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FF – Uninvited Guest

August 15, 2018 65 comments

Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Yvette Prior.

Copyright Yvette Prior

 

“Unbelievable, son.”

“Um…”

“You’re at university, here to study and what do I find? Booze, pot, half-dressed semi-comatose people lying around everywhere.”

“Um, if you’d called first to say you were…”

“That’s not the point, is it?”

“Um…”

“IS IT?!”

“No, Dad.”

“Have you any idea what I go through every day? Hours of work to pay your tuition, your mother constantly nagging… I’m knackered. You’re living in party town and you didn’t invite me?”

“Um.. eh, what?”

“I’ll be staying for a bit, son. Call your mother and tell her I have ‘car troubles’. And get me a beer.”

 

A Lanhydrock Selection

August 12, 2018 16 comments

In the absence of Share Your World this week, here is a small selection of photos I took on a visit to Lanhydrock a few weeks ago.

I’d give you some history of the place but I’m more interested in looking around than reading the little information notices.

FF – The Dangers of Philosophy

August 8, 2018 84 comments

Here is my story (it’s not really a story) for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Ronda Del Boccio. I’m still too tired to think of anything funny so I wrote this instead 😦

 

Everything’s a matter of perspective. A point of view. Is that building small or just far away? Is that man mugging that little old lady or trying to stop her falling?

Who can know?

Is this life real? Are we in someone else’s dream? When we touch something, is it really there or is our brain trying to fool us into thinking we really exist?

All these things Brandon pondered until, finally, he winked out of existence, wiped from history.

Such is the danger of philosophy. Don’t overthink. Lest you cease to be.

If you really be at all.

 

Correct Me Not

August 5, 2018 20 comments

There’s no official Share Your World this week as Cee is taking a little holiday, so I thought I’d publish a little story that I wrote last week. I was thinking about all the words and phrases we say which aren’t technically correct (but usually sound better), and how some (most!) people really don’t like to be corrected 🙂

 

“Goodness, David, did you see that falling star? Quite a phenomena!”

“Phenomenon, darling.”

“What? Fine. Anyway, it seems we see less phenomenons like that every year.”

“Oh, good god. Fewer phenomena.”

“Gahhhh!”

A few days later…

“…as we gather to say goodbye to our dear friend and parishioner David who somehow tragically stabbed himself in the back while clipping his toenails…”

After the service…

“A beautiful service, Vicar, thank you. Oh, will you just look over there. A paparazzi. Disgusting. Don’t they have anything better to do than hang around at funerals?”

“Paparazzo, madam. There is only one, therefore the singular form.”

“Gahhhh!”

A few days later…

“… as we gather to say goodbye to our dear friend and vicar who somehow tragically drowned himself in the sink while washing the dishes…”

 

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FF – All That’s Gold Doesn’t Glitter

August 1, 2018 80 comments

Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Sandra Crook.

Boy, this week I had to cut out 47 words. And it shows 😦 But I’ve been horribly busy all day and I’m too tired to think. I hope I haven’t insulted Sandra’s gardening supplies.

 

Baz entered his grandfather’s yard. The old coot was dead. Britain’s Most Wanted, he’d called himself. True, the coppers had never found his last heist. So… where to look?

What had grandfather always said? “Tat… or treasure?” And nothing said “tat” quite like old pallets full of weeds and flowerpots. Baz reached in, pulled out a small bag and emptied its contents –  misshapen brown stones – into his hand.

He screamed. “Whaaaat! Old rocks?” Angrily he flung them away. As his car roared off it began to snow, the flakes covering the fortune in uncut diamonds he’d so carelessly discarded.

 

Sharing My World 2018 Week 30

July 29, 2018 30 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World.

share-your-world2

In regards to puzzle what’s your choice: jigsaw, crossword, word search, mazes, logic or numeric puzzles, something else, or nothing?
Out of all that lot, a jigsaw I guess. The last time a tried a crossword in the paper I got maybe three before resorting to the internet. Just the words “logic or numeric” makes my head hurt. Actually, I might go with “something else” – the sort of puzzle you get in video games like the Tomb Raider franchise. It can be fun to solve those.

List at least five favourite treats and it doesn’t necessarily have to be food.

