tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post6131431797820466738..comments2024-03-09T16:10:28.455+01:00Comments on Shameless Words: Mushrooms And Pistols !S. Kearneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-53749628974817335362007-03-21T18:34:00.000+01:002007-03-21T18:34:00.000+01:00Good advice, Debi, which I hope I will never have ...Good advice, Debi, which I hope I will never have to remember! :)S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-15045970135249966402007-03-21T15:06:00.000+01:002007-03-21T15:06:00.000+01:00The key is to remember it's not the gun that's the...The key is to remember it's not the gun that's the threat but the person holding it. Look them in the eyes!Debihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09600815804658702077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-26214999137370756772007-03-19T22:45:00.000+01:002007-03-19T22:45:00.000+01:00Hi Liz, nice to have you stopping by. :) Yes, do t...Hi Liz, nice to have you stopping by. :) Yes, do tell us about your LA experience. I can't believe how many of us have had these nasty gun incidents! :)S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-69651783169341964792007-03-19T20:53:00.000+01:002007-03-19T20:53:00.000+01:00That's a bit hilarious that your landlady thought ...That's a bit hilarious that your landlady thought you were tripping on some psychedelic shrooms. You've inspired me...by the time this week is over, I'm going to write on my own blog about my experience with getting robbed at gunpoint here in LA. I can reminisce about it because I came through relatively unscathed. Glad you did as well, and so glad they were robbers that were only in a threatening/robbing mood instead of a shooting mood.Liz Dwyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17794296990587989214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-79636838363497173352007-03-18T19:33:00.000+01:002007-03-18T19:33:00.000+01:00Thanks Cate,I'm glad you liked it! :) Yes, every b...Thanks Cate,<BR/>I'm glad you liked it! :) Yes, every bit of this tale is true - unfortunately! <BR/>I did a writing course once where the tutor demonstrated how our writing is often richer and more urgent, with a more defined voice, when we write about real events. Now, if we can just translate that into our fiction writing! :)S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-658243434029405842007-03-18T19:02:00.000+01:002007-03-18T19:02:00.000+01:00You really should try and sell this as a story. I ...You really should try and sell this as a story. I wasn't sure if it wasn't just gripping fiction, but I assume is true. I suppose that is the essence we try and capture in the voice we use as we write isn't it? That feeling that this happened and I'm telling you about it so listen... you do it very well...<BR/>I get nervous when fake guns appear onstage, so god knows what I'd think confronted with a real one!<BR/>Catecate sweeneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17252667817332240354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-20127740403003514112007-03-18T14:27:00.000+01:002007-03-18T14:27:00.000+01:00Thanks CB,I guess instinctively we say nothing bec...Thanks CB,<BR/>I guess instinctively we say nothing because we are so shocked. Luckily I was just an obstacle that had to be bypassed and not the focus! I wouldn't have a clue what to say in a different situation - can we discuss this over a coffee? you remind me of an old friend? do you come here often?S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-82194871339723962012007-03-18T03:19:00.000+01:002007-03-18T03:19:00.000+01:00Riveting right to the end Shameless.You tell a gre...Riveting right to the end Shameless.<BR/>You tell a great story.<BR/>I have never been held up at gunpoint or had a gun pointed at me and I hope I never do. I have been advised though to never say, 'Don't shoot' as it puts the idea of shooting into the gunman's (or woman's) head. (I don't know what you say instead - nothing I guess.)Kay Cookehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01791873464409271216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-43841130029037761092007-03-17T01:04:00.000+01:002007-03-17T01:04:00.000+01:00Hi V,I think it makes everything much worse in the...Hi V,<BR/>I think it makes everything much worse in these situations when we are out of the loop! Gosh, it really does sound like many of us have had some nasty gun experiences!S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-29940267254932627122007-03-16T20:52:00.000+01:002007-03-16T20:52:00.000+01:00Bloody hell Seamus! I can sort of relate to the no...Bloody hell Seamus! I can sort of relate to the not understanding a word thing. I've been held up at gun point twice in Mexico. The first time my spanish was rubbish and I had no idea what was happening, apart from the fact that we were being robbed of course and that he had a gun. The second time was the day before I left. It seems that quite a number of us had experienced this sort of thing and I was kind of hoping this was something I had left behind!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08533913253403252799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-69717172653002273672007-03-16T15:35:00.000+01:002007-03-16T15:35:00.000+01:00Thank you GT,I've often thought this whole episode...Thank you GT,<BR/>I've often thought this whole episode could be a short film - especially with the mushrooms/pistol confusion back at the flat after the robbery. I'll never forget the frustration of that moment, communication lost, me in shock and eager to express, but with someone looking at me as though I were completely barking.S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-11018475384899123532007-03-16T14:43:00.000+01:002007-03-16T14:43:00.000+01:00Amazing, Shameless. Every inch of this story. It r...Amazing, Shameless. Every inch of this story. It reads like a small film, almost, as if from your first words, something is just a little off kilter. <BR/><BR/>Very glad you are here to write about it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-73571233088309566222007-03-16T13:38:00.000+01:002007-03-16T13:38:00.000+01:00Debi,Yes, it's funny how certain things remain wit...Debi,<BR/>Yes, it's funny how certain things remain with us as awful reminders of what we experience.<BR/>I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to be involved in a war situation - thank goodness, touch wood. We just hope that in the final balance we have more good memories than bad ones. :)<BR/>Thanks also for the link to Rachel; I've been totally absorbed by her writing! :)S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-18073992271719737592007-03-16T12:28:00.000+01:002007-03-16T12:28:00.000+01:00Not meaning to be competitive here but this was a ...Not meaning to be competitive here but this was a war. The experience above was only one of very many involving guns - and tanks and choppers and ...