Martini Rosso

The same sort of appalling victim-blaming appears to have been prevalent in the much more recent Yorkshire Ripper enquiry. According to a recent documentary, the police assumed the ripper, Sutcliffe, was punishing prostitutes when, in fact, he was preying on their vulnerability. At one point they failed to “credit” a victim to him because she…[Read more]

🙂 I think we’re all fairly cracked already, Philippa, to keep doing this writing thing to ourselves!

A great reminder that if you keep on battering your head against that wall, sometimes it cracks! Congratulations Philippa. I’ll go and enjoy the read.

SECRETS
It was closing time at the library. The best time of day as far as Charlie was concerned. At last he could spend some time alone with the books, wiping covers and aligning spines, handling the stories that could transport him to a different world. It was just a pity he had to share them with other people’s sticky fingers.

Not that the r…[Read more]

Thanks, Kate.

Ha, lovely closing lines, Libby.

Thank you, John.

Nice one, Libby.

PS The odd layout is courtesy of the Den. It’s not some artistic effort on my part, though it could be due to my failure to understand Den formatting. 🙂

Here’s the opening scene of a drama. 349 words

The scene is a contemporary kitchen. Magnets hold lists to the fridge. Children’s paintings are on the walls. MARCUS, 70, sits at the table, idle, and SAM, 40, stands at a counter, preparing food. Marcus wears his hair longer than Sam and has a brass bangle and a leather bracelet on one wrist.…[Read more]

Another hugely entertaining tale of the rails, and very informative too. Thanks Richard.

Fab Elle. These are great.

These are terrific @elle. Congratulations!

I’m happy to provide prompts. @Squidge has offered as well, so we could start with hers and I’ll do the next round?

Perhaps the next prompter could put their name forward during current prompt month IYSWIM.

OK, I’ll go first:

Sunday morning
A late breakfast, tea and toast, the paper folded at the cryptic crossword. 22 down, Kathmandu hippie hospital, 9 letters. Michael scratched his head with the pen. Just an average Sunday.
The doorbell rang, startling him. Nobody called on Sunday. Nobody called on any other day for that matter, not since he’d p…[Read more]

Thanks, Sandra.

That would be a nice touch, Sandra. He’s 18 and it’s his pride and joy.

I do that too, Sandra.