Month: February 2012

Short Story for Low Wattage

The Journey’s Start

Even as we waited at the coach station I had misgivings. We had been planning this for months – but now Laura had a boyfriend, and that boyfriend, Sam, had come along to see her off on our trip. They stood under the bus shelter engrossed in one another, as if I wasn’t even there. He was tall and blond: slightly androgynous in my view. I suppose I could see what she saw in him, though was so completely not my type, he was very much hers. She fitted neatly under his arm when they walked along side by side, wrapped in each other, her thumb in his belt loop or fingers in his back jeans pocket. His height emphasised her petite frame and her delicate prettiness. He had to tilt his face down to her upturned one to kiss her. They said nothing much and I realised, when I looked up again from checking the tickets that she was crying. Continue reading “Short Story for Low Wattage”

The Journal: February Short Story Competition

It was a grey morning in November when my brother decided that enough was enough. Of course this wasn’t an instant decision; it had been creeping up on him for some years. Slowly, of course, but nevertheless it had been on his mind.

My journey of exploration through his life on reading the journals he kept, though painful, revealed such a miasma of tragic occurrences that I could not believe how the Church had kept a lid on all this.

On the whole, he had not been outwardly unhappy; one could almost have described him as contented. Good old Philip with the worthy job, the perfect wife and a couple of well-behaved children. The two girls had inherited their mother’s looks according to my brother, whose relationship with his daughters seemed tolerant but slightly distant.

Looking back, his parishioners did begin to see the changes, although being abroad at the time, I only discovered this at the funeral. He grew his hair, appeared unkempt and frequently relied on his Rector to conduct services at short notice. He grew more unreliable at time went on, and this inevitably was brought to the attention of the Dean.

Continue reading “The Journal: February Short Story Competition”

I’m Here, or Hereabouts.

Well not exactly.  I was there yesterday but then I moved out to the big city, well Great Missenden is a big place compared with the creek.

Today is the day for the comps, it’s the last day and there are only a few HOURS left.

A few observations

Apart from a goodly number from Janus which do not meet our rigorous standards of rhyme, I see only one entry for the pomes right Soutie?
Short stories are also very short this month, so far entries consist of a promise by Araminta.
Photos are a better represented but there is still time to enter before “Last orders please.”

Judging tomorrow early GMT.

Nice weather here.

A conundrum

How stupid have we become?

On Saturday evening we were out with friends supping the brown stuff (or wine for the women), now after a few glasses I had to go and make room for some more of the brown stuff.

Having done my duty and putting my apparatus away I turned to the sink to wash my hands to be greeted by a new tap. One of these automatic single taps, so no touchy to pick up bugs. Above the tap is a sign saying “Warning the water is very hot” actually it wasn’t it was bloody scalding. As I like my skin to be in one piece I did not wash my hands fully. Now next to this damn sign is another sign saying “Now wash your hands”. I tried to but the water is too hot. Continue reading “A conundrum”

Dagen H (Any resemblance to ice cream is purely coincidental)

While on the subject of films, but otherwise completely unrelated to the Oscars, so excuse me, I went to see the Hollywood version of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, a couple of weeks ago. I suppose at this point I should bow my head and admit to the shame of having read and enjoyed the Millennium Trilogy. Moving swiftly on, I found the film to present an accurate portrayal of the novel with the characters, settings and events, meeting my expectations. However, there was one incident, the details of which I have been trying to recall without success. The story involves a flashback scene to 1965 and a motor accident that occurred on a bridge. What I have been trying to remember is whether the film shows the cars driving on the left or the right. Some of you may remember that until 1967 cars in Sweden drove on the left. What adds a little bit of spice to the story is that Swedish cars were a ‘left hand drive’ as well. It should be fairly easy to spot such an anomaly, so if any of you have seen the film and can recall the moment, perhaps you can put me out my misery and let me know whether the producers got it right.

I am keen to see the Swedish version of the film which I know that some people preferred to the American version, though I suppose it is safe to say, ‘they would wouldn’t they’. I wonder whether they got it right with the bridge scene.

Note: the day on which the Swedes changed sides 3rd September 1967, was known as Dagen H. You can read more about it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H