Sandra Harris Writes

NOVEMBER BLUES... AND BROWNS, REDS AND ORANGES TOO… BY SANDRA HARRIS. © I have the November Blues. It happens every year at the same time. Yes, November, lol. I know some people who love November because they’re looking forward to Christmas so much, but, to me, November is kind of a ‘meh’ month. I’m usually tired, for one thing, after all the effort I put into making Halloween the best time of the year. I love September and October, with the brown and red and orange foliage and falling leaves and glorious early sunsets. Also, there are the films…! HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN 3, THE THING, THE FOG, THE SHINING, THE CHANGELING, THE HAUNTING, PSYCHO, THE BIRDS, these are all on my regular Halloween go-to list and they literally just improve with age. I never get tired of watching these classics by terrific directors such as John Carpenter, Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. Then there’s the best film Hammer never made, the superb horror comedy CARRY ON SCREAMING , with the gorgeousl...

  LOVE RATS: THE RISE AND RISE OF ROMANCE FRAUD. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. © I’ve been watching a documentary show on Netflix recently called LOVE RATS, narrated by former EastEnders actress Daniela Denby-Ashe. It features some of the most unbelievable footage I’ve ever seen of real people who’ve suffered through what we now call ‘romance fraud.’ Though it’s only recently that we’ve found a name for it, it’s something that’s probably existed since the dawn of time. The strange thing is that nearly all of the victims- mostly female, but one or two men as well- have such exactly similar stories to tell that it’s like there’s an actual template for this kind of crime. The victims are often middle-aged women who’ve been widowed or they’ve just come out of a long marriage. They may have married when very young and have therefore almost no experience of dating in the modern era. They decide they’re ready to meet someone again and they go to online dating sites like Tinder or Plent...