EmmaD

Thanks for sharing this, Philippa. What a journey!
And I would just like to add, for the record, that while Philippa was going through all this, and working (and crying) so hard, she has continued to be ever-generous in giving support and encouragement to others. Much appreciated.

Thank you, Kaz. Do you think this might count as an “I remember” exercise?

Thanks Gerry and Richard. Oh, and Richard – more rails. Definitely.

Thanks for this. I remember your ‘The Truth About…’ blogs on the Cloud, and used to enjoy them immensely: perceptive (Isn’t hindsight wonderful?), moving, and uncompromisingly honest. This one is no exception.

And yes, there has been a sad dearth of blogs lately. Maybe it’s time for another tale of the rails…

Memories, memories

Through a mane of blonde hair, through streaks of bleached and of darker dyed strands, her eyes flickered upwards. “Can I help you, sir?”

Behind me the door hissed shut expensively, hinges well greased by wills and probates. “Do yer know where Bryant Street is?”

“I umm… don’t know.” She bent her head back down to the screen…[Read more]

Yin and Yang

A gurgle of whiskey titillated the silence, ending with a full stop tap of glass on glass. Darrol picked up the tumbler and drifted over to the window, mind still emersed in his Yin and Yang infatuation. Her long blond hair against his dark skin; her crystal cry above his leather groan, their lovemaking uniting them – like the i…[Read more]

Lost and Found and Lost

Arthur was rooting through a drawer in the garage, the one reserved for plumbing parts, searching for a tap washer. His gnarled hands scrabbled through off-cuts of plastic water pipe, white nylon fittings, a flushing mechanism still in its packaging, old tobacco tins holding copper olives, bolts, nuts and split pins. No…[Read more]

This only 269 words but says what I intended

Time to play

Clearing a 25 year-old to-be-replaced kitchen, and the resultant sense of temporary displacement, gave time and focus to a wider realisation of things no longer needed. Delays gave more time than anticipated to jettison stuff, then the lovely announcement of a visit from good friends from…[Read more]

Well done, Athelstone. And thank you, Squidge.

Thanks Libby and Sandra – and once again, thanks to Squidge!

October beckons.

Congratulations on the win Ath, and for what it’s worth I found it uncomfortably horrific in its pervasive cult brainwashing manipulation – the sort of thing I usually avoid reading and very definitely cannot write, so am as admiring as I am uncomfortble with it.

And thanks Squidge for the competition which I took as opportunity to try out a…[Read more]

I might be a bit over sensitive, but it’s the kind of trope that surfaces when feelings are being tested: stories about minorities and their secret evil ways. The classic cases would be all the tales of alien mind-control and body take over that were so popular during the anti-communist frenzy in the US during the late 40s and 50s, or the ‘Yellow…[Read more]

Thanks for a fab competition, Squidge. You’ve brought a tear to my eye. I’ve been doing the monthly competition for nearly 10 years, although with fewer entries in the last few months, and this is my first win! There were some super entries this month; I’m really pleased.

I re-read my entry and worried that it might be steering too close to the…[Read more]

Thanks, all. I think from now on I won’t reply to form rejections. Certainly I shouldn’t have done it so long after I received them. It was just that tweet making me think I’d been rude! Perhaps she wasn’t talking about form rejections.

It’s never even occurred to me to reply to form rejections. What’s the point? Who’d bother to read it? I can’t speak for any other circumstances, because I’ve never been there (sob).