Barny

I’d like to try an entry this month if you set a comp, Knicks. I’ve been away from writing for over two months and am very rusty but, selfishly speaking, it would be a good way to get back into it. I’m not going to be able to manage the annual Den challenge this time around, having spent too much time with all this surgery stuff, so the monthly…[Read more]

Thank you Sandra, and Athelstone too!! I don’t think I could have managed what I did if Ath didn’t set his usual bar for quality, enjoyable, supremely witty writing 😊✨

That said – and Please Forgive Me if this isn’t the place to say it, I’m not sure where that place would be – it kinda feels like its just mostly us three passing the ball around…[Read more]

I should spend less time on the test site and more here. Cracking story, Knicks. Well done. Thanks for the competition, Sandra. I found it tough but fun.

I did actually consider putting in something about rationing, but decided that I’d make my point more vividly by keeping it simple and sticking to one issue.

Rather more distressing than your neighbour, I had an e-mail argument a few months back with my oldest friend (I haven’t seen him for a couple of years, and perhaps it’s just as well), who…[Read more]

Also “An IOPC spokesperson told PA Media: “We can confirm that on 17 December we received a referral from the Metropolitan police service [MPS] of a complaint about an alleged party at Downing Street in December 2020.

“Having fully assessed the referral we have decided it is invalid and we have returned it to the MPS to handle as it det…[Read more]

Absolutely!

I do not like wearing a mask when I go shopping, but it is a tiny hardship compared with, say, passing on the virus if I unknowingly had it, to somebody else. I’m so tired of hearing people, my neighbour for instance, declaring that he will “never” wear one in a shop because he’ll “never catch it that way”. He’s a tree surgeon and…[Read more]

Well Done

Jack opened his eyes to see the hooded glower of Constable Roquefort shining down upon him like the judgement of heaven. That glower caused him to squint, which drew his attention to the dull pain pulsing from his vinegar-wrapped crown.

“Where’m I?”

“Hospital.” Roquefort’s brusque, deep growl was like a wolf’s, of which Jack wa…[Read more]

Ath this proper Mother Goose / Enid Blyton 😊😊 Gonna do my best Sandra!

…Oh, and a very happy 21st to you!

Up the hill

Popular Oldwell couple Jack and Jill Bouquet are recovering in hospital from what police described as a “vicious and unprovoked attack” on Saturday night. Regulars at the Old Well pub on Old Well Hill were alerted by calls for help around 11:00 in the evening. Landlord John Spratt described how he and his wife found Jill Bouquet col…[Read more]

Congratulations Sandra! Wonderful as always. I’m looking forward to your next comp theme! (And the fact that I’ll be off work for the holidays which hopefully means I can do it some justice) 😊✨

Congratulations Sandra. I loved both stories so I don’t envy Ath having to choose.

Couldn’t think of anything so had to bow out.

Well, two entries this month. Both of them top notch.

Sandra’s story tells me so clearly about that moment when, inexplicably, there is no avoiding the surprise of what you expect to happen actually happening. It’s so familiar and so infuriating.

Knicks plunges us into the very innermost world of a relationship. Twisting and turning thoughts: I…[Read more]