Sharing My World 2016 Week 18

May 8, 2016 27 comments

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

share-your-world2

Who was your best friend in elementary school?
I met a lad way back in infants school (at around age 6, 7 maybe?) and we were friends all the way through secondary school. As is often the way, we began to grow apart, I went off to university and I haven’t seen him for nearly 30 years now.

On the other hand, a chap I “knew” as a baby (our dads were friends) who I lost touch with because he went to a different primary school, became my best friend in secondary school and we’re still close friends now.

What things could people do for you on a really bad day that would really help you?
What I want is to be left alone. If that’s the best thing for me, I don’t know. I don’t have many “really bad days” though :-).

If you could make a 15 second speech to the entire world, what would you say?
I’ve had it with you lot. I’m going back home to Tau Ceti 7. You’re all mad, mad I say!

Would you rather be an amazing dancer or an amazing singer?
Singer, I think.

Were you ever singing along to the car stereo, thinking you’re doing an awesome job, and then turned down the volume to bask in your own singing prowess? Don’t do it. It’s bad. It would be nice to do that and be singing in tune.

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FF – Man vs Bird

May 4, 2016 91 comments

Here is my story for this week’s Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Roger Bultot.

To read the other stories, click on the blue froggy.

Copyright Roger Bultot

Copyright Roger Bultot

 

It was a day like any other, when…

“Woah, look up there! It’s like that film with all the birds.”

“’The Birds’?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. They’re gathering, ready to pluck out our eyeballs. Death by a thousand pecks. Man the guns!”

“Calm down, you’re overreacting. Ooh, wait, pigeon pie! Attack!”

Meanwhile, outside…

“Woah, look down there! It’s like that film with all the humans.”

“’The Humans’?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. They’re gathering, ready to shoot us out of the sky. Death by a thousand air rifles. Beaks on standby!”

“Calm down, you’re overreacting. Ooh, wait, they’ve got snacks! Attack!”

Mutually assured destruction.

 

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Sharing My World 2016 Week 17

May 1, 2016 38 comments

It’s time once again for me to Share my World, courtesy of Cee on her photography blog.

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When writing by hand do you prefer to use a pencil or pen? 
I always use a black Biro. This isn’t the best implement for me, handwriting-wise, but it slips around nicely so I can write quickly. I only write notes at work and my shopping list, so it doesn’t matter that no-one can read my handwriting! I haven’t written with a pencil since infant school, but it would certainly be more legible.

What’s your choice: jigsaw, word, maze or numeric puzzles?
I like jigsaws. Nice and relaxing, no brain power involved. My second choice would be word puzzles. I don’t really see the point of maze puzzles (unless I’m in one) and I can’t do numeric puzzles because my maths is rubbish :-(.

Do you prefer long hair or short hair for yourself? 
Short hair (which I have). Very easy to maintain, and tidy too! Though I occasionally get a rebellious thought and wonder if I should have long hair. I think I’m a bit old to be going through a hippy phase, though.

List five/some of your favourite blogs.
I think I’ll pass on this one. I wouldn’t want to miss someone out and upset them! As for types of blog, I follow all sorts – short stories, poems, photos, musings… anything goes!

Categories: About draliman

FF – Inheritance

April 27, 2016 90 comments

Here is my story for this week’s Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Mary Shipman. Thanks, Mary!

Click on the blue froggy for this week’s other stories.

Copyright Mary Shipman

Copyright Mary Shipman

 

“Wow, Dad sure did sell a lot of old trash.”

“Yeah. How much d’ya think we can get for this place?”

“Not a lot. Off the beaten track, and his stock? Well. We’ll sell it somehow.”

“Hey, here’s where you carved your initials.”

“Yeah, I got a telling-off that day! And those… what did he call them… ‘quality vintage undergarments’? Still not sold. I remember when he bought them. Family outing to that antiques fair outside Brighton, remember?”

The brothers fell silent, each lost in his own memories.

“So… you take the counter and I’ll welcome customers?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

Sharing Your World 2016 Week 16

April 24, 2016 47 comments

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

share-your-world2

If you had to have your vision corrected would you rather: glasses or contacts?  Or what do you use if you need to have your vision corrected?
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was a little ‘un. I started off with the chunky free NHS glasses.

Me and Roland

I’m on the right (1985), taken in Germany.
Photo copyright BBC I would assume.

Later I had some money and got better glasses, and later still I decided to try contact lenses. They were annoying, scratchy and a big hassle. And I kept falling asleep in lectures. They stuck to my eyeballs :-(. You do NOT want to fall asleep with contacts in.

I’m back to glasses now after a run-in with conjunctivitis in the 90s. And recently I got my first pair of varifocals. Because I’m old and so are my eyes.

If you had to describe your day as a traffic sign, what would it be?
Maybe, road works/under construction.

RoadWorks

When I was little I used to think this was a bloke with an infeasibly large shovel, rather than a chap with a regular shovel stuck in a mound of dirt.

Was school easy or difficult for you? How so?
Well, I hated it. Whoever said “school days are the best days of your life” was a dirty rotten liar. I was quite good academically and it had its moments, but by and large I wouldn’t go through school again for anything.

