an expensive spa where busy people pay me money to whack them on the head with a baseball bat.

The day of the accident I had been working on a project to improve how homeless people are placed into shelters. I say out loud, “I don’t care about homeless people” to see how it feels. It doesn’t ring true; I do care about homeless people. I just don’t feel like working. I have always been a regular exerciser. Now I can’t imagine wanting to do a burpee, let alone 10 of them. I always ate healthy things. But did you know that you can eat whole grains and still get hit by a truck?

I have strange cravings. I think about apple cider all the time. Apple cider is not a normal part of my diet. I have a very detailed dream about eating chocolate cake. I eat the cake. That’s the entire dream. I find myself foraging in the fridge for flavors that don’t exist.

I don’t know which symptoms are permanent and which are temporary. At first, the doctors say that after a year or two I’m likely to have a full return to my normal brain function. Or not. They don’t really know about the brain. It might be more like 95 percent. If I broke my elbow and someone told me I’d get 95 percent of my elbow function back, I’d be satisfied. But 95 percent of my brain function sounds terrifying. Which pieces will be missing?

Some days I feel like myself. Other days all I can think about is the old life that is gone. Then, halfway through my recuperation, the coronavirus comes. The stores close, the schools close, the traffic on the avenue dwindles to a sporadic whoosh. And my busy friends who were always texting me about their crazy schedules are suddenly as quiet as I am. Together we wait for normal to return. The difference is that they know what normal looks like.

In July it will be two years since the accident. The world is now coming back to life, my days slowly filling up with work and chores and exercise. Soon I will go back to in-person meetings and travel, and I wonder: Will I be up to the challenge? Or will I get lost in office buildings and airports?

For now, in this liminal space between the old life and the new one, I often catch myself staring at my children. They have never been more beautiful. I chalk this up to the magic of braces––their teeth are finally coming into alignment––but I know this is ridiculous. They are beautiful because they are alive. I look at them, and I sit with the silence. Today, it is mine. Tomorrow, it may not be.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Pair of studies confirm there is water on the moon (Washington Post) There is water on the moon’s surface, and ice may be widespread in its many shadows, according to a pair of studies published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. The research confirms long-standing theories about the existence of lunar water that could someday enable astronauts to live there for extended periods. One scientific team found the telltale sign of water molecules, perhaps bound up in glass, in a sunlit region. Another group estimated the widespread prevalence of tiny shadowed pockmarks on the lunar landscape, possible shelter for water ice over an area of 15,000 square miles. Moon water has been eyed as a potential resource by NASA, which created a program named Artemis in 2019 to send American astronauts back to the moon this decade. Launching water to space costs thousands of dollars per gallon.

Colleges Slash Budgets in the Pandemic, With ‘Nothing Off-Limits’ (NYT) Ohio Wesleyan University is eliminating 18 majors. The University of Florida’s trustees this month took the first steps toward letting the school furlough faculty. The University of California, Berkeley, has paused admissions to its Ph.D. programs in anthropology, sociology and art history. As it resurges across the country, the coronavirus is forcing universities large and small to make deep and possibly lasting cuts to close widening budget shortfalls. By one estimate, the pandemic has cost colleges at least $120 billion, with even Harvard University, despite its $41.9 billion endowment, reporting a $10 million deficit that has prompted belt tightening. Though many colleges imposed stopgap measures such as hiring freezes and early retirements to save money in the spring, the persistence of the economic downturn is taking a devastating financial toll, pushing many to lay off or furlough employees, delay graduate admissions and even cut or consolidate core programs like liberal arts departments. “We haven’t seen a budget crisis like this in a generation,” said Robert Kelchen, a Seton Hall University associate professor of higher education who has been tracking the administrative response to the pandemic. “There’s nothing off-limits at this point.”

Thousands Forced to Evacuate From California Fires (NYT) Two firefighters were gravely injured and tens of thousands of Californians were forced to flee their homes on Monday as two new fires ripped through Orange County. About 90,800 residents in Irvine were put under mandatory evacuation orders because of the Silverado Fire and the smaller Blue Ridge Fire, said Shane Sherwood, a division chief for the Orange County Fire Authority. High winds and low humidity fueled the fires’ rapid growth. About 4,000 firefighters were fighting 22 wildfires across the state on Monday, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. As evening approached, the Silverado Fire had burned about 7,200 acres and the Blue Ridge Fire 3,000 acres. Later Monday night, the Orange County Fire Authority said that the Blue Ridge Fire had grown to 6,600 acres

Why N.Y.C.’s Economic Recovery May Lag the Rest of the Country’s (NYT) New York, whose diversified economy had fueled unparalleled job growth in recent years, is now facing a bigger challenge in recovering from the pandemic than almost any other major city in the country. More than one million residents are out of work, and the unemployment rate is nearly double the national average. The city had tried to insulate itself from major downturns by shifting from tying its fortunes to the rise and fall of Wall Street. A thriving tech sector, a booming real estate industry and waves of international tourists had helped Broadway, hotels and restaurants prosper. But now, as the virus surges again in the region, tourists are still staying away and any hope that workers would refill the city’s office towers and support its businesses before the end of the year is fading. As a result, New York’s recovery is very likely to be slow and protracted, economists said. “This is an event that struck right at the heart of New York’s comparative advantages,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, a Wall Street research firm. “Being globally oriented, being stacked up in skyscrapers and packed together in stadiums: The very thing that made New York New York was undermined by the pandemic, was upended by it.”

