Philippa East

  • Hi @johnalty it’s good to be back, though it would help if I came back and then didn’t disappear again for months! Sigh. I have good intentions and then life happens…

  • Raine posted an update in the group Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 6 years ago

    Anyone got swallows back yet? Was looking for them today but no luck yet. Walk along the beach did turn up a white sea brick though (now called Beatrice, mini lugged it home), a bit of sea tile with the letter E on, and a perfect conch shell. Along with the usual sea glass & good painting stones. A moderately good haul which will all end up in one…[Read more]

    • None at the palace yet. I checked yesterday.

    • “sea glass” – such wonderful connotations.

      • No swallows as yet but in the evening the beach (forbidden to humans) is full of birds congregating along the water line. It is getting light enough after supper to slip past the ‘interdit’ signs and watch them dart in and out of the little frothy waves or stand still on the sand and watch the sun set behind the islands.

        • Jill replied 6 years ago

          What a delightful picture you paint, Raine. No, I have not seen any swallows yet, but many other birds visit our garden, as we have countryside all around our home. We are a long way from the sea and beaches, but we do have terracotta bowls of such items as you describe in our home – many dating as far back as when we lived in Cyprus! Have a…[Read more]

          • Barny replied 6 years ago

            Looking out for swallows here. We only moved in in January, so not sure what the avian fauna are like, except there a rooks/ravens plucking twigs from trees and then flying off to build nests, and seagulls doing their squawking thing, and since we started putting food out the sparrows, tits and similar have been very enthusiastic, also the rats…[Read more]

            • Yes @raine, What is a sea brick?

            • Raine replied 6 years ago

              😂 It’s a brick that’s been washed up by the sea so it’s all eroded and smooth. We get a fair few normal ones but a white one was special! Sea tiles are my fav – bits of broken and smoothed ceramic from all sorts of things. Old decorated plates are the best.

    • Sounds lovely. I’ve never seen them though. Is there a reason why they wash up? Our beach, although lovely in every way, doesn’t get much washed up apart from bits of fishermen’s nets.

  • Squidge posted an update in the group Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 6 years, 1 month ago

    Hi all. Been having problems logging in again, but Jules has worked her magic and got me into the Den.

    How are you all doing? I’m a bit like Kaz – head space not into writing much, so editing Tilda 3 is very slow going. I mean, how hard can it be to describe an underground (ie in a cavern) market? We’ve taken to cooking and baking with the kids…[Read more]

    • Hi Squidge. Much the same as you, my head space is not into writing. I’m doing what I can and have forgiven myself for the fact it’s so slow. Apart from that we’re pottering on, enjoying the glorious weather from the safety of our own garden and surrounding countryside during the permitted hour a day we’re allowed out.Nature is slowly expanding to…[Read more]

      • Hello, Squidge and Jane. I was interested to read how present circumstances are affecting your writing. Like you two, I am keeping busy (and maybe distracted) with the simple things of life and enjoying the slower pace, actually. Not to say there isn’t the general underlying anxiety, but trying to keep hopeful and positive despite all the…[Read more]

  • Not the best poetry, but hey ho…

    It has no chain, though once it might,
    It’s on a shelf, mainly out of sight.
    I wound it up and heard it tick
    Then set the hands with a firmer click.
    Triangles mark the quarter hours
    and rectangles? The intervals and other hours.
    It’s made by Smiths, a British firm
    Not Timex, Rolex or another well known.
    It’s…[Read more]

  • KazG posted an update in the group Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 6 years, 1 month ago

    Popping in to say hello – I’ve been in a most peculiar head space and sure it’s do to with It That Shall Not Be Named, but slowly getting some focus and clarity back. I’ve felt like a cabbage moth, flitting from here to there and never really settling, when I need to channel the caterpillar, with her steady devouring progress.

    Also, I had some…[Read more]

    • Thanks for the catch-up Kaz – and brilliant (and not undeserved) news about the residency. Fingers crossed all will come to pass … whenever.

      • Fingers crossed from me too @kazg. A lovely boost though.

        • Raine replied 6 years ago

          Retreat sounds amazing Kaz – and I am totally not surprised they were won over by the Needlies!! Love them so much. On the + side, by the time this is all calmed down a bit, you will be in SERIOUS need of a bit of time away, so it’s nice to know there is that waiting for you. How is Book2 going atm?

          • KazG replied 6 years ago

            Thanks @janeshuff, @sandradavies and @raine! Sorry I didn’t see this Raine, I’ve been a bit erratic on all fronts lately. Book 2 is crawling along, it needs much more attention than I seem able to give it, unfortunately! I had so much great beta feedback and I know what needs to change to make the book stronger – but getting my head in a fit state…[Read more]

  • Congratulations Raine. And thanks to everyone for their stories and the pleasure they gave me as well as John for the competition.

  • Bit different this time in an attempt to find beauty in our (confined) surroundings – look around the room you are in & find the oldest item (not counting people!). Now tell us something about it. Why is it precious, why have you kept it so long, who owned it before you… whatever.
    400 words. Hope it brings a little light. πŸ™‚

  • Thank-you so much John and everyone! I am delighted to have worried you all! I love how utterly different all our stories were, so well dones are due to the rest of you as well – each one was great. πŸ™‚

  • Congratulations, Raine, and thanks, John. Glad poor Henry lightened your day. I have absolutely no idea where he came from, but he was a timely visitor πŸ™‚

  • Well done, Raine! Thanks for the comp, John.

  • So, four very different entries this month. Eenie, meanie, minie, mo.

    Seagreen made me laugh, Jill made me smile, Raine worried the hell out of me and Athelstone made me melancholy.Can’t separate you, all excellent.

    But I’m going to give this months prize to Raine for all that energy and power.

    Well done all of you!

  • UNTITLED (395 WORDS)

    Rheology: the study of the deformation and flow of matter.

    Henry considered himself an expert in such matters. Lying on his back on the grass, unable to move, he was suitably impressed by whoever had applied the sky for this particular assessment. It was, he knew, the most perfect finish he’d ever seen. A solid block of c…[Read more]

  • Last day to get your entries in!

  • RichardB posted an update 6 years, 1 month ago

    My elder son – 40 this November – is a bit of a free spirit and so is his missus. Just before Christmas they announced that they were going to give up their jobs, sell up (not that they actually owned a house) and go off globetrotting. They weren’t to know, but they didn’t exactly pick the best time for that, with the result that they are now…[Read more]

    • I hope they are managing to make the most of it. My sister and brother in law were stranded in the Galapagos and it was no fun at all. They got flown to mainland Ecuador last week and should be on their way back to Canada today, all being well.

      • His verdict on the situation was, ‘It could be worse.’ Knowing his attitude to life, not to mention his fondness for sardonic humour in e-mails, I rather doubt that they’re suffering unduly.

  • Thank you, everyone, for your support. It means a lot. @Hilary, please never give up. I’ve been told there couldn’t be a better time for pitching, what with so many events cancelled and agents working from home. And you deserve a break too.

  • Thanks all. Was glad this one found a home, not having had much success with short fiction recently

  • Just caught up with your news! Congratulations! Well done, Elle πŸ™‚

  • I will say congratulations again on here, Laure! Absolutely brilliant. Well done!

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