ALL THAT MATTERS...

(Thanks to The Ringleader for photo)

Something I never realised before about relationships and my own mind is how much I invent. My head can turn a look, a gesture, a few words into a psychodrama in which outcomes are like soap opera rows, a terrible, gut-wrenching and heart destroying break-up followed quickly by a decline.

But here is what Jo has taught me about this I MAKE IT ALL UP IN MY HEAD. I can tell you it is something of a relief when Jo tells me I'm being silly. Bailey had me dead to rights when he said that I was neurotic to the core. I just never realised how much before. She is so wonderful to be able to cut through all of that.

The point is, that Jo means the world to me and ultimately, whatever other insanity I conjure up in my head that this the truth in my heart.

Therefore, in a relationship, all the other bunf falls away when you realise the feeling at the core.

That is all that matters.

With love,

Ram.

THE PASTY PRESENTS...

A love story, by Ram

Brighton is as her name suggests; the bright place. Vibrant and colourful are her dresses, fashioned in hues and shades that one would not match together if asked but when seen upon her they form a powerful cocktail of colour. Brighton is bright due to the dazzling sun. Beside the sea the sun is often found looking down upon the beach dwellers or peaking over the rooftops of the Lanes. One can even sit in the Pavilion Gardens and feel that the sun sits beside you, a warming yet silent companion. Brighton and the sun sit this way often and watch the world go by.

The chief decoration, the one that overshadows the others is her smile. Everyone wishes to imitate it so many people can be seen in the streets beside the sea with a grin, a smirk, a thankful nod or a smile that has a meaning others can only guess at. But Brighton knows the meaning, for those smiles are her domain.

London prizes Brighton’s smile. When she smiles, London is filled with a joy that could pierce the murky depths of the Thames itself. Smiles beside the river are not as plentiful as beside the sea and so their potency is greater. Beside the river, smiles are not unknown, but neither does everyone wear them.

Brighton’s mind is clear most of the time. She looks out to the sea, tracing the horizon with a finger she pushes her mind to the future. But try to find the horizon where London lives. For London the horizon is something else, the horizon he seeks is the kind one can only find within. This horizon is a deeper understanding, a meaning of the same ilk one would find in an ancient tome of forgotten lore or hidden in the riddle of an ancient stone. It has meaning, but this meaning sometimes envelopes London in a deep smog of thought, inquiry and worry.
London would say that it is only Brighton's smiles that can blast this smog away.

A moral fibre runs through the skin, the bone, the tower and the street of London. It is something that London has developed since his beginning.

See the Brighton Pavilion, see the Tower of London. Each contain their own nobility but who can doubt they are unique from one another?

They call Brighton, ‘London by the sea’ for when London goes to Brighton he becomes like the sea, freer and clearer and thus a lot more like Brighton. When Brighton comes to London, London becomes brighter for a while. Flowers bloom, the hidden secrets of London, the bright, vibrant, secret palaces of celebration are revealed.

And so it is. For Brighton and London are lovers, each fascinated by the other. They each seek the truth that lies in the heart; the beating rock and the durable stone within each of them. A love that is dulled by neither the crashing of the waves or the lashing of the rain.

(Brighton) Rock and (London) Stone
A Love Story of Two Cities

TO BE CONTINUED...