Asylum-Seekers Face Violent ICE Coercion (Foreign Policy) U.S. immigration officers have threatened, pepper-sprayed, beaten, and choked asylum-seekers from Cameroon to coerce them to sign their own deportation orders, the Guardian reports. A coalition of advocacy groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a complaint earlier this month describing a “pattern of coercion” by ICE agents at a Mississippi detention center that it called “tantamount to torture.” According to multiple accounts in the complaint, immigration officials used the coercive tactics to compel detainees to sign documents that would waive their rights to further immigration hearings. At least one individual was hospitalized as a result. One man, identified by the initials C.A., described how officers broke his fingers as they sought to force his fingerprint onto a document. “Officers grabbed me, forced me on the ground, and pepper-sprayed my eyes. … I was crying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ because they were forcefully on top of me pressing their body weight on top of me. My eyes were so hot. They dragged me outside by both hands,” said the individual, who was prevented from speaking to his lawyer before signing the document. C.A. was placed on a deportation flight on Oct. 13 but was one of two Cameroonians pulled off the plane moments before takeoff, as an investigation had begun into the allegations of abuse. At least 100 asylum-seekers, including many from Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were deported on the same flight. For two consecutive years, the Norwegian Refugee Council has deemed Cameroon the world’s most neglected displacement crisis due to an insurgency in the north and a brutal government crackdown on two English-speaking separatist regions. Since 2016, the two conflicts have killed over 3,000 people and displaced more than 700,000.

Belgium’s former King meets estranged daughter for first time (Reuters) Belgium’s former King Albert has met his daughter Delphine for the first time, after she won a seven-year legal battle to prove that he is her father, earning recognition as a princess. The two met Albert’s wife, Queen Paola, last Sunday at their royal residence, the Belvedere castle, in the Brussels suburb of Laeken, the royal household said on Tuesday. “This Sunday October 25, a new chapter has opened, filled with emotions, calm, understanding and also hope,” the king, the queen and Delphine said in a statement. “Our meeting took place at the Belvedere Castle, a meeting during which each of us was able to express, calmly and with empathy, our feelings and our experiences.” “After the turmoil, the wounds and the suffering, comes the time for forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. This is the path, patient and at times difficult, that we have decided to take resolutely together.” Delphine Boel, 52, a Belgian artist, fought a seven-year legal battle to prove that the former king is her father. After a DNA test confirmed that, a court granted her the title of princess earlier this month. Albert, 86, who abdicated six years ago in favour of his son Philippe, had long contested Boel’s claim.

Germany cautions Thai king (Foreign Policy) Pro-democracy protesters in Thailand marched on the German Embassy in Bangkok to deliver a letter asking German authorities to investigate whether King Maha Vajiralongkorn “has conducted Thai politics using his royal prerogative from German soil or not.” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, speaking from Berlin, said the German government was “examining” the issue “and if there are things we feel to be unlawful, then that will have immediate consequences.”

Belarus Opposition Calls General Strike, as Protesters Gird for Long Fight (NYT) When Belarusians took to the streets in the hundreds of thousands in August, after Mr. Lukashenko claimed a re-election victory that was widely seen as fraudulent, many predicted that it was only a matter of days or weeks until the longtime authoritarian leader stepped down. Instead, Mr. Lukashenko and the large swath of the public that is arrayed against him have settled into a drawn-out test of wills, with their country’s future on the line. Protesters continue to turn out in the tens of thousands every Sunday, chanting “Go away!” and waving the white-red-white flag of the opposition. Mr. Lukashenko responds with waves of crackdowns by the police and, backed by Russia, appears determined to wait the protests out. “In such a tense situation, absolutely anything could turn out to be the trigger that topples the system,” said Artyom Shraibman, a Minsk-based nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “It could end in the course of a week, or it might not die for a year. No revolution has ever gone according to plan.” The authorities’ use of violence to try to put down the protests appears to be escalating, further feeding the anger in Belarusian society. It was a bout of severe police violence early in the uprising that supercharged the protests.

World’s largest IPO shows power of mobile payments in China (Washington Post) Go to a store, hop in a taxi, or even stop by a street peddler’s cart in China, and you will see QR codes strung up on colorful laminated squares. These mobile payment codes are the default way money changes hands in China these days, and the reason Ant Group’s initial public offering is set to be the world’s largest. China’s Ant Group—the Alibaba spinoff behind the ubiquitous blue QR payment codes across the world’s second-largest economy—announced plans on Monday to raise more than $34 billion in a joint listing across Shanghai and Hong Kong. This would trounce last year’s listing of oil titan Saudi Aramco, the reigning IPO champion. Mobile payments have replaced cash and credit cards in China as the preferred payment method, thanks to easy-to-use apps made by Ant Group and its closest rival Tencent. Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay are similar in spirit to wildly popular U.S. stock trading app Robinhood, in that they are user-friendly enough that anyone with a smartphone and bank account can make complicated financial transactions with a click or swipe.

China sanctions U.S. weapons manufacturers (Foreign Policy) China will impose sanctions on three U.S.-based weapons manufacturers after the U.S. State Department approved the sale of $1.8 billion worth of weapons and equipment to Taiwan last Wednesday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the sanctions were necessary “in order to uphold national interests.” It’s not yet clear what form the sanctions will take. More sanctions could soon be on the way, as the State Department approved a further $2.37 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan on Monday.

