Sharing My World Week 8

March 1, 2014 22 comments

In an attempt to put off unpacking, I’m going to Share My World! Thanks to Cee over at Cee’s Photography Blog for posting the weekly questions!

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Here’s the mess I need to tackle shortly 🙂 .

Messy Bedroom Move

Oh no!

More Messy Bedroom

Yes, that’s my bed.

So, on to the questions!

Would you rather be given $10,000 for your own use or $100,000 to give anonymously to strangers?
Well, not to sound selfish, but I’ll take the cash, thanks. I could pay off my credit cards! And whatnot.

When you’re 90 years old, what will matter most to you?
Where I’m buried, I expect. On the off-chance that I’m still alive and kicking I hope my mind will still be functioning correctly.

Candy factories of the entire world have become one and will now be making only one kind of candy. Which kind, if you were calling the shots?
I’m not sure if the American word “candy” covers chocolate, but I’m going to assume it does. Therefore I’m going for some nice standard milk chocolate because that works for me in any situation!

So, you’re on your way out and it’s raining. Do you know where your umbrella is or do you frantically search for it all over your apartment/house?
While I was packing, I did actually stumble across a little umbrella. However, I don’t use umbrellas. I’m a hazard. I either turn it the wrong way and it gets blown inside-out and/or shredded, or I put some poor innocent’s eye out with it. For safety’s  sake, I stick to using a hat (I’m not bothered about the rain per se, but I do like to keep it off my glasses, otherwise it can get difficult to see where I’m going!).

That’s all for this week, back to the unpacking for me!

More Haste…

February 28, 2014 67 comments

I have completed my house move! Well, I have yet to re-assemble my bed, and I can barely move for boxes, but still… I missed last week’s Friday Fictioneers but I now have my internet connected. Fibre at last! Call me Mr Speedy.

So without further ado, here is my submission, written to a photo submitted by Fictioneerer Sandra Crook. As always, Rochelle is hosting the whole shebang, so be sure to check out her website, and you can also read the other submissions here.

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Copyright Sandra Crook

I don’t believe it. Another tractor! Can’t these farmers move their straw in the middle of the night or something? What’s he doing? Fifteen miles per hour? Ridiculous. What about my dinner?

Ah, I think I can slip past… no! That was close. Damn cars coming at me. Maybe in a minute, I think there’s a straight bit. Here we go… oops. Dammit! More traffic. I can’t believe this. Pull over, moron! I’ve had enough of this. I’m going past. There’s never anything on this stretch. Foot down, yes! No! NO!


Jim Preston. Loving husband. Father of three.

Idiot.

Dead.

Sharing My World Week 7

February 21, 2014 29 comments

I’m supposed to be packing and disassembling furniture and whatnot. I don’t think I’ll have time to write my usual flash fictions but I didn’t want to miss sharing my world (hosted by Cee of Cee’s Photography Blog – check it out!), especially since it’s all about couch potatoes, so I’ll quickly bang this out and then get on with my house move.

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What is your favourite couch potato activity: readings, watching movies, watching sports, napping, anything on TV, computer games, play cards, or other?
Yes.

What is your favourite toppings on pizza?
Mmm, pizza. Cheese, pepperoni, cheese, chilli beef, chillies, cheese, cheese, ham and not forgetting cheese. Plus half a bottle of Tabasco sauce.

pizza

Is that extra cheese? Why yes, yes it is.

 Mmm, extra cheese.

What is is favourite genre of movie or book?
Fantasy/swords and sorcery (eg Terry Brooks, David Eddings, Raymond E. Feist, James Barclay, Elizabeth Moon), urban fantasy (eg Kim Harrison, Ilona Andrews), sci-fi (eg Elizabeth Moon again), cool and clever humour (eg Janet Evanovitch, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams).

Do you prefer eating the frosting of the cake first?
Both together. That’s why they’re both on the cake. Mmm, cake.

Service Interruptus

February 16, 2014 51 comments

Hello, my friends! It has finally happened – I am moving house!

I will be busy packing, ferrying stuff to the new house before/after work and generally having not a lot of time over the next couple of weeks. At some point I will lose my internet while my service gets transferred (which could take up to 2 weeks! To push a few buttons!).

So I wanted to give you the heads up. I haven’t forgotten or abandoned you! I will try to read and comment as much as possible but I may not be posting much (if at all), even my regular Share Your World, Friday Fictioneers and Chain Writing Game posts 😦 .

In the mean time, here are some dodgy photos I took of my new home. To be honest, the Estate Agent pictures were far better.

Sharing My World Week 6

February 15, 2014 20 comments

Cee over at Cee’s Photography Blog runs a series in which she asks questions and we answer them! The goal is to share a little bit about ourselves. See here we go with week 6. This is all about sport so it will be quite short!

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Have you watched or plan to watch any of the 2014 Winter Olympics?
Nope. I’m too busy watching my soaps and whatnot.

What is your favourite winter Olympic event? Would you ever want to be an expert in that sport?
I think snowboarding is really cool. I love the tricks and flips and stuff they can do. It would be great to be an expert. It’s like the winter form of skateboarding and that’s still cool, right?

Have you ever met an Olympic Athlete?
I’ve never met an athlete, Olympic or otherwise. Not a well-known one, anyway. I’ve met lots of people who “do sports”.

Do you have a favourite athlete? Name sport.
I don’t have a favourite athlete. I told you this was going to be a short one 🙂 .

What is your favourite exercise or sport? Is there a reason why?
Here’s one I do have an answer for!

My favourite exercise is “the remote control reach and snatch”. It’s quite tricky. From a semi-prone position, you reach out for the remote control, which is almost out of reach. Then comes the snatch and the channel change. This exercise strengthens the elbow you’re leaning on, as well as improving hand-eye coordination. Real experts can change the channel and then use the rocking motion to fly forwards again and replace the remote control.

