A male model has died after collapsing on the catwalk at São Paulo FashionWeek. Tales Soares, 26-year old was taken to hospital but couldn’t be revived.
Footage circulating on social media shows Soares walking to the end of the catwalk and turning back before staggering and falling.
London News:
London’s 39th Marathon.
Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s race with a new course record and second fastest time ever, while Sir Mo Farah finished fifth. Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei won the women’s race with compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot coming in second – a role reversal from last year when she beat Kosgei to the crown.
American Dan Romanchuk won the male wheelchair race, while Manuela Schar crossed the finishing line first in the female wheelchair race. Eight-time winner David Weir competed in the wheelchair race for the 20th consecutive year.
My world:
I don’t do anything by halves, I have so many things I need to complete for my writing and yet I decided to start decorating the spare room yesterday. So have spent many hours stripping wallpaper. I’ve now taken a break to write and will squeeze my decorating in after work and at weekends. Watch this space.
My Writing:
I haven’t done any writing this week but have been working on a past book, tightening it up.
I read this book a while ago now, but am behind on leaving my reviews. This author has the talent of drawing you in from the start and keeping you hooked throughout. Lucy is a mess after breaking up with her husband, she doesn’t want to get out of bed never mind move on with her life but with the encouragement of her best friend and the call for help from her Dad she gets up and goes to look after him whilst he’s convalescing. Lucy certainly didn’t plan on liking dishy doctor Ed, or his ever so cute son – that was the last thing she wanted. The physical attraction is there from the start but can she resist him? Nikki Ashton writes likeable, relatable characters and whips up a whole lot of humour which leaves you weak with laughter.
I won’t hesitate to pick up more books by this author in the future.
Eight blasts have been reported in Sri Lanka targeting churches and hotels, killing at least 207 and 450 are thought to have been hurt. Three of the explosions were in churches during Easter Sunday services.
A national curfew has been put in place “until further notice” and social media networks have been temporarily blocked. A foreign ministry official has said at least 27 foreign nationals are among the dead.
My cousin and her family are in Colombo at the moment, keep safe Brenda, Gary and family.
London News:
Man convicted of murder of teenager, Jason Isaacs shown above.
Jason Isaacs, 18, was walking with friends in Northolt in November 2017 when he was targeted by four people of two mopeds. They chased him, he became separated from his friends before he was caught by this gang who proceeded to stab him several times. Jason collapsed in a garden and died three days later in hospital.
Joel Amade, also 18, of Greenford, was found guilty of Mr Isaacs’ murder in a trial at the Old Bailey and will be sentenced in May.
The family of the victim will never get Jason back but I hope the courts dole out a sentence that is fitting for the heinous crime.
My World:
Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it.
Ten weeks in my not-so-new job and still loving every minute of it. Something happened this week as a result of an inspection report which has made a slight difference to how someone will live and it made all the hours of hard work feel worthwhile.
Had a lovely weekend as my son Mark came home for Easter and had a lovely family day today around at my mum and dad’s house.
My Writing:
Truth & Retribution is now in the hands of my lovely editor, hoping she doesn’t hate me after reading it! I have started reading back through A Boy from the Streets to make a few minor changes and edit any mistakes that were previously missed. I have also decided to change the front and back matter and want to get it right in book 1 before moving on to book 2 and the final edits on books 3 & 4.
Thought I would keep it light-hearted today with the news, I’ll leave all the sinister stuff to my finished book.
World News:
Baby boom for one of the world’s most endangered whale species. Three North Atlantic whale mother and calf pairs have been seen in Cape Cod bay. Only about 459 of the species are thought to remain.
London News:
Seals returning to the Thames.
The rising seal population in the Thames is considered a sign that water quality is improving.
My news:
Not much new to tell, working all week as usual, nine weeks in to the job and still love it. Fingers crossed that this is the one. Although, the life, work balance is still skewered heavily on the side of work. Weekend was filled with the excitement of housework, food shopping etc… Saw my mum, dad, brother, niece and nephew which is always lovely. Very proud of my sister and her youngest daughter who rang a half marathon and 10km respectively today. I’ve got a banana bread baking in the oven as I type this, using coconut flour – can’t wait to taste. I dropped the banana bread coming out of the oven and it looks a mess, tastes good though.