Vietnam evacuating low-lying areas as strong typhoon nears (AP) Vietnam scrambled Tuesday to evacuate more than a million people in its central lowlands as a strong typhoon approached while some regions are still dealing with the aftermath of recent killer floods, state media said. Typhoon Molave is forecast to slam into Vietnam’s south central coast with sustained winds of up to 135 kilometers (84 miles) per hour on Wednesday morning, according to the official Vietnam News Agency. The typhoon left at least 3 people dead and 13 missing and displaced more than 120,000 villagers in the Philippines before blowing toward Vietnam. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered provincial authorities late Monday to prepare to evacuate about 1.3 million people in regions lying on the typhoon’s path. Phuc expressed fears that Molave, the latest disturbance to threaten Vietnam this month, could be as deadly as Typhoon Damrey, which battered the country’s central region in 2017 and left more than a hundred people dead.

Vaccines, not spy planes: U.S. misfires in Southeast Asia For months, by Zoom calls and then by jet, Indonesian ministers and officials scoured the world for access to a vaccine for the coronavirus that Southeast Asia’s biggest country is struggling to control. This month, their campaign paid off. Three Chinese companies committed 250 million doses of vaccines to the archipelago of 270 million people. A letter of intent was signed with a UK-based company for another 100 million. Absent from these pledges: the United States. Not only was it not promising any vaccine, but months earlier the United States shocked Indonesian officials by asking to land and refuel its spy planes in the territory, four senior Indonesian officials told Reuters. This would reverse a decades-long policy of strategic neutrality in the country. Washington’s campaign to buttress its influence in the region—part of its escalating global rivalry with China—has been misfiring, say government officials and analysts.

Bomb at seminary in Pakistan kills 8 students, wounds 136 (AP) A powerful bomb blast ripped through an Islamic seminary on the outskirts of the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday morning, killing at least eight students and wounding 136 others, police and a hospital spokesman said. The bombing happened as a prominent religious scholar during a special class was delivering a lecture about the teachings of Islam at the main hall of the Jamia Zubairia madrassa, said police officer Waqar Azim. The attack comes days after Pakistani intelligence alerted that militants could target public places and important buildings, including seminaries and mosques across Pakistan, including Peshawar.

Hopes for peace in Libya (Foreign Policy) The two main factions in Libya’s civil war agreed to a nationwide cease-fire at U.N.-backed talks in Geneva on Friday. Previous attempts to broker an end to the yearslong conflict have failed, but the new agreement has cautiously raised hopes that it will lay the groundwork for a peace deal. The cease-fire, signed by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army, calls for all front-line forces to return to their bases and all mercenaries and foreign troops to withdraw within three months. The Libyan conflict has drawn in a multitude of international players, including Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Their actions in the coming months could make or break the cease-fire.

[bechloeislegit]

14 Days of BeChloe Valentines

DAY 04 - THE THREE TIMES BECA FELL IN LOVE

Prompt from Tumblr User this-isnt-theblogyourelookingfor: Beca reflecting on the three times she fell in love.

A/N: The parts in Italics with Quotation Marks are direct quotes from an actual article mentioned in the story.

Beca was enjoying her first free afternoon in months. She had been scrolling around on her laptop and found an interesting article to read. The article, titled The 3 Types of Falling in Love, stated that we really only fall in love with three people in our lifetime and that we need each of these loves for a different reason.

Beca thought about the article and realized that her love life only spanned five years. She was sixteen when she fell in love for the first time. According to the article, this love is "the idealistic love — the only one that seems like the fairy tales we read as children."

She remembered her first love vividly. His name was Luke, and he was from England; London to be exact. He came in as a Sophomore just like she was and they had several classes together.

Beca smiled as she thought back to the first time she met Luke; she didn't really like him at all. He was egotistical and, if she were being honest with herself, he had every right to be. He was blonde, good-looking, wore tight t-shirts that showed off his six-pack abs, and he had the sexiest accent ever.

The first time the girls at their High School saw him, they wanted him. They all tried to get his attention; all except for Beca. She thinks that's why he sought her out. Because she was immune to his charms.

One day they were paired to do a science project. Beca wasn't looking forward to it, but once he stopped trying to be some kind of stud, he was a really good guy.

During their time working on the project, they found they both had a love of music. Luke helped her find the best mixing program to use; she took him to the best music shop in town. And before she knew it, they were dating, and she was in love.

They dated until just before Beca turned eighteen midway through their Senior Year. His family was moving back to England, and no matter how much he begged them to let him stay, his parents forced him to move back as well.

Beca was devastated but managed to get through the rest of her Senior Year and graduated. They stayed in touch for a couple of months but broke it off when he realized he still had feelings for an old girlfriend and they got back together. Beca was sad but not 'my life is over' kind of sad.

She re-read the section on the first time you fall in love and realized it was true. She did follow the social norms and fell for the boy, even though she knew she was also attracted to girls. She's sure her father would have approved of him because he was a 'him.' Her mother loved Luke and gushed to Beca about him all the time. She was more disappointed than Beca when Luke moved back to London.

The article went on to say, "We enter into it with the belief that this will be our only love and it doesn't matter if it doesn't feel quite right, or if we find ourselves having to swallow down our personal truths to make it work because deep down we believe that this is what love is supposed to be."

Beca nodded her head; this was all so true in her case.

