Author: Low Wattage

Expat Welshman, educated (somewhat) in UK, left before it became fashionable to do so. Now a U.S. Citizen, and recent widower, playing with retirement and house remodeling, living in Delaware and rural Maryland (weekends).

February Competitions – Results

Well, I trust you are all enjoying St. David’s Day.  I am, especially after Saturdays match.

Lets start with  the Photo’s, some good one’s here.  Being a boaty type  I particularly liked Araminta’s varnished craft, spoiled only by the mooring line.  But  I have long admired the craftsmanship of the Zimbabwe ruins as shown in Sipu’s photo  they have a kind of alien order with their  flowing curves that is never seen in the more formal architectures.  So, well done Sipu the prize yours, and over to you for the next contest.

Yes, I will give the Poetry award to Soutie for his Haka, not only did it rhyme but it was good too.  Well done Soutie and set one that Janus can understand next time.

What a shock, nothing all month and then two gems for the short story.   I liked them  both.   Ara’s was as dark and tangled a web as only reality can be,  and saw the journey as a voyage through several troubled lives.  Pseu’s tale was strictly that of a journey, the trials and tribulations  of  preparations and separations.  Incomplete?  Maybe, but journey’s do  end when the destination is reached and story’s do not.  I liked it much.  Well done Pseudonym a prize for you, but maybe, like Laura a little more planning would be time well spent.

 

 

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.

The Pogey

This post was initiated as a result of a recent one by Araminta commenting on the use (or misuse)  by Tesco of a “back to work” program in Britain.  It reflects only one person’s experience of the system  employed here and I make no claim that such system is more effective than those used elsewhere, however it is different.

 

The Pogey

 

The Pogey, the Dole, or as my old dad used to say the Parish.  “If you don’t watch out son you’ll be on the Parish” that’s how old he was, and back then that’s who supported you, if anyone did, the charity of the parish.

I was on the parish once, in the US, it was 1998, I was 54 and it was the middle of winter.   The company I had been working for since 1984 declared bankruptcy, just like that, in February.  The whole operation, about two hundred people, was closed down and a trustee brought in to liquidate the assets. There was no severance pay or golden, silver, tin or lead handshakes, no pensions or settlements just pay-to-date and goodbye. Continue reading “The Pogey”

Three in a Row?

I know, I know hogging the front page.

Soutie has kindly brought it to my attention elsewhere that unless someone (anyone) steps forward in the next several days with a picture for the Photo Comp. I shall win by default, being the only soul brave or stupid enough to post an entry therein.

Besides being a crying shame, just try to imagine just how difficult it will  be to put up with the arrogant  and condescending outbursts that may  result from such an eventuality.

So buck up, children and let’s not let the side down, eh, eh.

 

February Poetry Comp. – Casabianca

OK, I did not know it was called that either, but after all I’m just a retired techie (right Janus?)

Except for the original, all  the versions I know are “unsuitable for family viewing” as they say here in rural Maryland.

So let us innovate, if you wish you can keep the first line, or if you choose, change it to set the scene elsewhere, but keep the ballad meter and the a-b-a-b rhyming scheme.  Short or long is OK,  the original is an unending twenty verses of Victorian melodrama.

Continue reading “February Poetry Comp. – Casabianca”

February Creative Writing Competition.

I’m off!  Not a flounce, but I’m off to visit the UK or what may still  remain of her on February 22nd.  It’s my sister’s seventieth birthday in early March  and I promised to take her out to dinner.  How she has arrived at such a great age is beyond understanding as I am still a young fella.  So judging this one may be a bit complicated, but I will have sufficient electronic hardware with me to manage  a smallish space mission so I expect it will be achieved.

Theme?  Yes, in keeping with the activity the title is “The Journey” the required words are “androgynous” and “philosophical”.

Fond as I am of the novel form I am restricting this one to a minimum of one thousand and maximum of two thousand words (sorry Ferret).

Closing? Let’s make it midnight (GMT) on the very special day, February 29th 2012 .