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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 3 months ago
Great prompt, Terrie. Well done, Sea, absolutely well deserved. For my part it was fun to relax with a bit of 1960s -style pulp sci-fi 🙂
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 3 months ago
The Leap
Before I knew what The Leap was, I thought it was magic. Like I thought magic was a real thing. Me and Cob and Dez and Piggy were all under ten years old. I mean, I didn’t know what a year was. That was an earth thing. Piggy was nine, and he said that a year was like four and a bit turns of the stars. Turns were an asteroid thing, a K…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 4 months ago
Well done, @purplewitch. That was an excellent return to the monthly competition 🙂
Liked that prompt @pinkbelt. Super bunch of entries this month.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 4 months ago
The Return
Brenda’s dad died in 1983, so when he returned forty years later, it was a bit of a nuisance. Brenda woke up and went down to make a cup of tea. She was rather surprised to see him sitting in the kitchen looking out of the window.
‘You’ve let the garden go,’ he said without looking round. Then he did look round, and he added, ‘Bloody…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Reorganization And Declutteration (have I created a new word) in the forum Blogs 2 years, 4 months ago
Every year I aim to be organised (see Terrie above) and pick presents well in advance. The practice is different. I may not be quite as bad as the proverbial desparate man, the evening before, in the petrol station shop, but I’m cutting it close.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Reorganization And Declutteration (have I created a new word) in the forum Blogs 2 years, 4 months ago
By the way, ” I’ve even written my gift list for next year”. I believe this is actually against the law.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Reorganization And Declutteration (have I created a new word) in the forum Blogs 2 years, 4 months ago
Oh yes, prevaricating about the bush as Wallace refers to it. I do a great deal of that. Top tip. Every so often, copy the contents of that 1TB hard drive somewhere else as well. Whether that’s the Cloud (Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive, Apple iCloud and so on) or another sleek 1TB hard drive. The day may come when your adorable cat decides the…[Read more]
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Squidge posted an update 2 years, 5 months ago
I always seem to come on here to apologize for not being here… Suffice to say that Life is a bit complicated and sad at the mo, and I’m not at my best. When I have the head space, I’ll be back.
Power to all of your pens in the meantime though 😉
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – January 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 5 months ago
Well, what do you know? Three totally different old things.
Sandra, you brought a bit of Rembrandt’s brutal honesty in your piece. I’m not sure whether I was meant to but I chuckled along as I read this. It reminded me of the moment when I realised that my hands now resemble my own father’s as I remember them from years ago. It was an honest…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 2 years, 5 months ago
Aha! I’m away at a writing weekend in Bournemouth! Still checking here and really happy to see the action. Must post soon.
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Athelstone started the topic Monthly Competition – January 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 6 months ago
Last year I asked for up to 500 words on something new. This year it occurs to me that this is also the time of year when we look back. The topic is “something old”. Up to 500 of your finest however you wish.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – December 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 6 months ago
Thanks Alex. We don’t get many entrants to the competition any more, so winning can be, if not a poison-chalice, a hot coffee-cup. Your prompt was perfect for Christmas and I had fun writing about it.
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Athelstone posted an update 2 years, 6 months ago
A very happy, prosperous and successful New Year to all Denizens.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – December 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 6 months ago
Not sure what exactly is happening. Maybe old age is catching me up but I posted this already. There was an amusing intro about how it’s too long and how I’d have to take my chances. And so on. Anyway, it is too long (by loads), so I will have to take my chances.
The Stoggy
I’m a magical creature called a stoggy. Don’t get too excited bec…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Season's greetings in the forum Podium 2 years, 6 months ago
Libby, I thought I’d replied, but I was also looking at some site updates that need to be done soon, so my mind was obviously elsewhere and I didn’t press the button.
Absolutely. I quite agree. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and the same to all other Denizens.
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RichardB replied to the topic A Corporate Crime Scene: Lac Mégantic, 2013 in the forum Blogs 2 years, 6 months ago
Burkhardt’s first reaction to the disaster was to lay the blame on Harding (now there’s a surprise…). This, after Harding had expressed concerns about the locomotive, which were dismissed, and made his offer to go and check on the train, which was also dismissed. The transcript of the phone call makes his anxiety plain. After he’s told he’s not…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic A Corporate Crime Scene: Lac Mégantic, 2013 in the forum Blogs 2 years, 6 months ago
Mr Burkhardt is an interesting character who has, it seems, been profoundly interested in trains his entire life. Your blog inspired me to research the man a bit and it does seem that he knows best in matters of running a railroad. Of course, he had “previous” for being the manager of a railroad that allowed a train to run down a sloap while…[Read more]
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RichardB started the topic A Corporate Crime Scene: Lac Mégantic, 2013 in the forum Blogs 2 years, 6 months ago
All my previous railway accident stories have concerned British trains in the steam age, since that is my area of interest and expertise, but the Lac Mégantic disaster, which happened in Canada as recently as 2013, is interesting partly because of the contrast in railway practices between here and North America, but mostly because the usual…[Read more]
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RichardB posted an update 2 years, 6 months ago
Seen by MrsB today somewhere, I believe, on Facebook:
‘We used to have empires, ruled by emperors. We used to have kingdoms, ruled by kings. Now we have a country…’-
Just so.
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At the risk of inflaming any anger about this just before the season of peace and goodwill (unless you live in Gaza) here’s an article about the £billions spent on dodgy PPE from people with personal connections to the governing party https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/michelle-mone-disease-corrupting-british-politic
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – November 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 7 months ago
Well done Alex. Also, sorry Janette – I had half an entry written when I glanced up and noticed it was all over. Not good enough ????
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