JaneShuff

Guys, I can’t apologise enough for being NINE days late coming back to this. THe holidays were … not conducive to remembering things, so I am sorry for keeping you in suspense (and making January a very brief comp!)

So… thankyou for managing to fit in writing your entries during the xmas busyness.

@Seagreen – I loved the tiny details that…[Read more]

Well, to be fair, accidents through excessive speed aren’t all caused by the heat of competition. One curve at Morpeth was the scene of three (count them) derailments within thirty years, all in the BR period: 1969, 1884 and 1994. Fortunately only the first caused any fatalities, six of them. And at Eltham Well Hall in 1972 the driver was…[Read more]

Fascinating and absorbing stuff as ever, Richard. As well as the wonderful clarity and readability of the technical matters, I find the culture of the railway companies and the way it affected how they ran their services really eye-opening. We have it pretty bad these days, with the worst combination of competition and monopoly, but at least we…[Read more]

Another interesting and entertaining story from the world of railways – thank you Richard.

Hope so @elle! In truth the numbers game is a problem for me, as I struggle to write enough to get the hit rate. Will keep trying though. The Barren editors are lovely, they gave me the nicest rejection ever 🤣

Well done Elle. I’m impressed with all these publications. I still haven’t had one since my first nearly four years ago, despite a concerted effort recently. I did have a very kind rejection from Barren Magazine recently, which still counts as ‘a miss is as good as a mile’.

Very clever John – you’ve left me poised and nervous as to what sort of ‘reality’ comes next.

Road to Redemption

It was the hour before dawn on Christmas morning. Robert stood under a pair of bay trees at the far end of the garden and breathed deeply, calming himself. The darkest hour it’s sometimes called, but he could see the light was coming fast now, a sliver of red showing on the eastern horizon and he knew he’d have to hurry. Sho…[Read more]

Congrats again, @Elle!

Untitled (398 words)

In the dark before dawn the phone woke me. Its light made me squint. A window was broken at the shop, said a female police officer.

I pulled on a thick jumper and skirt and, with a thumping heart, drove into the centre of town. My shop – high-quality second-hand women’s clothes – was in a small road off the high stree…[Read more]