Writing:
I’ve only gone and finished my edits of book five from the Children of the Streets series. Truth & Retribution is winging its way to my editor. This is such a change of direction for me as the character took control and lead me down the paths of evil.
Ashley is invited to go to Mexico with her work friend, Graciela and her husband, after she split from her abusive marriage. On arriving in Mexico at Graciela’s family home, Ashley is introduced to Graciela’s family, in particular her rather dishy brother Cristian. The attraction between them is instant. But no love story ever runs smoothly and this one is no different but love isn’t normally tested in quite this way. I can’t say much more without giving too much away but this book will have you on the edge of your seats with your heart in your mouth.
A ferryboat has crashed into a bridge in Pará, in Brazil’s northern state, plunging a 200m section into the Moju River. After the ship crashed into one of the pillars, witnesses said they saw two cars fall into the water. Scuba divers are searching the river, and it is unclear how many people have been hurt yet.
London news:
A charity in charge of mental health home is being investigated after a 19 year-old girl took her life in Lancaster lodge in Richmond in May 2016. The teenager hanged herself, one year after being admitted to the home.
The Charity Commission has now opened an inquiry into the management of the home. An inquest into the girl’s death in February found the facility’s leadership “grossly inadequate”.
Pão de Queijo
My news: Completed two months at my new job and guess I have to stop thinking of it as my new job now. Still loving it although the workload is intense. The director at my work introduced me to Pão de Queijo, Brazilian cheese bread which is made, without wheat. I’ve included Pão de Queijo in my Children from the Streets series but never tasted it until Wednesday. It was so nice, that I decided to make it myself on Saturday (see photo.)
My writing: Still working frantically on the edits of Trial & Retribution, book five in The Children of the Streets series.
Liam looking pensive or maybe slightly worried I might chuck up all over him!
This week I’ve decided not to do a round-up of the week, instead I’m dedicating this blog post as a tribute to a man who I loved, as a friend, who lost his battle with depression on Wednesday 27th March taking his own life.
I met Liam about eighteen years ago when he started working for Westbrook respite unit in Heston, west London as a carer for young people with disabilities/special needs. My son Mark has special needs and received respite care at Westbrook. With a sense of humour like Mark’s he was bound to hit it off with Liam straight away, and yes you can say he got that humour from me, his mum, so stands to reason that Liam and I would also click.
The first time I met Liam he said to me “I heard you had diarrhoea.” Information gained from my delightful son, he knew the intimate details of my bowel movements, there was no secrets too big to hide now.
Liam as it turned out was a fantastic carer and Mark bonded with him straight away, but Mark wasn’t easy. Mark is a charming young man with Epilepsy, brain damage, ADHD, ODD and behaviours on the Autistic spectrum but to put it into a neater package with a bow we’ll summarise it as he has huge anxieties and obsessions. In those days it wasn’t understood what was causing his anxieties and how to deal with it so it led to a lot of confusion and inevitably violent behaviour as Mark struggled to make himself understood.
At that time Mark required 2:1 support and Liam became his key worker and Lee Allen joined Liam as his co-key worker which made up a part of his core team. They named themselves the “Mark Squad.” My son certainly gave them shit, but he also graced them with his sense of humour.
Top Photo: Mark on the sofa & Lee Allen with the game controller Bottom Photo: Liam Jordan & Mark
Liam never gave up on my son but not only did he support him, but he supported me too, in my darkest hours he would pull me back from the brink using empathy and humour. And boy did he have a sense of humour. He even started flirting with one of the social workers in an attempt to get her on board and try to get her to cut me some slack. Without making this all about our trials, social services and I disagreed about the right path for my son. Being the stubborn bitch I was I didn’t give up and I was right. Liam helped me, sometimes with a subtle hint as to what I should be looking at in my battle – I can say that now.
We used to joke that Liam could be Mark’s dad (I’m a single mum) if we’d actually had sex, because they were both large, slobbishly dressed (at times), with beer bellies and builder’s bums. I would have been honoured if my son had had a man with Liam’s kindness and integrity as his father.
Mark had a whole load of sayings and would often twist the lyrics (innocently I might add) in order to add the name of someone he liked into it. These were labelled as “Markisms”, Liam and Lee ended up writing down the list of Markisms after they stopped working with him which Liam sent to me years later.
