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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Comp – September 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 days, 9 hours ago
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]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition August 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 week, 1 day ago
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)
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition August 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 weeks, 2 days ago
Orientation
In July 1953 we – Dad, mum. brother and me, left our now-echoing and curtainless home on the edge of Dovercourt Bay – an Essex seaside town dominated by a pair of cast iron lighthouses whose clean, and well-protected sands were sectioned by sea-slimy black wooden groynes within which squatted large black crabs. There was also a…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 1 week ago
Thank TOY Ath foc comp and commentryand well done to all of us for so vividly evoking childhoods now past, I particularly enjoyed Ath’s reference to radio – ours was a brown 18″B Bakelite cube which was only allowed into our bedrooms when we were sick (and often. it seemed. Luxembourg sicker. Looking forward to Libby’s comp for August.
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 1 week ago
Don’t mind at all; hope fulfilling demands not too onerous.
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 2 weeks ago
There’s a word for it!
The much faded five inch Quality Street tin I inherited from my mother is near-filled with buttons, their variety in part due to them having been donated by my aunt Muriel, who was a dressmaker and her mother Dora who was a tailoress. Needless to say, had there been such, I would’ve won ‘best-dressed child’ many a time had…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 3 weeks ago
Echoes of a life twinkling in time.
As years roll away from me I look back at reflections caught in memories rainbow.
I know I was lucky. My childhood was idyllic, because woven among the colours of my life and simplicity of youth, the feelings of each moment are held, perfect and bright, like small lights of sheltering warmth against the…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 4 weeks ago
Me too, Sandra, mine’s a green one . I also have my grandparents twisted metal meat skewers too. 🙂
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 months ago
Well done, Jill – the only inspiration I’d had so far, came from my mother’s mincer (of which I’ve a 1960’s version in a cupboard. Back to the drawing board for me 🙂
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition June 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 months, 1 week ago
Hooray!! Well done Ath for your last minute, colourful Teabreak entry thus rescuing me from having to devise July’s competition and thank you Jill. for your kind words re ‘Snap is not a Children’s Game’, adding impetus to my getting on with it.
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition June 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 months, 1 week ago
<h3>Prior to the magic going black</h3>
<h3>June 23rd, Caithness</h3>
Pre-dawn on a midsummer morning, Tait Duncan, drove south-east along an A1 empty of all but Highlands-bound supermarket wagons, conscience similarly uncluttered by the lie he’d last night told his wife as to the reason for his early morning departure. (In what had become th…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition May 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 months, 1 week ago
Congrats, Jill.
Looking forward to seeing the prompt for June .
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition May 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 months, 1 week ago
A fascinating quartet of music-generated memories resulting in stories that couldn’t help but provide their own soundtracks. Ath’s tale fully matched the discordant challenging streetwise vibes of the music chosen. Libby’s rich musical pot-pourri connected brilliantly with the warmth of disparate family interactions. Terrie’s combining ne…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition May 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 months, 1 week ago
Songs from the charts 31st October 1998 –
Aerosmith ‘I don’t want to miss a thing’
Bachman Turner Overdrive – ‘You aint seen nothing yet.’
Contains one, bleeped, swear word.
True story
This story involves my youngest daughter, who’s the sassy, won’t give an inch if she thinks she is in the right, type, and the anniversar…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition May 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 months, 2 weeks ago
MONTHLY COMP ALERT – I was hoping for earworms, from songs I remember but despite two excellent entries, I feel a little disappointed so more Top Ten memories by Sunday night would be much appreciated.
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Sandra posted an update 4 months, 1 week ago
May’s monthly comp is up – something to inspire lots of you I hope!
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Sandra started the topic Monthly competition May 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 months, 1 week ago
What I’d like you do for May’s competition is
1) choose a significant anniversary in your life: e.g. birthday, wedding, first child: graduation – then,
2 ) Google the UK Top 10 singles chart for that week.
3) select two, three or four song titles from that list and,
4) use them (loosely if necessary!) as a basis for a short story, of…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition April 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 months, 1 week ago
Thank you , Terrie, both for the challenge and your comments on both my entry and Jill’s excellently crafted, sensitive story. I’ll aim to set something for June by the end of today.
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly Competition April 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 months, 1 week ago
Jill – this story was woven with the muted grey overtones of something unpleasant being cast off. I enjoyed how you linked the idea of metamorphosis with the prompt word butterfly as well as showing the protagonist dealing with the stages of an abusive relationship and its outcome with quiet strength too. Perceptively written.
Sandra, I loved…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly Competition April 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Just to remind everyone there are only two days left until the end of the April competion and as there are only two entries so far, both equally as worthy of being chosen as the other, I may have to resort to flipping a coin or standing at midnight by candlelight and chanting one of those weird childhood choosing rhymes ….mid…[Read more]
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