~~2019 BeChloe Valentines - Day Four~~

Beca continued onto the next section about falling in love the second time. This, according to the article, was the hard love. The love that teaches us "lessons about who we are and how we often want or need to be loved. This is the kind of love that hurts, whether through lies, pain or manipulation."

Beca's second love was Jesse Swanson. They both came in as Freshmen at Barden University and worked as interns at the campus radio station together.

Beca second love was a hard love for her. And, according to the article, it fits in with how they described it.

She met Jesse, and he subtly wooed her. She also met a girl that she was attracted to, but she didn't seem interested, so she let Jesse win her over. She had used the Bellas' ICCA performance to tell him she liked him too. To seal the deal, when their performance was over she walked right to him and kissed him.

There wasn't any physical abuse. Jesse was too good a guy to put his hands on her in anger. But there was what she would describe as emotional or mental manipulation.

Jesse loved movies, and Beca hated them. Jesse would want to watch a movie and Beca would say no. Jesse would pull out incidences when she would choose something else over spending time with him, or how she wasn't very affectionate with him in public. The next thing Beca knew, she was watching a movie. He would spend practically the entire movie trying to educate her and show her what she was missing.

Jesse didn't like the amount of time she spent with the Bellas and especially her best friend, Chloe. He never asked her to choose between them, but he made it abundantly clear that he did not like the amount of time she spent with Chloe.

Most of their dates would end with them arguing because she said he never listened to her and he said she never tried to do the things he liked to do. She felt drained after being with him because all they did together were things that he liked to do.

She looked back through the article and read, "With this kind of love, trying to make it work becomes more important than whether it actually should. It's the love that we wished was right."

Beca could relate to this even more because it was all true. She thought about the times Jesse would pout when she wouldn't spend time with him because she was with Chloe or the Bellas, or working on their next set. But, she loved him so she would blow off Chloe and the Bellas during a lot of their 'bonding nights' to spend time with him. He never blew off the Trebles to spend time with her.

But, he was a guy, and that's who society and her dad said she should be with, so she stayed. She stayed with him for two years before she finally broke it off at the end of their Junior Year.

It was a long time coming, and she was relieved when it was over.

~~2019 BeChloe Valentines - Day Four~~

Beca looked at the title of the next section: Falling In Love the 3rd Time: The Love that Lasts. She began to read, and the first sentence knocked her for a loop. "And the third is the love we never see coming."

Beca had met Chloe around the same time she met Jesse. She is the girl Beca was attracted to but didn't think felt the same which led her to be with Jesse.

But, now? She and Chloe were best friends. Best friends who spent practically every waking moment together. Beca allowed Chloe to hug her, or hold her hand when they walked around campus, or snuggle when they had a Bellas movie night. She didn't let anyone else do any of those things. She never let Jesse do any of those things.

Beca knew she had some not so friend-like feelings for Chloe, but never put much thought into how strong those feelings were. Beca sat up and gasped when she was hit with a sudden epiphany. Chloe might just be her third love.

"Oh, my God," Beca said out loud. "I'm in love with Chloe."

Beca threw her hand over her mouth for fear someone heard her.

"I am in love with Chloe," Beca repeated in an awed whisper.

Beca looked back at the article and began a checklist to see how Chloe fit in with the third love idea.

The third love: "The one that usually looks all wrong for us and that destroys any lingering ideals we clung to about what love is supposed to be. This is the love that comes so easy it doesn't seem possible. It's the kind where the connection can't be explained and knocks us off our feet because we never planned for it."

Chloe is a girl, a female; and many believe that Beca shouldn't love Chloe because they are both females. But, falling in loving with Chloe had been so easy; so easy in fact that she didn't even know it was happening. They work. Beca has no clue how or why; they just do.

Check!

The third love: "This is the love where we come together with someone and it just fits—there aren't any ideal expectations about how each person should be acting, nor is there pressure to become someone other than we are.

"We are just simply accepted for who we are already—and it shakes to our core."

She and Chloe do fit so well together. Chloe never tried to change her or make her conform to something she wasn't. And Beca loves Chloe's free spirit; she would never tell Chloe to rein it in.

Check!

The third love: "It isn't what we envisioned our love would look like, nor does it abide by the rules that we had hoped to play it safe by. But still, it shatters our preconceived notions and shows us that love doesn't have to be how we thought in order to be true.

"This is the love that keeps knocking on our door regardless of how long it takes us to answer.

"It's the love that just feels right."

Jesse was safe; being with him never felt right. Chloe had always been there as if waiting for Beca to be free. Loving Chloe just felt right.

Check!

Now that Beca has come to all these conclusions about Chloe being her "third" love, she had to figure out a way to tell Chloe. Beca needed the Bellas' help.

~~2019 BeChloe Valentines - Day Four~~

Beca went running down the stairs and almost knocked Stacie off her feet as she barged into the hallway.

"Whoa, little one," Stacie said grabbing Beca to keep her from falling. "Where's the fire?"

"Sorry," Beca said. "Are the girls here? Is Chloe here?"

"Chloe's at the library," Stacie said. "I think everyone else is here. Why?"

"Cool, cool, cool," Beca said.

"Beca, are you okay?" Stacie asked.

"I'm in love with Chloe," Beca said with a wide grin.

"Finally," Stacie said. "It's about time you figured it out."

"What?" Beca asked. "You knew? How did you know? I literally just figured it out."

