Category Archives: Short Stories

Were you one of the lucky ones to attend  last night’s end of the Prom season’s concerts at the Albert Hall.It sounded a truly wonderful event ,mixing all sorts of musicality, traditional, pop and even a typewriter.

Congratulations to all the performers and organisers and a shout out to Sir Brian May, who I imagine is a bit of a perfectionist for giving a nod to us mortals by saying he made a couple of errors, but that’s live performance for you and real life.

Sounds like a great finale and I’m sure I’ll be able to catch up on snippets of it on various platforms.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading

One Man and his dog

Hope you enjoyed, brain frazzled so can’t really write about anything…but it’s been a very enjoyable time.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.

,©️GeraldineBanksSept2025

Chapter 6

Ernhest Glastesizer sat at the long boardroom like table.Ernhest was very fond of theatrics and when he held the 4R meeting in what was his favourite hotel, he always liked to make it extra special.

The event if you tried to categorise it had elements of a Broadway Show combined with a witches coven get together.There was loud haunting music along with the requisite Nazi anthems which the dedicated attendees sang with gusto in the soundproofed room, but which Ernhest could never remember the words to.

Showmanship was Ernhest’s  thing and he enjoyed seeing it all come together.Only his trusted employees were allowed to serve drinks and dinner to the thirteen or so attendees.

All the music was  digitized and played on expensive speakers, the lighting ,video and sound were controlled in an anti-room by the stage manager who although he was puzzled, put the whole thing down to his boss’s contrariness.

“The show must go on, no matter how mad”Ernhest had said to him.

The speeches by the attendees could go on a bit, but that night was special. Ernhest knew Max had a big announcement and that it was of the utmost importance and would silence the others.

And after  the hors d’oervres, aperitifs and the pomp and ceremony,  Max stood up to talk.

Gentleman, when it comes to the BBC our mission is complete.It has taken me twenty years but now we are ready, we have achieved our aim.

The BBC is transformed and the British Public are hooked on the drivel we put out on a daily basis.Screeching presenters who see themselves as more important than their audience.We have the “I am” population, the self-centrist followers of endless , mediocre soap operas and dramas that are beloved because they challenge nothing.They are sentimental, they make the watcher weak brained.

This my friends was an important step in our move towards the 4R.We can and will succeed.The ground has been prepared and we must continue our march.

The key players and presenters who are indeed our supporters have ensured there is no debate and no questioning.We have silenced the detractors, their air-time is negligible,we debate what we want.

War and famine is interpreted on our rules, we favour who we want.As many of you have seen , we create heroes out of monsters and monsters out of heroes.

I have come here tonight  to announce the transition is complete.We have given the British Public what they wanted “Entertainment” .They no longer question , they worry about their Mental Health and we offer them consolation and spurious facts and maybe an  exercise class.

Now gentlemen is the time, along with the Glastesizer Corporation we are going to take over the World.The time is ripe and the moment is upon us.

Everyone started clapping and shouting their congratulations in ancient German. The stage manager had been reading his newspaper and hadn’t paid much attention.He took his cue that Max’s speech had finished and was getting a standing ovation.The stage manager put the spotlight on Max and the whole room cheered and then the stage manager played more Third Reich tunes and the whole room responded with loud tuneful baritone voices.

Ernhest smiled and thought how delightful and stirring. He would talk again with Max tomorrow.

There are so many options to feed your dog, mostly heavily marketed and therefore expensive.

However, we are on holiday and although we have found a combination that he enjoys and does him good when we are at home .A successful combination ,involving a little raw meat, a good kibble and joint supplements, vitamins and dental flakes.We are on holiday and it’s his holiday as well as ours.So he gets to supplement his diet and try new things.

So today, he started with vegan peanut butter ice cream(absolutely loved it) at about One pm (he’s not a breakfast dog). A few low fat chicken treats and then a long walk. When we got back to our campsite he had his normal  meal as detailed above and then it all got a bit lairy.

Happy dog, doubly happy dog when the fish and chips van arrived on the campsite, he got a small piece of his special sausage and a few chips at about Eight pm and also some meaty pieces of our crispy duck.Not much,there’s some for tomorrow too.

Tired and full he went to bed after his ablutions and unusually got too hot, and got out of bed and settled himself on a cooler spot on the sofa which also allowed him to fart gently and quietly as he slept off his “extras” .

Yes I suppose he had a tailored diet today but not the “natural solution” that they  tell you in their marketing blurb and certainly not freshly cooked or even perfect nutrition, but tasty yes it was tasty for him.

Great Ice Cream, great coffee, lovely people working their making wonderful food and drinks.

(Hopefully will make a second visit today 9th September 2025

Discovered Café Freddo in Newquay today, the crazy Café with a table tennis bat traffic system ( the stairs to the cafe toilet are very steep and narrow so access is one by one).

