Athelstone

Easy peasy

Yesterday evening, me  in mindless  mood, scrolling between television programmes, and phone an Instagram a reel came up, featuring the ever- crumpled face of Mick Jagger. He answering some question about song writing, where he got his inspiration from.

His ‘Everywhere! -Sometimes I only have to look out the window –‘  spanne…[Read more]

Thank you @Athelstone , and thanks also to Jill, Sandra and Seagreen for kind and encouraging comments.

That’s 31st October!

Thank you @Seagreen ! The prompt was a challenge, in a good way, and I’m very pleased to have been picked from such a strong collection of stories.

I was pleased to have my mind returned to the time I effortlessly wrote dark, so thank you for this, challenge, Sea, ad well as all the contributors – entertaining every one, but I confess to especially enjoying Libby’s contempt for the policeman.

Thank you for indulging me with these entries and apologies once again for being so late with the results.

@Jill: you gave me exactly what I asked for – an insight into the mind of a killer – in this case, a victim of domestic abuse who was finally pushed too far. Your words paint a quiet picture of an unseen tempest.

@Sandra: Your words pai…[Read more]

Apologies, all. Just home from work and, while the mind is willing, the body is most definitely wrecked. It’ll be tomorrow before I get a chance to read the entries.

Care Package

450 words

Her brother and she were the youngest of five, he the youngest of all.

‘Follow me!’ he called, pedalling hard. To keep up, when he was eight and she nine, stole her breath. Also, there were more interesting things to do: reading a book, doing piano practice. Soul-bolstering things. Becoming your own person.

Ahead, her…[Read more]

Episode from  long-running tale ‘The Blacksmith’s wife’

Kick a corpse to life and you’ll inevitably disturb carrion.

Tao knew this but only recalled it on attempting to leave his inn-room. The body that had earlier impeded his exit messenger for the man whose name Tao had evoked in hope of boosting his financial standing, believing those who…[Read more]

Thanks for the prompt Libby. It seems to have been an age since I  tested the writerly muscles…

And I second Jill’s call for virtual medals all round! 🙂

Thanks Libby for the prompt and your kind words. Only as I finished writing my entry did I recall the only holiday spent with my parents was in 1973 , after chld#3 born. It was NOT a success (and Dovercourt still feels like home)

@athelstone

I realised after I pressed send that the POVs of your three characters  responded to the three possible POVs I’d put in my comp task. Neat!

As befits pieces about holidays and sea, all this month’s entries evoked a sense of place and, in their different ways, the rituals of leaving home for time away.

@jillsted

A lovely interweaving of different memories focused on the annual seaside holiday. Your depictions are very atmospheric, such as, “We would stand in the corridor and e…[Read more]

The Space Between the Notes (334 words inc title)

It was more than a holiday; it was a ritual, starting with the drive north. The choice of music; what the kids called my soppy stuff – Savage Garden, Beautiful South and sshhh, don’t say it out loud, Barry Manilow – and the way I always packed the car with a hundred and one things I wou…[Read more]

A quick reminder that the end of the month is growing near for anyone who’d like to enter the monthly competition.

August, peak holiday season. For the August comp please combine the themes of holiday and sea. It could be from the point of view of a holidaymaker or a person who works in the tourist industry or someone who simply observes.

500…[Read more]

Your thought about the V16 engine and the 1966 formula is indeed intriguing, but if anyone at BRM did seriously consider it then I think it would have come unstuck on the fuel question if nothing else. It is my understanding that one reason for the Alfetta’s inordinate thirst (1.5 miles to the gallon in its final form!) was that it relied on…[Read more]