"Beca, we all knew," Stacie said. "You two are the only ones who don't seem to know."

"Oh," Beca said and stared at Stacie. "Wait. Are you saying she loves me, too? And not just as a friend?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Stacie said. "Is that what all the running and almost knocking people over was about?"

"Yes, no," Beca said shaking her head. "I, um, I want to tell Chloe I love her and I need the Bellas to help."

"Let's do this," Stacie told Beca. She grabbed Beca by the hand and started yelling, "Bellas assemble now! Beca needs us! All Bellas to the living room! This is not a drill people! Let's go! Chop! Chop!"

"You have got to stop dating Aubrey," Beca said covering her ears.

Stacie dragged Beca downstairs to the living room and stood next to her as the girls all raced in.

~~2019 BeChloe Valentines - Day Four~~

Any Bella that was in the house was now sitting in the living room wondering what was happening.

"What's going on?" Fat Amy asked.

"What's the emergency?" Flo asked.

"Beca wants to tell Chloe she's in love with her," Stacie said once all the girls were settled. "And she wants our help."

"Finally!" the Bellas all yelled out.

"Rude," Beca said.

"Hush, you," Stacie said and looked around the room. "Okay, girls, any ideas? Let's hear them."

"You could sing to her," Jessica suggested.

"That sounds good," Ashley said nodding.

"I know I tend to pour a lot of emotion into my music to convey my feelings," Beca said. "But I want to do something different. Something unexpected. I want to tell her in my own voice, straight from my heart."

Several pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at Beca. She looked around at them.

"What?"

"That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard you say," Emily said wiping away a tear. "And you didn't get all flustered and blush."

"Oh, God," Beca moaned.

"Invite her out for Valentine's Day," CR suggested. "Take her somewhere nice and tell her over a candlelight dinner."

"That sounds good," Beca said. "Only, I don't have a lot of money for anything fancy. Plus, there will be other people around, and I tend to get flustered when I'm trying to convey my emotions. I would embarrass us both."

"Do it here," Emily suggested.

"The child has a good idea," Fat Amy said. "You can set up a nice table for two. Put some candles on it, a nice bouquet of flowers, and make her favorite meal."

All eyes were not staring unblinkingly at Amy. "What?"

"Wow, Valentine's Day is sure bringing out the romantic in everyone," Stacie said.

"I like the idea," Beca said. "Only, I can't cook."

"What's her favorite meal?" CR asked.

"Well, she's practically full-on vegan now," Beca said. "But, I don't think she has a favorite meal."

CR grabs her laptop and Googles vegan meals.

"Here's a website that has several vegan recipes," CR said. "Most of them don't require any real cooking. Find one you think she'll like and make that for her."

"Let me see that," Beca said walking over to look over CR's shoulder. "Lentils Lettuce Wraps. That sounds like something she'd like and something I'd eat, too. And, the only cooking required is done in the microwave. I can do that."

"Okay, the food is planned," Stacie said. "Now, how do we set the mood."

"Does everybody have plans for Valentine's Day?" Emily asked.

The girls all nod their heads except Fat Amy. "I'm keeping my options open at the moment," Fat Amy said.

"Whatever," Emily said. "I have an idea."

Emily proceeds to tell them her idea. Beca loves it, and everyone agrees to do their part.

"Now, I just have to ask her to be my Valentine's date," Beca said.

"No, you don't," Stacie said with a smile. "I know for a fact that Chloe doesn't have any plans for Valentine's Day. Here's what we'll do."

~~2019 BeChloe Valentines - Day Four~~

Valentine's Day was in full force at the Bellas house. Chloe left a little after three thirty for a class. Beca and the Bellas knew they had about an hour and a half to get everything set up.

CR and Flo were responsible for setting up the living room. Ashley and Jessica were going to help Beca in the kitchen. Stacie and Emily were getting ready for their dates early so they could take care of Chloe when she came home.

Beca thought she would be more nervous than she was. She cut up the vegetables she needed for their dinner which left having to heat the lentils for everything to be ready. Surprisingly, Beca was calm and couldn't wait for her date with Chloe.

Chloe came home at five-thirty and was greeted by Stacie and Emily who each grabbed an arm and ushered Chloe up to her room.

"What are you guys doing?" Chloe asked as they entered her room

"We have a very special date planned for you this evening," Stacie said.

"Guys, I appreciate the sentiment," Chloe said. "But I don't want to go on a blind date tonight of all nights. I just want to put on my pajamas and chill in my room."

"Trust me, Chlo," Emily said. "You will want to accept this date."

"Okay," Stacie said. "Jump in the shower real quick, and we'll be waiting to help you get ready."

Chloe sighed and thought, "What the Hell? Why not?", and went to take her shower.

Chloe came back into her room and found Stacie and Emily looking in her closet. Stacie came out with a red sequined dress that she said was perfect for Valentine's Day. Emily was carrying a matching pair of red shoes.

Chloe got dressed, and Emily sat her down in front of her mirror and started on Chloe's hair. She brushed it out and pulled it over her right shoulder into a very loose braid. Emily was done, so Stacie took over and applied some light makeup.

"There," Stacie said. "Perfect."

Chloe stood and stepped into her shoes. She smoothed down her dress and went to check herself in the mirror.

"You look amazing, Chloe," Emily gushed.

"Thanks, Em," Chloe said. "So, when do I get to meet my mystery date."

