Tragic story

This is the final photograph of Phillip Herron 34, crying in his car, literally minutes before he took his own life.

He was a single Dad of three young children, struggling with escalating debt of over $20,000 and was desperately waiting for a Payday lending payment he'd applied for. But it's paid in arrears, with a 5 week wait time. That wait drove him even deeper into debt, and when he died he had $4.61 in his bank account and clearly couldn't see any other way out.

Like a lot of people, especially men, he kept all of this to himself, nobody else knew how bad things were getting. The poor man even had to tell his children that Father Xmas wouldn’t come this year, and in his suicide note he wrote that they'd be better off if he wasn't there any more.

And now he isn't.

We need to talk more. We need to be kinder. And we need to be a community that helps and supports people when they need it the most.

Hamilton Hall is always here should you feel cornered, nowhere to turn, no one to ask for help and no one to talk to.

You DO NOT need feel you are alone as long as we are here. Come down for a few days and stay as my guest - talk to me - and while there is little we can do financially, just sharing your journey and knowing that you really are NOT ALONE, helps.

Too many in the LGBT world are thoughtless and it's all about them and this unsupportive attitude really sucks and from experience, a HUGE amount of gay men are self centred and only think about the next shag and anything any deeper doesn't compute and many are just vacuous and shallow with no real depth at all.

This is especially so with Millennials - people born since the year 2000 - where over 80% are nervous of having a face to face conversation with someone else - as they simply are not use to it - and where all correspondence is facilitated through social media and phones.

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This man has just lost his dog and cries inconsolably for the death of his friend who suffocated to death after a terrible fire broke out in the house where they lived...

When you cry for an animal, do not think that you are weak because only those who have or have had a dog understand the emotional bond that is created between an animal and its owner. And it's not just dogs but any pet you become attached to. They sadly live shorter lives than us so chances are, any pet - we will outlive and if we are lucky we see them from puppy to old age and we see and experience the age changes as they slow down and sleep more. It is sad to watch my own dog aging and now she is covered in lumps and has cancer. I know her days / months are numbered and it does sadden me dearly. She musters on and with pain killers, she is fine but if and when it becomes obvious the pain is too much for her, she will be taken to the vet, and like what my own Mother would have wanted at the end of her life when all quality was gone, to be peacefully ' put to sleep' and out of pain. The picture above is sad and tore me apart when I saw it and sorry to share it with you here, but it comes to all of us and whether it be a pet or a close family member, friend or workmate, we will all experience death and grief and at any time, we are here for you .

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The owner in this shop allows stray dogs to come in when it is dark so that they can spend the nights safely .. he put blankets to cover the cold tiles so everyone has a comfortable bed .. such initiatives must be shared!

I suppose it would also protects the place from robbers in the night as with so many dogs there, who would chance it.

What a wonderful and kind gesture to local homeless dogs.

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