As for sport, I like to play badminton. (I like to play it, I don’t actually play it. Not for ages anyway.)

Tune in next week, when hopefully the questions will be more couch-potato-based!

Highly Strung

February 14, 2014 52 comments

It’s Friday Fictioneers time! And I’m actually posting on a Friday for a change.

For those of you new to Friday Fictioneers, our wonderful host Rochelle posts a picture and the rest of us write a (roughly) 100 word story, poem or whatever about it. This week’s photo was donated by fellow Fictioneerer Janet Webb. Thanks, Janet!

To read all the other stories, click here.

I have to admit my story is 107 words. I already cut a load out and I honestly can’t see how to cut out another 7 words without compromising the story. Sorry 😦 .

janet-webbs-sangria

Copyright Janet Webb

Detective Turnbull looked around the gallery. He couldn’t decide if the sprays of blood adorning the art were an improvement. He shook his head.

“Not your thing, detective?” asked a uniform.

“Art? Huh. So, what happened?”

“The artist went nuts. Sliced some kid to bits with a palette knife, if you can believe that.”

“Do we know why?” asked Turnbull.

“Kid grabbed a sangria from over there. Apparently it was part of the ‘piece’. Bit high strung, this artist.”

“Okay.” Turnbull turned to the gallery owner. “We’ll get this blood cleaned up.”

“Are you mad? This is live art! I can sell this room for a fortune!”

CWG Week 7 Episode 20

February 12, 2014 9 comments

It’s week 7 of Kerrie’s Chain Writing Game, and this week we see Hugh escaping from an “inescapable” prison (and the noose)! Where will he go? What’s the deal with Sarah and her insanely fast car?

Catch up with the story by clicking on the little blue froggy. My third contribution is below.

We’re seriously running out of time so I’m going to reluctantly speed things up a bit.

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Hugh threw a grenade at the front door of the Senator’s house as Sarah took the rifle and found a vantage point nearby. The door exploded into fragments and Hugh ran inside. Halfway to the Senator’s study a guard appeared, weapon drawn.

Silhouetted against a window, the guard’s head was no match for Sarah’s bullet as she shot him from across the road.

Hugh burst into the Senator’s study  to find him throwing papers into the open fire.

“Hold it, you wife-killing bastard!” snarled Hugh.

The Senator froze.

Outside, with a screech of tyres, Evan and Jeffrey pulled up, murder in their eyes.

Categories: Fiction Tags: ,

The Last Sunrise

February 11, 2014 23 comments

Here is my contribution to Sunday Photo Fiction. You can view all the 100-200 word stories by clicking on the blue froggy, and why not have a go yourself?


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Simon and Shelley sat hand in hand on the hill top, looking out at the rapidly brightening sky.

“Is it true, do you think?” asked Shelley quietly, brushing a few stray strands of hair from her face.

“All contact with Australia was lost hours ago. Russia. Eastern Europe. All going quiet, one by one.”

“Maybe there’s some other explanation?”

Simon squeezed her hand. “It’s still half an hour to sunrise,” he said sombrely. “See how light the sky is already.”

Shelley nestled her head against him. He put his arm around her shoulders.

“Of all the scenarios we’ve seen in the movies – floods, global warming, alien invasion, even zombies – why did nobody mention this?” asked Shelley, sobbing.

“Maybe someone did,” replied Simon, eyes glistening with his own tears. “Maybe we didn’t see that film.” He hugged her closer.

“It’ll be one hell of a sunrise, though,” said Shelley.

Simon nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

They were still sitting, holding each other tight when the sun rose. Once the bringer of life, it had turned on its children. The most titanic solar firestorm in Earth’s history accompanied the sunrise this morning, burning the planet clean.

CWG Week 7 Episode 14

February 11, 2014 14 comments

It’s week 7 of Kerrie’s Chain Writing Game, and this week we see Hugh escaping from an “inescapable” prison (and the noose)! Where will he go? What’s the deal with Sarah and her insanely fast car?

Catch up with the story by clicking on the little blue froggy. My second contribution is below.

prison-cell-cellphone

Back on the road, Hugh and Sarah hurtled past a junction.

“Shit!” swore Sarah. “Cops.”

Hugh glanced behind and saw the ominous flashing lights, distant yet but coming closer.

“What the hell kind of souped-up car are they driving?” exclaimed Sarah. “We’re doing well over a hundred!”

In the car behind, Jeffrey grinned at Evan.

“Keep goin’, we’ve nearly got ‘em!”

Their radio hissed. “All cars, fall back, the FBI has this one.”

Jeffrey flipped off the radio and grabbed a shotgun from the back seat. Up ahead, Hugh pulled the gun from under the seat and rolled down the window.

Categories: Fiction Tags: ,

Evil Squirrel’s Competition – Where’s My Nuts?

February 9, 2014 39 comments

Evil Squirrel over at the Nest is holding a competition! We get the chance to win UD$20 worth of squirrel-themed thongs, or some such, from his squirrel shop.

Squirrel-themed thongs, I hear you ask? No, I didn’t believe it either – click here for the proof.

According to the rules of the competition, the entry can be anything we like as long as it contains a squirrel, a possum and a unicorn. Sounds like the ideal opportunity to make a childish play on the word “nuts” to me (desperately hoping as I do so that it has the same slang meaning in the rest of the English-speaking world as it does in the UK).

So here is my cute little children’s story – “Where’s My Nuts?” (Warning – not suitable for children, unless they don’t know that “nuts” is slang for “testicles” in which case it’s fine.)

Read more…