"It won't be long," Stacie said and looked at the time. "I have to go. I'm meeting Aubrey at the restaurant for our date."

"Tell Brey I said hi," Chloe told her.

"Me, too," Emily said. "I need to get downstairs. Benji should be here any minute. You just stay here, Chloe. Your date will be arriving shortly."

"Um, okay," Chloe said.

Emily and Stacie hugged Chloe. "Good luck," Emily whispered as they both left Chloe alone in her room.

~~2019 BeChloe Valentines - Day Four~~

Chloe sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. She could hear voices coming from downstairs and assumed the girls were leaving for their Valentine's dates. After a bit of time, it got eerily quiet. She wondered if she should go downstairs and wait for her date. She jumped slightly when there was a light knock at her door.

Chloe took a deep breath and stood from the bed. She smoothed down her dress and went to the door and opened it.

Chloe's eyes shot open wide when she saw Beca standing there wearing a navy blue dress that clung to every curve.

"Beca? Are you my mystery date?"

"I heard you didn't have a date for Valentine's Day so I thought maybe I'd be your date," Beca said nervously. "I mean if you want."

"I'd love to be your date tonight," Chloe said with a big smile.

"Then, let's go," Beca said and held out her arm for Chloe to take.

Chloe wrapped her arm around Beca's, and they started down the stairs. "So, where are you taking me for this date?"

"It's not far," Beca said as they stepped off the last step.

Beca removed her arm from Chloe's and went to the living room doors. With great fanfare, she pulled open the doors and Chloe gasped.

The room was lit with candles all around. In the middle of the living room was a table set for two. There was soft music playing in the background.

"Beca," Chloe said as she looked around the room. "This is beautiful."

Beca took Chloe's hand and led her farther into the room. She stopped at the table and picked up a single red rose.

"For you," Beca said softly.

Chloe took the rose and put it to her nose. "Beca, what is all this about?"

"Sit," Beca said and held out the chair for Chloe. Chloe sat and placed the rose on the table. Beca took her seat and gently took Chloe's hands in hers. "I realized something the other day. Something that's been in the back of my mind for some time now, and I decided I needed to let it out."

Chloe's breath hitched, and a tear came to her eye. "Is this going where I think it is?" Chloe thought to herself.

Beca took a deep breath and looked Chloe in the eye. She smiled and reached up and wiped a tear from Chloe's cheek with her thumb.

"I'm in love with you, Chloe," Beca said softly. "I have been for a while. I was just afraid of losing what we have so I didn't tell you."

Another tear fell down Chloe's cheek. She has been waiting for this moment for over two years. She looked at Beca and stood up. 

Beca stood as well, unsure if Chloe was going to run away or what.

Chloe stepped closer to Beca and leaned in and kissed her. Beca was surprised but found herself kissing Chloe back.

Beca's hands immediately went to Chloe's hips to pull her closer. Chloe wrapped her arms around Beca's neck and deepened the kiss.

The kiss ended, and Chloe leaned her forehead against Beca's.

"I love you, too," she said softly and let out a breathy laugh. "I've also been in love with you for a while."

"Yeah?" Beca asked with a smile. "So, I know this sounds High Schoolish but would you want to be my girlfriend?"

Chloe nuzzled Beca's nose and cheek before joining their lips again. She then pulled back and said, "I'd love to be your girlfriend."

"YES!"

Beca and Chloe jerked their heads around to find Fat Amy standing in the doorway holding two plates of food.

"Amy," Beca said. "You were supposed to wait until I called for you."

"I couldn't help it," Fat Amy said. "It was all so romantic, and I wanted to hear what you were saying."

"It's alright, Amy," Chloe said with a smile. "Something smells delicious."

Beca and Chloe sat back in their seats as Amy walked over with their plates. "Shawshank made it herself." Fat Amy set the plates in front of them and said, “Bon appétit.”

"Thank you, Amy," Beca said. "You can go now."

"Okay," Fat Amy said. "All the girls are gone, and I'm leaving now. So, you two have the whole house to yourselves. Make good use of it. Just don't do anything on my bed."

Fat Amy left, and Beca glared after her.

"This looks delicious," Chloe said drawing Beca's attention back to her. "You made this for me?"

"I did," Beca said with a smile. "Dig in."

After they ate, Beca took their plates into the kitchen. She grabbed the plate of cookies she bought specifically for tonight and poured two glasses of soy milk. She managed to carry the two glasses and the plate into the living room without dropping them.

"Let's sit on the sofa," Beca said as Chloe took one of the glasses.

Beca set the plate of cookies on the coffee table and sat down. Chloe sat next to her and held up her glass of milk.

"Here's to more nights like this with my girlfriend," Chloe said. Beca chuckled and clinked their glasses together before taking a drink.

A few hours later, Emily was the first Bella home. After saying goodnight to Benji at the front door, she entered the house and stopped when she looked into the living room. She held in a squeal and pulled out her phone.

Emily took two photos and then sent them in a group text to the other Bellas with the message, It worked and be quiet when you come home.

Stacie was still with Aubrey and 'awwed' when she opened the text from Emily.

"What's that all about it?" Aubrey asked.

Stacie held her phone up for Aubrey to see. Aubrey smiled at the pictures of Beca and Chloe laying on the sofa wrapped in each other's arms, sound asleep.

