Athelstone

Jill, the Den’s Activity Page posts extracts changes (replies, new topics etc) from the public sections of the Den. You replied directly to the Activity Page version of this thread – you can check by selecting “Activity” from the menu at the top of all the Den’s pages. It’s all still there, although you’ll need to scroll a *long* way as my…[Read more]

Jill’s entry grabbed my attention straight away, because although my own childhood was a few years later, so much was the same. And yes, all the shops shut. In fact, almost everything shut on a Sunday apart from Church and Sunday School. “Hear the pennies dropping” for those who remember it. So much centered on the home back then. A wonderful…[Read more]

A brace of fabulous entries this month. Real life has struck at an awkward moment with silly demands on time. I hope you won’t mind too much If I pinch a day from the next comp. and post the results tomorrow evening. So sorry about that.

Dear All,

Please note that this doesn’t have to be about an object. From the theme up there (points up) “an object, or an event, or a saying, or anything at all really that you remember as commonplace when you were young”

Thank you, Jill. I forgot to set a word limit, so I take your entry as “the bar” and set it now at 400 words.

Incidentally, I wanted to call the girl Aelfwin but I had trouble getting the A and e to combine into a proper “ash” at the start of the name. Then it occurred to me that a drunk Teabreak would be unlikely to remember that anyway, hence “Alwin, or something like that.” I think Alwin is still sometimes used as a female name, but I could probably…[Read more]

I confess I feel slightly guilty. I read Sandra’s entry and thought it was splendid. Then I sneak in at the end and…

Anyway, thank you for the prompt, Jill. The solstice was my 70th and I went from not thinking I’d make it, to writing a little story about it so that’s something.

Stonehenge

The moon has departed leaving an impenetrable night with a cold mist gently rising across the still fields around Amesbury. In the hedgerows around one expanse of grass, sparrows packed close are beginning to shift in their sleep. To the east of this field a steady gaze would be rewarded with the slightest bloom of purple in a world…[Read more]

Well done Jill. A bittersweet story, beautifully told. And well done the rest of us!

Thanks, Kate. I’m trying hard to get better.

I’m not a huge fan of cosy crime, and I think that the television series of TTMC is rather better than the books, although only because the acting is good. However, there are many variations within that genre and I wouldn’t dismiss everything. The same goes for anthropomorphised animal stories. For instance, Charlotte’s Web and Animal Farm spring…[Read more]

On a small scale, my daughter gave me a voucher for a foraging/cooking day for 2, for my birthday last year, and I’d just booked a day in March when I got ill. When the company heard I was in hospital, they gave me a six month extension on the voucher for free, so that I could book when I was completely recovered. I thought that was really…[Read more]

Hi Libby, a very big relief. And thank you. I had another read through my discharge notes. I don’t think they’d seen somebody so ill with such a mixed bag of symptoms before (who hadn’t been in an accident). They took advice from the teams at Guildford, Reading, and Kings. There was a consensus to deal with the immediate emergency which was the…[Read more]

Thanks Jill. Yes, it is a big relief.

I’ve been on blood thinners (apixaban) since I was admitted to hospital. My problem is that the hospital doctors didn’t share any plan for dealing with the existing clots which have blocked two major veins to the liver. I strongly suspect that they were anticipating a worse outcome from the endoscopy and…[Read more]

Caution: Stuart’s language isn’t for polite company. The anniversary was my 18th birthday, June 21 1974.

Stuart’s story

People call me Plug ‘cos they reckon I look like Plug from the Bash Street Kids I ain’t never seen him, so I don’t know. Stuart’s my real name, and I just done three months in nick for something I ain’t done. Possessio…[Read more]