RKS Literature: Butcher’s Daughter Stuck on the Farm in Rural England

“I should have been going to dances, larking with men who had Clark Gable hair and whispered in my ear I was as pretty as an English rose. My legs should have been caressed in silk stockings, a pointed toe and a delicate heel on my shoe as I stepped from a car. I should have trailed lily-of-the-valley scent, my hair waved, my face powdered to porcelain perfection. I should have been a lady. But I was stuck in a stinking farm. Muck. Muck. And every day the same. Until one day Mother said, “Queenie go and fetch father from the butchering shed.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS Health: The Great Hernia Adventure: Surgical Options and Preparing for Your Big Date

Be aware there are several surgical options; open, laparoscopic and robotic. The method chosen may be totally your choice or it may be dictated by the type and complexity of the hernia. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the differing methods.

You may have the option to do nothing or wait. But circumstances may thwart your free will; be aware of the risk of a strangulated hernia. Research that.

There may be “natural options” you wish to research.

Let’s assume you have a surgery date. You can’t just walk in and say let’s get going! For your own safety and for prepping the surgical team who has the privilege of dissecting you it is almost certain you will have a presurgical appointment close to your surgical date. Your surgical provider will provide details pertaining to;

Items to bring with you on your surgical date.

What time and where you have to register for surgery.

How to prepare for your surgery which might include at home presurgical showers, what you can eat and drink prior to surgery, what to expect the day of your surgery, frequently asked questions about your surgery, medication instructions and post operative exercises and tips for a rapid recovery.

The Hernia Club has got hold of you as you are facing a date you’d rather not have. You’ll have a few things on your mind for sure and the stress and anxiety meter is moving upwards. Hint? Accept your reality and perhaps express to yourself gratitude you have taken a big step in your well being. A bit of self compassion is well deserved.

RKS Literature: World War II Luck in England (Andrea Levy)

“Luck is a funny thing. To some only a large win of money at the pools is luck. Or finding a valuable jewel at your feet on a London street. That surely is luck. But during the war luck take another turn. The bomb that just miss you is luck. Only your leg blown off and not your head is luck. All your family die but your mommy is spared-congratulations you are a fortunate man. So, let me tell you what luck is for a coloured man is just off a boat in England. It is finding Queenie Bligh. It is seeing she has a big house and is happy to take me and a few of the boys as lodgers. Greater than sipping rum punch from a golden bowl-that is luck England-style.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS Literature: Lynching Welcoming Party for Jamaican Soldiers in Virginian U.S. Army Base: A Warm American Welcome

“I soon realized we were lucky the American authorities did not let us off the camp in Virginia. We West Indians, thinking ourselves as good as any man, would have wandered unaware, greeting white people who would have swung us from the nearest tree for merely passing the time of day with them. And my brother Lester? How would they know he was a British coloured man with no uniform to distinguish him? By a badge perhaps worn on his coat? But in what shape? The word Paradise had long since stopped popping from my lips. We might have been returning to that British boiling business but I was not the only boy who was pleased to be leaving America behind.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS Literature: A Jamaican Contemplates Fighting a White Man’s War (Andrea Levy)

“Perhaps my cousin Elwood was right, ‘Man this is a white man’s war. Why you wanna lose your life for a white man? For Jamaica, yes. To have your own country, yes. That is worth a fight. To see black skin in the governor’s house doing more than just serving at the table and sweeping the floor. A black man at Tate and Lyle doing more than just cutting cane. That is worth a fight. I join you then, man. But you think winning this war going to change anything for me and you?”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS 2025 Greek Film: “Athens Midnight Radio”: A Modern Greek Cinematographic Masterpiece

Renos Haralambidis’ 5th feature film “Athens Midnight Radio” is a modern Greek cinematographic masterpiece…correction a cinematographic masterpiece.

Complex, innovative, compelling, hallucinogenic, suspenseful, poetic and most of all crushingly tragic.

Lush, warm, haunting and sensual cinematography.

Impeccable soundtrack.

Subconscious connection with Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” but unlike Scrooge there is no redemption, only deepening regret.

The Night Announcer is a graveyard shift radio announcer with Athens’ radio station LEFKO 87.7. He will be turning 50 years of age on air. He reminisces about a love lost amidst early morning shots of Athens including the Parthenon and Mount Lycabettus.

The Night Announcer plays on-air messages of his lost ballerina love on an answering machine from his youth on which are recorded her messages to him. Their relationship is unravelled gradually in-between his musings and music.  His lost ballerina also muses in a present-day context to The Night Announcer and the viewer about their relationship and despite a break-up, she had promised to call The Night Announcer on his 50th birthday which will be at some point on his show. Until she makes the call the conversations will be intermittently broadcasted.