A/N: The article referenced is an actual article (although I did use quite a bit from it and it isn't very long). If you are interested in reading it, you can find it here: 2016/11/we-only-fall-in-love-with-3-people-in-our-lifetime-each-one-for-a-specific-reason

[shirlleycoyle]

UC Santa Cruz Reinstates 41 Graduate Students After Months-Long Strike

The University of California has agreed to reinstate 41 UC Santa Cruz graduate student workers who were fired in March after waging a months-long ‘wildcat’ strike. The strike for a cost of living adjustment galvanized students at nearly every single campus in the UC’s 285,000-student system.

Last week, following months of protests, campus negotiations, and outcry from elected officials, the University of California agreed to reinstate the 41 teaching assistants.

The university also agreed to offer the 41 students, who had lost their teaching appointments, an additional quarter of funding and an employment guarantee for the upcoming academic year.

“This is a testament to the power of collective action. We were on the picket line for five weeks. We withheld grades for five months. We had a national boycott going, email campaigns, and received letters from around the world, and now we have our jobs back,” Veronica Hamilton, a PhD student in psychology at UC Santa Cruz, who was fired from her teaching position, told Motherboard.

The historic labor victory for UC Santa Cruz graduate student workers signals to other graduate student workers struggling to make ends meet across one of the country’s largest public university systems and beyond that collective strike actions can push large universities to make concessions. In February, UC Santa Cruz agreed to provide all of its graduate students with a $2,500 housing supplement.

“I am a Phd student from a low income background,” Hamilton continued. “Reinstatement means I can finish, and that’s invaluable to me.”

In a press statement, UC Santa Cruz said, “Last week, representatives from University of California Office of the President, UC Santa Cruz, and UAW 2865 worked with a mediator to negotiate an agreement to allow for eligibility for re-employment of academic student employees who were dismissed for their failure to submit grades during the 2019-20 academic year.”

“This is an important step toward rebuilding community trust and moving beyond the discord created by the wildcat strike,” the statement continued. “It also reflects the limitations we operate under when confronted with violations of a closed contract between UCOP and a union. We take seriously the campus's role in meeting the promises created through collective bargaining.”  

In December, 233 graduate students instructors and teaching assistants refused to submit nearly 12,000 fall grades, demanding a $1,412-a-month cost-of-living adjustment, which they said they said they needed to cover the cost of rent amid California’s affordable housing crisis. Graduate students at UC Santa Cruz reported paying up to 50 to 80 percent of their incomes in rent. Santa Cruz County is the third most expensive in the state when adjusted for wages.

In February, the unauthorized "wildcat" strike (meaning the strike took place despite a "no strike" clause in their contract) expanded, as teaching assistants refused to hold classes and office hours, and research assistants declined to take on additional projects. The strike then spread to the UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and UC Davis campuses.

In a devastating blow to the strikers, the university dismissed 54 graduate students from their teaching appointments on February 24, writing in letters sent out to students, “Your abandonment and sustained willful dereliction of your job responsibilities as a teaching fellow constitutes serious misconduct.” The fired graduate students faced losing their tuition remission, which would have forced many to leave their PhD programs.

The university’s decision to reinstate 41 fired graduate students is the outcome of a settlement between the United Auto Workers Local 2865 and the university administrators, following two unfair labor practice charges filed in February and March by the union.

“What this signals is that when we fight we win,” Tom Hintze, UAW 2865 Northern Vice President, told Motherboard. “We have spent months signing petitions to get coworkers reinstated. We’ve held actions, talked to legislators, and continued to put pressure on university to do that right thing and reinstate workers. When we act in solidarity to defend our coworkers, we can win.”

In May, Motherboard published documents obtained through a public records request showing that the California National Guard had supplied military surveillance equipment to the UC Santa Cruz’s police department, including “friendly force trackers,” during the strike, which have been used to track U.S. troops in military company. Police officers also had access to LEEP, a federal surveillance portal operated by the FBI, and monitored social media groups, according to the same documents.

During the pandemic, the university continued to hold disciplinary hearings over Zoom for students charged with misconduct during the strike. Many suspended students lost access to student health and emergency services as the pandemic broke out. At least one graduate student worker, an organizer named Carlos Cruz, who led many of the strike actions, continues to face a two-year suspension, effectively forcing him out of his PhD program, according to UAW Local 2865.

While the strike did trigger a mass movement for a cost-of-living adjustment, referred to as COLA, across the UC system, and a housing supplement for all UC Santa Cruz graduate students, the university still has not come close to providing the $1,412 a month cost-of-living-adjustment that strikers originally demanded.

“The fact that we came away from this with a housing stipend and a guaranteed five years of fundings, which many didn’t have before, plants the seeds for a larger sustained movement,”  LuLing Osofsky, a reinstated graduate student in the history of art and visual culture, told Motherboard.

“I went through the strike while pregnant and had a baby during all the uncertainty,” she continued. “It was important to live up my values while bringing new life. To me, our reinstatement is a major part of our advancement toward getting a COLA. It seems like it’s been a really inspiring struggle for grad workers across the country.”

UC Santa Cruz Reinstates 41 Graduate Students After Months-Long Strike syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Tuesday 5th June 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. Taking Sandra to Malaga as usual this morning, as I have explained before most of the trip in done along the ocean and then we rise up into the mountain and we overlook Malaga and the bay, with the sun rising at this time of the year it’s spectacular and certainly makes the journey memorable.. but before the drive to Malaga happens I have to walk Bella and drink coffee, post some ready writain stories, make a meal for the wife to take, drink more coffee, shower, make breakfast and feed Bella….

