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]

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]

Please note that this doesn’t have to be about an object. From the theme up there (points up) “an object, or an event, or a saying, or anything at all really that you remember as commonplace when you were young”

Anyway, thank you for the prompt, Jill. The solstice was my 70th and I went from not thinking I’d make it, to writing a little story about it so that’s something.

The moon has departed leaving an impenetrable night with a cold mist gently rising across the still fields around Amesbury. In the hedgerows around one expanse of grass, sparrows packed close are beginning to shift in their sleep. To the east of this field a steady gaze would be rewarded with the slightest bloom of purple in a world…[Read more]

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]

The iron tablets should make a big difference, and they tend to take effect within a few days. I do hope all goes well with your referral. Do please keep u…[Read more]

I do hope you are able to resolve the outstanding issues swiftly and then make some plans to do something special after all you’ve been through 🙂

I’ve been on blood thinners (apixaban) since I was admitted to hospital. My problem is that the hospital doctors didn’t share any plan for dealing with the existing clots which have blocked two major veins to the liver. I strongly suspect that they were anticipating a worse outcome from the endoscopy and…[Read more]

Today I had the endoscopy which I believe some of the doctors in my hospital thought would show cancer. the symptoms were all lined up. There was even consistent evidence from CAT scans and other X-rays. To be fair to them, they never said that, though they always…[Read more]

Stuart’s story

People call me Plug ‘cos they reckon I look like Plug from the Bash Street Kids I ain’t never seen him, so I don’t know. Stuart’s my real name, and I just done three months in nick for something I ain’t done. Possessio…[Read more]

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]

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.

And as it turns out, we nearly didn’t. My God, what a time you’ve had. All my best wishes for your continued recovery, and I do hope that the issue still hanging over you turns out to be not too catastrophic.

Not sure if you know, Ath, but positive feedback for specific nurses ‘Natalie did this, Esme supported me with that’ can be used for their revalidation. Just saying. ☺️