<BR/><BR/>I still hate the sound of helicopters. One day I'll share more but last night it was hard to sleep just from the little bit I'd put into words here.Debihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09600815804658702077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-41241205603393464862007-03-15T23:49:00.000+01:002007-03-15T23:49:00.000+01:00Thanks Litlove, :)Yes, the champion/champignon bit...Thanks Litlove, :)<BR/>Yes, the champion/champignon bit is what the landlady tells with great vigour, even to this day! The supermarket, of course, will always be known as Champignon for me!S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-28215176228825857162007-03-15T22:44:00.000+01:002007-03-15T22:44:00.000+01:00Shameless, you have the best stories! I'm so glad ...Shameless, you have the best stories! I'm so glad this one had a happy ending, and a brilliant champion/champignon joke too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-17162896029413606852007-03-15T22:07:00.000+01:002007-03-15T22:07:00.000+01:00ML,Flip! Three of us who've experienced a gun inci...ML,<BR/>Flip! Three of us who've experienced a gun incident? Are there are any others? What does this tell us? I play that "what if" movie in my mind all the time! :)S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-86013410953823090672007-03-15T20:40:00.000+01:002007-03-15T20:40:00.000+01:00...and you lived to tell the tale, very well. I kn......and you lived to tell the tale, very well. I know someone who has based a theatre production on near death experiences - that 'what if' that we all have from time to time. I had a surreal gun experience in Eastern Turkey years ago involving a few drunken travellers, a bottle of Raki and a highly strung Kurdish landlord with a gun. And I lived to tell the tale.Meloney Lemonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05819260027986893095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-59338326247201880752007-03-15T11:47:00.000+01:002007-03-15T11:47:00.000+01:00Genevieve,Hello and welcome, nice to have you stop...Genevieve,<BR/>Hello and welcome, nice to have you stop by. :) I really must inject a bit more of the French in me into my posts, now that I'm living here and breathing Frenchness! I'm pleased you like the paintings, and I look forward to welcoming you here again. I will check out your blogs soonest! Perry's site was a real gem of a find!<BR/><BR/>Debi,<BR/>Gosh, that is a tale you must share with us! You are still here, so I take it things didn't go too badly. It's true that it gives us a whole new perspective. I also get nervous now when I see someone indoors with a motorcycle helmet on. It happened the other week in a boulangerie, but the man was simply there to buy a baguette on the go! :)S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-8936896198112487322007-03-15T11:35:00.000+01:002007-03-15T11:35:00.000+01:00I've had an experience that I've never written abo...I've had an experience that I've never written about (though I have spoken of it) where I was surrounded by 4 men pointing machine guns directly at me. (It was in Grenada after the coup and just before the US invasion.) It certainly changes your pespective on life when you feel it could end in the next milli-second!<BR/><BR/>You capture the emotions very well indeed including the feelings of unreality and even humour ...Debihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09600815804658702077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-19325905855161100412007-03-15T02:57:00.000+01:002007-03-15T02:57:00.000+01:00Seamus, that was horrible, but I agree it was also...Seamus, that was horrible, but I agree it was also riveting. Straight out of Truffaut or Techine, je le crois. Good on you for staying (Like your paintings, too - found you via a comment on Perry Middlemiss' blog today.)<BR/><BR/>Peut-etre je retournerai pour pratiquer mon francais - on the other hand, there ARE French blogs, aren't there. So I will not encroach upon your English speaking space, but I will occasionally express extreme <I>jalousie</I>. MMmmm, France.....sans la violence, bien sur.genevievehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02895689949182365454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-33403973045798945042007-03-15T01:10:00.000+01:002007-03-15T01:10:00.000+01:00Hi Susan,I certainly don't want to have too many d...Hi Susan,<BR/>I certainly don't want to have too many days like that! And the police ... exactly as they're portrayed in bad movies, even smoking cigarettes while in uniform!S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-40910598636759592492007-03-15T01:00:00.000+01:002007-03-15T01:00:00.000+01:00Hello Shameless,What drama! And you told it so wel...Hello Shameless,<BR/>What drama! And you told it so well!<BR/>I had a knife once jabbed slightly into my waist but that was a lone robber.<BR/>In your case, it was a whole gang.<BR/>What a shock!<BR/>The attitude of the French police was something else. They didn't sound helpful at all, did they.<BR/><BR/>I'm really glad you came out of it ok although I'm about to sheepishly suggest; ever thought of turning it into a crime plot for fiction or even publishing it as non-fiction? :-)Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.ukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08818807164881810296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-63718680874651326152007-03-14T22:04:00.000+01:002007-03-14T22:04:00.000+01:00Poor wee sod was right, Cailleach. :) I'm just gla...Poor wee sod was right, Cailleach. :) I'm just glad I'm not the heroic type! It's nice to be able to look back on this now with some perspective and laugh about it. I dine out on the "champignon" bit of the story! :)S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22117802.post-62987837038471160672007-03-14T21:25:00.000+01:002007-03-14T21:25:00.000+01:00You did mention this in passing before, but this r...You did mention this in passing before, but this report of what happened is trul rivetting! What an experience to have with so little of the language to communicate it with - you poor wee sod you - I'd have been thinking twice about staying too, but you stuck with it, and now look at you? :))) The shameless we all know and love!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06280161801824435219noreply@blogger.com