POLICE SEIZE COCAINE WORTH £110,000 IN ALNESS…. Police have seized cocaine with an estimated street value of £110,000 in a Highland town. The drugs were recovered in Alness on Saturday 2 June as part of an ongoing operation. A 26-year-old man has been charged in connection with alleged drugs offences. Det Insp William Nimmo from Police Scotland's Organised Crime Unit described it as "a significant recovery that has removed harmful drugs from our local communities". He said: "We will continue to take action against the supply of illegal drugs and would encourage anyone with information to contact us." The man is expected to appear at Inverness Sheriff Court on Monday.

MAN ADMITS GLASGOW PAINTBALL SHOOTINGS…. A man has admitted a series of paintball shootings including an attack on a mother as she walked the West Highland Way with her children. Anthony Rasmussen, 24, shot 47-year-old Miriam Bell during the spree between Glasgow and Carbeth in June 2017. Mrs Bell, who was hit on the hip, thought she was shot at with an air rifle as Rasmussen fired six shots from the Audi car he was in. He also fired pellets at five other people, including a 59-year-old woman. Rasmussen, from Clydebank, injured Elizabeth Hayes who was walking the same route and shot her twice in the rib cage, on the elbow and the side of her face. He also fired paint pellets at Daniel Malone, 21, in Knightswood, as well as Richard Wood, 63, and Scott Wilkie, 18, in Bearsden. Mary Summers, 58, was also shot at in Clydebank. Father-of-two Rasmussen pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to seven charges, including shooting Mrs Hayes to her injury. Sentence was deferred for reports. Mrs Summers, said she was on Duntocher Road, Clydebank, with her brother when she heard three loud bangs. Procurator fiscal depute Lucy Adams said: "On the third bang, Mrs Summers felt a pain on the right side of her head in her hairline. "She put her hand up to her head where she felt a cold liquid which she initially thought was blood, but then observed it to be yellow paint." Later, another victim, Mrs Hayes, noticed a car coming in her direction before being struck, causing her significant pain. She later described seeing "the barrel of a gun" before being shot for a final time. Shortly after this, Mrs Bell was walking behind her husband on same route, with two of their three children when the Audi slowed down beside them. She noticed the passenger window was open and as it passed her. Rasmussen pointed what she thought was an air rifle in the direction of her and her children. Ms Adams added: "The vehicle then stopped and this male fired the gun approximately six times at them, one shot successfully struck Mrs Bell on her left hip." She screamed which alerted her husband and he noted the registration of the car, and contacted the police before Rasmussen was arrested.

BUS CRASHES IN BUSY EDINBURGH STREET…. Passengers have escaped injury after a bus in Edinburgh left the road and crashed into a restaurant. The accident took place on Forrest Road at about 22:00 on Friday. The bus driver was treated at the scene. Police Scotland tweeted shortly after the crash: "Officers are currently dealing with a road accident involving a bus on Forrest Road. "The driver is being treated for injuries, nobody else has been hurt in this incident."

SCOT BORN PREMATURE WINS PRO-AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONTRACT IN US….  A Scot born six weeks premature with a debilitating condition has fulfilled a dream of becoming a professional American Football player. Cameron Craig struggled as a child to catch or kick a ball, but at the age of 22 he has been offered a contract to play in the US. He will start a training camp with the Las Vegas Cobras in January 2019. He believes he is one of the first UK players to go pro in the US without going through the high school system. Cameron knew nothing about the sport when he started his business degree at the University of Southampton four years ago. He thought he was going to play rugby when the university gridiron team caught him at a freshers' fair. Cameron told the BBC Scotland news website: "I didn't know anything about the sport. I was adamant I wanted to be playing rugby because that's what I played at school. Some guys in American Football equipment, helmets and stuff, they handed me a flyer and invited me to a taster session. "As soon as I tried on the pads and helmet I fell in love with the sport." Cameron played for the Southampton Stags and helped them to success last season when the team moved up to Division 1 in the BUCS league. He also played with teams in Sheffield and London and was invited to a players' academy training camp with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars in London in 2016. Not bad for a boy who, according to his dad Scott, "bumped into walls and broke things" as a child.

PINNEYS OF SCOTLAND STAFF IN ANNAN 'DEVASTATED' BY CLOSURE…. A union leader has said staff at the Pinneys of Scotland plant in Annan are "devastated" by the decision to confirm its closure. Young's Seafood made the announcement on Thursday saying there was no "viable alternative" to shutting the factory. Unite Scotland industrial officer Andy MacFarlane said the union was "extremely disappointed". He said moves to transfer production to Grimsby had made the consultation a "sham" and a "hollow process". Parent company Young's confirmed this week that the site would close by the end of the year with the loss of hundreds of jobs. It said it would continue to meet staff for talks to discuss "ongoing items", including redeployment opportunities. However, Mr MacFarlane said that although the closure confirmation had not been a surprise it was still a blow to staff. "The workforce is devastated," he said. "Whole families and communities will be affected by this decision. "If there are any interested parties then we would encourage them to come forward immediately with concrete proposals."

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of an old fishing boat resting on the shores of the Isle of Kerrera taken by Harshad Joshi.

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Tuesday 5th June 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #robertmcangus #scotland #travel #love #tulips #news #blog