  • New tech. I just treated myself to a Logitech Harmony Elite remote and hub which links all my devices to one remote. Now I just say “Alexa, switch on movie” and it switches on the TV, Blu-ray player and AV receiver and selects all the correct inputs. And after sunset it switches on the backlighting I put behind the TV too. Watching it do all this is like magic 🙂
  • A nice gateau, like Black Forest gateau. Yum!
  • Five treats?
  • That’s a lot.
  • I’ve got nothing else.

What is your favourite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal or character in a movie)
I like when this question makes a reappearance as it gives me a chance to show the photo of the lads again.

TheLads

Meet The Lads

 

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FF – Perfect Town

July 25, 2018 66 comments

Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Ted Strutz.

I may be a little late reading stories this week as I’m very busy with work stuff so bear with me. I’m currently typing this on my personal laptop while running something on my work laptop while watching Luke Cage on Netflix. Multitasking is my thing 🙂

Copyright Ted Strutz

 

Frankie smiled as he cast his eyes over the neighbourhood. Gardens, clean and tidy, The road, perfectly maintained, The pavements, pristine, clear of any litter. A small group of people stepping onto the pavement, going… where? To a restaurant, perhaps, or maybe to the marina? Frankie gazed down on his world and it was…

A shadow, falling! Crash! Crunch! Smash!

“Oh, shit. Sorry, kid.”

“Daaaaaad, that was my class project! The perfect town!”

“Don’t worry, son. Grab some papier mache and baking soda, I’ll show you how to make a cool volcano!”

“Aw, hell.”

 

Sharing My World 2018 Week 29

July 22, 2018 21 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World.

share-your-world2

Since we are approaching the hottest part of our summer in the northern hemisphere, what’s your favourite ice-cream, frozen yogurt or sorbet flavour?
I like all sorts, but for preference I tend towards fruit flavours. I do have the occasional toffee/biscuit flavoured ice cream, but that’s more a winter thing I reckon. Fruity is better for a hot day!

Here is a photo of my current ice cream drawer. For a treat I would buy mint choc chip or creamy white ice cream with raspberry/strawberry/blackcurrant sauce swirled in, but that stuff is expensive.

 

How often do you people watch?
I don’t really people watch. I’m not generally in the position to, I’m always on my way to or from rather than sitting and watching.

If you had a choice which would be your preference – salt water beaches, fresh water lakes, ocean cruise, hot tub, ski resort or desert?
Fresh water lakes, I reckon. They would be quieter than beaches. I’m surrounded by beaches on both coasts, though I don’t live near one, the closest is 7 or 8 miles away I guess. But they get really busy.

Here’s a lake in my vicinity (Colliford).

Colliford Lake

And here’s a bit of sea I took from our recent work summer party, later on as the sun was setting and my tummy was full of BBQ food. I was concentrating more on the plants than the sea when I took the picture, though.

FF – A Hell of a Day

July 18, 2018 58 comments

Here is my little story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Dale Rogerson.

I had to cut 39 words out this week so it’s not quite the epic I initially imagined 😦

Copyright Dale Rogerson

 

Jimbo watched the sun, or what passed for the sun, rising. Everything, as usual, looked a bit grainy. It must be all the sulphur and damnation, he supposed.

Tuesday today. A bit of light torture, lunch, then to finish, something truly horrific.

He’d had a postcard from his mate yesterday. He’d gone “up there”. He was having a marvellous afterlife sitting on a cloud, strumming a harp.

Jimbo hadn’t been a bad man in life. But apparently there was a limit to the number of paper clips you could steal from your place of work and keep your soul intact.

 

Sharing My World 2018 Week 28

July 15, 2018 32 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World.

share-your-world2

What would you name the autobiography of your life?
Hmm. Here are some options.

  • It Came, it Went, and Now I’m Dead (not actually dead obviously as I wrote the biography)
  • Nothing Much Happened
  • If I Could Do it All Again, I Probably Wouldn’t Bother

Which do you prefer – sweet, salty or buttery?
Well, they all have their pluses. Sometimes I really fancy something sweet, like my body’s telling me my sugar levels are low. And you can’t beat a good buttery croissant. But overall, salty I think. I tend towards the savoury.

What’s the finest education?
It depends on what sort of education you mean. Something well-rounded, which generally comes from living your life. A mixture of formal education, jobs and relationships. Until you’ve done those things, you’ll likely be rubbish at them 🙂

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