The Night Announcer muses on his loss of youth and his failed marriage noting he attempted to locate his love over the years without success.

Is she the women we see running the Athens Midnight Marathon?

A deeply engrossing story wrapping you up tight like a baby in warm swaddling clothes. Then a deep tragedy will cut your legs off and I’ll get personal and say I shouted out in shock a reaction to the shattering conclusion. The jogging women is Iris.

Is it possible The Night Announcer’s relationship is nothing but a fantasy of a man regretting the perceived loss of his youth?

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cICmM_tlUQE .

Playing as a feature film in the upcoming Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada playing in eight Canadian cities 25September-5October2025.

RKS 2025 Greek Film Rating 96/100.

RKS Health: The Great Hernia Adventure: Educate Yourself: Terror or Truth?

I have previously mentioned in a perfect world there would be a comprehensive guidebook available to newly minted members of the Hernia Club. It could be that such a guidebook exists but even then, it is most likely written by a single author with a singular viewpoint. Perhaps you’d like a varied source of information unless of course you’d be willing to simply accept everything the whitecoats tell you?

By way of a simple analogy when it is election time do you rely on information provided to you by a single candidate or should you listen to what opposing candidates, the media, historians and what your friends and enemies say i.e. “informed choice”.

How deep do you want to dig? Excuse the analogy but have you seen golfers over analyzing each shot? Or how about those drug warnings Big Pharma issues covering totally obscure possibilities terrifying everyone. Up to you how deeply you want to ferret out your reality.

What are some of the sources concerning hernias you might wish to consider?

Generalized medical websites: Get the skinny from general medical websites which are often prepared or reviewed by physicians such as John Hopkins Medicine, WebMD, Cleveland Clinic or Mayo Clinic.

Scholarly articles available on the internet: They may be overly technical if reviewed in detail but can be gleaned here and there particularly the heading “Conclusion” which summarizes the entire article. Some of these articles review an entire compendium of previously published articles and give a broader perspective of what physicians and the medical community think about a particular subject. One valuable resource would be articles published by The National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Public and private hospitals: Many large urban hospitals provide information concerning hernias and even greater details about what patients can expect undergoing hernia procedures offered. One stellar example of “hernia procedure marketing” is The Shouldice Hospital. Listening to patient testimonials on their website is almost like being there yourself!

Governmental public health sites: Example might be National Health Service or Myhealth Alberta.

Personalized experience websites: Quora and Reddit offer personalized experiential information or the “real skinny” if you wish. Of particular concern pertaining to hernia surgical procedures of many is how much hair might be shaved off, by whom and if you are conscious when it is done. Laughing, are you? Your mirth may be short lived when you have your hernia surgical date.

Hernia societies: Many countries have non-profit hernia societies offering educational and patient support. Check out British Hernia Society.

Friends who have graduated from the Hernia Club

Published books: As a starter check out Amazon.

Private hernia clinics

YouTube: Perhaps those actual procedures are just too much?

RKS Literature: A Jamaican Soldier Reflects on Food and Women (Andrea Levy)

“My mirror spoke to me. It said: ‘Man, women gonna fall at your feet’. In my uniform of blue-from the left, from the right, from behind-I looked like a god. And this uniform did not even fit me so well. But what is a little bagging on the waist and tightness under the arm when you are a gallant member of the British Royal Airforce? Put several thousand Jamaican men in uniform, coop them up while, Grand Old Duke of York Style, you march them to the top of the hill and then back down again, and they will think of nothing but women. But not this group I travelled with to America. Not Hubert, not Fulton, not James, not even me. Because every last one of us was too preoccupied with food. The only flesh we conjured was the sort you chewed and swallowed.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS Literature: Coloreds Coming to England for Spectacles and Good Grins Courtesy of NHS

“For the teeth and glasses.”

That was the reason so many colored people were coming to this country, according to my next-door neighbour Mr Todd.

‘That National Health Service-it’s pulling them in, Mrs Bligh. Giving things away at our expense will keep them coming.’ He said. He might have had a point except, according to him, they were all cross-eyed and goofy before they got here.

“I don’t think so’ I said.

‘Oh yes’, he assured me. “But now of course, they’ve got spectacles and perfect grins.’

Andrea Levy, “Small Islands”, 2003.

RKS Literature: A Jamaican Thrilled at the Possibility to Move to 1948 England (Andrea Levy)

“But what aroused her more than anything else about this man was the thrill of knowing that he wanted to make a life for himself in England. She could see herself ringing the bell on that tall house. He wants to return to England soon. She would sail far away from this island, safe in the arms of her handsome RAF man, to a place where he told everyone walked on a blanket of gold.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.