Now university… that was a different kettle of fish entirely! Now, those really are the best days of your life 🙂

Would you rather take a 1 or 2 week vacation with an organized tour or take a cruise of your choice?
That’s a tricky one. On the one hand, the idea of having a holiday where everything is organised and I don’t have to worry about anything sounds quite appealing. On the other, I’ve never been on a cruise and it sounds quite fun. My parents go on cruises now they’re retired and thoroughly enjoy themselves, and cruises are pretty well organised too, so I think I’ll take the cruise, please!

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FF – Night of Terror

April 20, 2016 94 comments

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

To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.

Copyright Madison Woods

Copyright Madison Woods

 

“Hurry, they’re coming, string the barbed wire!”

(twang)

“Connect it to the generator and flip the switch!”

(crackle bzzzzzzz)

“I can see them now, freaks, horns, demons! They’ll take everything, nothing is safe, no-one is safe. Inside, quickly! Close the door, lock it. We have seconds, scant seconds! Turn out the light.”

(click)

“Behind the sofa, everyone. They mustn’t see us, they mustn’t see us… they’re here, oh God, they’re here… shhhhh…”

(clomp clomp clomp…)

“TRICK OR TREAT!”

 

Sharing My World 2016 Week 15

April 17, 2016 35 comments

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

share-your-world2

Name one thing not many people know about you.
Ooh. Potentially if I mention something not many people now about me on here, 6 billion people will know it. Not that I have the many followers.

Yet (bwahahaha).

Okay then. In my mid-teens I had both big toenails permanently removed as they were massively in-growing and infected. I’ll spare you the gory details, but as it turns out big toenails are optional. So that’s one thing you really did not want to know about me.

If a distant uncle dies and you were always his favourite and leaves you $50,000 (any currency) in his will, what would you do?

MoneyMoneyMoney

Copyright some music company probably


It would be nice to say “pay off my mortgage” but I’d need more than a fifth of that inheritance to pay off even 1 year :-(. So let’s go cray-cray with it!

Let’s have a Ford Focus RS for starters. And that’s pretty much it. Turns out $50,000 isn’t that much after all. Though owning a car outright would give me £300 a month more disposable income, so the car’s an investment really :-).  I’ll use the rest for a little holiday to New Zealand to see the Hobbits.

Where do you hide junk when people come over?
In my bedroom of course. Unfortunately when my parents came over the other week they wanted to see my new bed and I ended up with a minor ear-bashing regarding “piles of stuff everywhere”. Remember the Golden Rule – mothers go everywhere.

Complete this sentence:  I want to learn more about…
Me! Who am I really? What makes me tick? What do I really want under the surface?

I know. It’s a can of worms.

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Limerick Challenge – Dark

April 14, 2016 38 comments

Here is my Limerick for Mind and Life Matters’ weekly Limerick challenge. I had a hard time with this one but have thought of something at the last minute :-).

This week’s word is “Dark“.

I once was afraid of the night
Vampires gave me such a fright
Now dark tunnels I tread
As I hunt the undead
With my matches I’ll set them alight!

FF – A Costly Mix-Up

April 13, 2016 103 comments

Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Kent Bonham, and you read the other stories by clicking on the blue froggy.

Copyright Kent Bonham

Copyright Kent Bonham

 

“I don’t understand, Michaelson. We’ve tried every glyph in this damnable book to no avail, by Gods!” snapped Trenchart in exasperation.

Michaelson regarded the book suspiciously. “Are you sure this book is the genuine article, old man? Three weeks we’ve been at this. Three damnable weeks!”

“Got it off some chappie in the market, cost a fortune. Swore it was the genuine article, what?” said Trenchart. “Same time as I purchased that colouring book I shipped home to my daughter…” He tailed off, and the intrepid explorers looked at the book in horror.

“Damn it all, Trenchart!” yelled Michaelson.

 

Sharing My World 2016 Week 14

April 10, 2016 34 comments

Here are my answers to Cee’s questions for her Share Your World series.

share-your-world2

If you could hire someone to help you, would it be with cleaning, cooking, or yard work?
I don’t really need a cook, it’s the just the one of me :-(. I’ve never been exactly sure what “yard work” is, but I’m thinking it’s what we call “gardening”? If so, I only have a dinky garden so no help needed there either (though it’s never really particularly trim and tidy to be honest).

So I’ll have a cleaner, please. It would be nice if someone could dig out the vacuum cleaner from under whatever pile of stuff it’s buried in :-).

Ooh, ooh, there it is!

Ooh, ooh, there it is!

What makes you laugh the most?
Either comedy TV or over-the-top gory TV/video games. I re-watched “Resident Evil – Afterlife” last night and I did enjoy watching zombie brains explode. “Planet Terror” is a real laugh-a-thon. And yesterday afternoon I was playing Fallout 4 and got caught underground with a bunch of ghouls and my automatic combat shotgun. You can imagine how that went heh heh 🙂

What was your favourite food when you were a child?
The only thing I can remember is chocolate, if that counts as a food. I ate loads. I was huge.

List at least five favourite flowers or plants.
Five? I don’t know many flower or plant names. Here goes.

  • The big bush with the sort of clumps of little petals. I want to say rhododendron. Or hydrangea.
  • That tree which is all big and has loads of green stuff on. You know the one.
  • Lavender.
  • Gorse in bloom. I love seeing it all over the moors and whatnot.
  • Those little blue flowers. That look like bells. Can’t think of the name. Bell blues?

That’s all for this week!

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