@sandradavies
Active 1 day, 13 hours ago-
Athelstone started the topic Chit Chat in the forum
September Song 7 months, 1 week agoWhat it says
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition October 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 months, 1 week ago
<u>Pocket Money</u>
Hidden in gloom-light, he shadow-shifts within the numinous cloak of darkness rippling and folding into a Samhain-shadowed mist, as it protects him within its unsettled veil.
Hood pushed back, revealing small horns twisting, like red fingers, on dark hair, falling away over his shoulders, he glides over the grass.
Drawn…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 months, 1 week ago
I’m late with the congratulations – life has been frantic for a few days! Thanks so much for the prompt, @jillsted. A thoughtful piece from @libby is a more-than-worthy winner. And well done to @knickylaurelle for a splendidly acute story.
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Knicks replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Congratulations, Libby! Well and beautifully written to you and Ath too 🙂
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Janette posted an update 7 months, 2 weeks ago
So sorry, Jill. I hoped to be of a mindset to join in September’s comp, only this month has thrown up too many mind-scrambling obstacles to facilitate concentration. Seems you already have some excellent stories already and I don’t envy your task.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 months, 3 weeks ago
The Artist of Wexton
A gust of icy wind blew across the beach, and I turned to one side and pulled my coat tighter. Doing so, I realised that something was wrong, but I wasn’t quite sure what. An elderly woman stood about fifty yards to the west looking out to sea. There was something almost mournful about her, and, against my usual inclination I…[Read more]
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Knicks replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 months, 3 weeks ago
(Untitled, 394 words)
The book was finished, the story told. But more importantly, the truth laid bare. Every pocket dimension of past trauma exorcised. Every chapter of his life stamped adult, checked as complete. Every fragment of what it meant to be human sorted and struck through.
Now was a new time. A beginning time. Time to rejoin the…[Read more]
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Fiona posted an update 7 months, 4 weeks ago
Hello! I think it’s years since I last dropped in but in switching computers I rediscovered this page. So glad to see some familiar faces and competitions going strong. Fiona (SE 2013)
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition August 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Here I am, racked with guilt. I did sit down a couple of times to write an entry, but it just wouldn’t come. I had an idea yesterday that I liked, and it may end up as a scene in the WIP, but I had so much going on I couldn’t manage it. Apologies, it’s a fascinating idea and I should have done something. However, you have two very good entries to…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Not a Disaster Story in the forum Blogs 8 months, 3 weeks ago
Pretty much, these days.
Most of the pubs I’ve loved are long closed now. The Railway Hotel in Newbury where I first tasted Morland bitter at the grand old age of 15 (just). At 12p per pint even I could afford it. Then there was the Cambridge in Cambridge Circus. To be fair, the beer was dreadful – so bad that I drank bottled lager mainly – but…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Not a Disaster Story in the forum Blogs 8 months, 4 weeks ago
Sounds glorious.
Just had a short break in France where nearly all the draft beer is lager style, with the exception of a few unpleasantly-sweet dark beers. To be fair, some of the lighter ones are drinkable, especially if it’s a hot day – which it usually is.
All this talk of real ale reminds me of that magical moment when you enter a…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Not a Disaster Story in the forum Blogs 9 months ago
Oh for a decent pub nearby. There used to be a decent pub only a few hundred yards away from me. It was always The George as it stood by a roundabout on Worthing’s George V Avenue. A couple of years ago it was acquired by the Toby Carvery group. I see that they claim to serve real ale now, but I did try to beers they offered a few times and I…[Read more]
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Janette replied to the topic Monthly competition August 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 9 months ago
The Woman Whose Nose Pointed North
I had already met my mother-in-law, years earlier, not that I could have known. We had moved onto a still-being-built estate, the house across from ours taken by a large family. So many children were a draw for a five-year-old girl and her brother.
The children, I remember, seemed friendly. Not so the…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – July 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 9 months, 2 weeks ago
Well done, Sandra! And thank you for the prompt, Seagreen. As ever, some fine entries.
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Janette replied to the topic Monthly Comp – July 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 9 months, 2 weeks ago
Thank you, Sea, for the challenge and for the kind words. Congratulations, Sandra, your words clearly came from the heart and made you a worthy winner.
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly Comp – July 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 9 months, 2 weeks ago
Thank you for indulging my ‘tearful’ requirement and apologies again for being so late with the results.
@Jill – Good to see you back, and thank you for diving back into the monthly comp with your tale of Lucia. I confess to knowing nothing about Vestal Virgins, but your entry has definitely piqued my curiosity and I’m sure there’s a much larger…[Read more]
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Congratulations, Sandra and fellow entrants. All excellent stories which touched me and brought tears to my eyes. Sandra’s image resonated with my own recent experience and sadness as my husband had to go home alone for nine days, tired and worried when I was in hospital. I chose not to write a personal story as enough personal emotions w…[Read more]
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Bless you Ath!! Details of the Winter comp so inspired me I had sentences in my head when I woke this morning that needed me to get up and write them down immediately. That hasn’t happened for some months, and though I know what you’ve still to reveal will change things, I’m confident l’ll be able to incorporate it with the as-yet loose ideas I…[Read more]
That makes me very happy. Thank you Sandra.