I’d like to share some of the funny things and experiences we had with this amazing man who will forever have a place in my heart:
Some of the Markisms:
Example: “Where you from, you sexy Liam.” taken from Hot Chocolate’s “You sexy thing.”
But the best one, in my opinion, was as Liam told me with a mortified look, when they were walking through a busy Hounslow high street and Mark starts singing out, at the top of his voice “I’m forever blowing Liam’s.” At which point Liam informs me he denied all knowledge of being Liam.
I think Liam’s favourite, though, was when Mark said to him “Liam you’re the nicest man I know… and the fattest.” Liam had been quite choked up by the first part of the statement but my son’s rapier sharp wit amused him no end.
On one occasion Liam and Lee were having to restrain Mark to stop him from smashing everything in sight, windows were his main target and his best ever total was twenty-five smashed in one day. Anyway this particular day, they were having to restrain him, (take a look at them in the picture) they were on the floor holding onto his arms, I was bent over holding his legs down. Somehow Mark managed to rip loose of both men (look again at the size of them) launched himself forward, grabbed a handful of what Liam had called my ‘Laurence Llewelyn Bowen’ shirt and ripped it open, buttons disappearing in all directions. I was on all fours, facing them all, shirt open with only a bra underneath. I had to make a snap decision, cover my modesty but let Liam and Lee take the brunt of Mark’s flailing legs or wait till someone else took over…I waited with a command for them to look away. It might not have been fun at the time but it certainly was something we laughed about afterwards. I have loads of these little stories, Mark provided us with ample opportunity to make memories!
Mark lost his place at Westbrook after smashing twenty-five windows in one rage filled episode, neither Liam nor Lee were with him at the time. Renu, a colleague at Westbrook who also worked closely with Mark through the years told me on Friday night, that the first time she’d ever seen Liam cry was when this incident happened and they were having a drink down the pub discussing it. It wasn’t just a job to Liam, he truly cared.
Liam stayed in contact with Mark and I, even when as an adult, Mark moved to Lincolnshire, he still met up with us on one of Mark’s visits and they would play scrabble, back in the day on Facebook, as would Liam and I. We chatted regularly on Facebook, I took a trip down memory lane earlier and decided to share a few snippets.
Liam to me.Liam challenging me to a game of Scrabble and my much nicer reply.Liam’s alternative humour.Birthday wishes from Liam to me. Liam was three weeks older than me and for many years I would taunt him with the fact that on the 30th October he turned a year older than me, three weeks later he would laugh that I had joined him.
I started redecorating my room but struggled as a lump I had under my arm, the size of a third boob had grown and I needed an operation to remove it. Liam offered to help. He came over and painted the skirting boards and together we put up two sheets of wallpaper. I finished the rest myself.I did go over, but he never did cook for me as we ended up popping over to the boat pub on the river for one, which turned into 8 glasses of brandy and 16 shots for me as well as the G&T before leaving. He drank the same quantity of whatever it was that he was drinking. The barmen kept putting free shots down in front of us (16). I was slaughtered, on an empty stomach. Spent most of the night hugging the great white elephant. Liam came into the bathroom in the night to wake me up as I’d fallen asleep in there. In the morning I found water and painkillers on the bedside table. It was a bloody good night. The photo at the top was the next morning on the cable car and I still managed the panto the next day.
Liam was a lovely, caring man with a quirky sense of humour, he was by no means perfect… none of us are, and despite helping so many people he was battling his own demons and lived in a dark world that ended up enveloping him so that he saw no way out. I wish it had been different, I wish he could have found peace.
Liam and I had very different tastes in music and it was often something we bantered about. So I would like to dedicate a song to you Liam, it’s not Bon Jovi but neither is it Beth Orton.
You got a face not spoiled by beauty I have some scars from where I’ve been You’ve got eyes that can see right through me You’re not afraid of anything they’ve seen I was told that I would feel nothing the first time I don’t know how these cuts heal But in you I found a rhyme
If there is a light you can’t always see And there is a world we can’t always be If there is a dark that we shouldn’t doubt And there is a light, don’t let it go out And this is a song, song for someone This is a song, song for someone
You let me in to a conversation A conversation only we could make You break and enter my imagination Whatever’s in there it’s yours to take I was told I’d feel nothing the first time You were slow to heal but this could be the night
If there is a light you can’t always see And there is a world we can’t always be If there is a dark within and without And there is a light, don’t let it go out And this is a song, song for someone This is a song, a song for someone
And I’m a long long way from your Hill of Calvary And I’m a long way from where I was and where I need to be If there is a light you can’t always see And there is a world we can’t always be If there is a kiss I stole from your mouth And there is a light, don’t let it go out
Liam, your light hasn’t gone out as it shines on in this world through the lives of the people you’ve touched.
Sophie has always had a high opinion of herself. She is smart,
beautiful, and meant for something more than a mundane, human life.
From a young age she’s had to weigh duty against selfish desires.
Her new friend Izzy starts to break down her carefully-constructed walls, and
makes Sophie question everything she thought she knew.
With witch-hunters and witches vying for a place in her future,
Sophie has to decide who she can trust.
This is a prequel to the Witch-Hunter trilogy, and contains
spoilers from the very beginning.
We highly recommend you read The Shadow Rises, before finding out
more about everybody’s favourite cold-hearted bitch.
As stated, this is not intended to be a stand-alone, and relies on
knowledge of the Witch-Hunter world.
If you have not yet read The Shadow Rises (Witch-Hunter #1), you
can pick it up for FREE.
The Shadow Rises (Witch-Hunter #1)
When a new witch threat rises, only Hunter Astley can stop
them…
In the face of dark magic and evil witches, a secret witch-hunting
society works tirelessly to keep them at bay. The Malleus Maleficarum Council
have strict rules and practises for eradicating magic.
Due to their work, witches have been almost forgotten, relegated
to myth; but rumours are starting to emerge of a new power that will throw the
world into chaos.
As the only 7th generation witch-hunter, Hunter Astley is the best
the MMC has to offer. With the help of his colleagues, it’s a race to track
down this new threat and stop them… in any way he can.
Brutal attack on a village in central Mali on Saturday by armed men, wearing traditional Dogon hunter’s clothing, killing more than 130 people. Gunmen surrounded the village at dawn before attacking, with guns and machetes, members of the Fulani ethnic community who are accused of having ties to jihadists. Witnesses also say that nearly all the huts in the village were burned down in what is being described as a massacre. My thoughts: I can’t comprehend this world we live in where such atrocities take place. Is it really so impossible to live in peace? Thoughts and prayers, as always to the victims and their families.
London:
Stabbing near Syon Park, west London
A group of men chased a teenage boy through the streets of west London on Friday night, after getting out of a vehicle near Syon Park, Isleworth. When they caught up with the 17-year-old they stabbed him and he later died at the scene despite police giving first aid at the scene. My thoughts: This is a couple of miles away from where I live. This is getting scarily closer all the time. It seems that our police need to get a grip back on the streets before its too late. In which case the police need more resources and greater powers. My prayers go out to the victim’s family and I hope they catch those bastards soon.
My World:
I’ve now completed six weeks at my new job, I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by. The workload is intense, non-stop but I haven’t been so happy in years. After four horrendous jobs, of not sleeping, and feeling on edge all the time I am now sleeping eight hours at a time and so relaxed and happy that it is having a positive affect on all areas of my life. On the way home from work on Friday on my motorbike a scumbag on a scooter swerved towards me with his foot out, in an attempt to kick me off. I was able to swerve and got away unscathed. Payday, meant I could splurge on getting my, long overdue, hair highlighted. Looking good! A lovely weekend, including, mum and dad time, me time, writing oh and the necessary evil of housework!
My Writing:
Still working on the edits of book five in the Children from the Streets series. It’s rather scary how easily I’ve jumped inside the head of a psychopath. A tiny taster from when Paolo was eight years old, he was walking to the shops with his friend:
My foot inched out and caught the front of his, sending him flying. He landed face down in the dried, baked earth which hadn’t seen water for a while. I rushed to his side, apologised, you know all the things a friend would do and he blamed himself for his clumsiness. I accepted this version readily. A stone had grazed his face, leaving a gouge mark, his hands were scratched and his clothing torn but despite my solicitous attentions and insistence that we head back to the house, the greedy little boy wanted sweets and a taste of his destiny which wouldn’t be so sweet.
Mia's Novel Creations 