Firstly the ice cream and coffee are amazing.I had a mascaparone ,fig and balsamic vinegar scoop plus  a blueberry scoop in a two tubber and a really nice mocha to accompany it. My other half had a rum and raisin and salted caramel and a latte.Both coffees were well above average and nicely presented with loose Biscoff biscuits(my favourite)

The Café is dog friendly and has doggy ice cream on offer,which my dog really enjoyed.

What I loved about this Café is despite being absolutely on trend with it’s food and drinks, it still has time to care about those less fortunate than us Coffee and Ice Cream lovers with disposable income.

For me when an unkempt man came in and said he wanted to put a pound towards his tab,I thought wow, he’s loud.

The owners though smiled and said that’s great and Clive(one of the owners) said that’s fine and said you’ve only got a couple of pounds outstanding now.

What happened next made me laugh.Clive looked at the pound coin as the unkept man went to exit and said “hold on,this is fake”.The unkempt man turned and looked askance,however, Clive smiled and said”only kidding”. It was a good joke which the unkempt man appreciated,and in a weird way gave him respect and a laugh at the same time.

It was a good moment.Well done Clive,we’ll be back,and I loved the wetsuit hanging up in the back,ready for use after a hard day’s work making ice cream .

Reasoning has achieved so much but then again it has caused so much ill considered nonsense and even harm.

Chapter 5

©️GeraldineBanksSep2025

Max received a text on his phone.

It told him the exact location of the next secret meeting.He would leave  work early, his personal assistant and his secretary would be relieved.Max was becoming more unpredictable and it was getting harder to anticipate his needs.Max knew what he was doing and they didn’t ,still he smiled and asked them to resolve some innocuous tasks that meant they would have to stay late.

The meeting would take place in Maximillian’s an exclusive hotel in Berkshire, famous for being famous and so expensive that mere millionaires could not afford it. Celebrity chefs were two a penny and in truth the clientele were not big eaters or indeed drinkers anymore

There were holistic and not so holistic spa treatments Anything was on demand for a price, except hard drugs, there was no place for them.But you could order a whole body blood transfusion to oxidise your red blood cells.The personal fitness trainer and sex guru were particularly popular, and sex after a body toning session was in high demand and had to be booked months in advance.

And who owned this renowned but secretive hideaway for the appallingly rich.Why Max’s friend Ernhest Glastesizer. The Glastesizer Corporation was now a massive Global concern with interests in many pies.Even if you wanted to you couldn’t work out it’s financial too-ings and fro-ings, where the money came from and where it went. Energy, Water,Technology,Supermarkets, Leisure,Fashion and any consumable you could think of.Glastesizer controlled a lot of what the World consumed.

Max had been mentored by Ernhest’s father Heinrich who he had met when he started attending the 4R meetings. Heinrich had very often said that Max was the son he would have wanted to have ,he was disappointed in Ernhest, the boy only wanted to travel and did not pay attention to his studies.

Heinrich didn’t like the fact that after spending  vast amounts of money on Private Schools  for Ernhest it had gone to waste and came to nothing, no exam results and no University .Expulsions for petty theft , drugs deals , smoking and finally getting the School chaplain’s daughter pregnant at fourteen.

Ernhest had been eighteen years old when that had happened, his father had made the necessary arrangements to “manage the situation”.Thankfully by getting Ernhest out of the Country, the “rape” charges were dropped.

And now at 40 years old ,his father dead, Ernhest was in charge of the whole Corporation and was actually doing rather a good job.

Heinrich had brought Ernhest along to his first meeting, when Heinreich’s cancer diagnosis became terminal and he could no longer drive himself.At first Max thought that Ernhest was treating it all as a big joke, what did he know of the history and then as time went on Ernhest began to listen more to what was being said and stopped doodling on his notebook or excusing himself for hour long toilet breaks.

Perhaps it was after the third meeting, and  after Heinreich’s speech about Ernhest taking over the helm of both the business side and also the membership of the 4R Society that Max realised how useful Ernhest could be.

They were the same age, different personalities but both were obsessives.Perhaps Ernhest was more interested in the money side, it didn’t matter.When Ernhest asked him to teach him the “history”, Max knew he was hooked.

They met up once a week and they talked about the third Reich and what went wrong and that there was now an opportunity to put it all to rights.Ernhest understood opportunity and felt there was mileage in this craziness.Perhaps Max was right,it was their destiny.

©️GeraldineBanksSeptember2025

Chapter 4

Max, whisky in hand had no intention of going home that night.He sat staring at the flames of the fire in the old fireplace, he would stay there until they died down, he would keep Marlena on her toes, she was always so grateful when he got home and he always said he’d been at his club though she didn’t believe him.

The fire had been freshly stoked by the butler  and its’ warmth and the whisky made him feel sleepy, he closed his eyes.

It was one of those neverending Corporate BBC meetings, but Max had his figures at the ready. Christmas was in decline, and the star fees were getting out of control, heads had to roll and new cheaper talent had to be brought in.Audience loyalty was non existent.

“We have to let Morecambe and Wise go”.Max said it coldly and bluntly.The other executives looked at each other.

One mumbled “but..”

“But no….it’s time ,let ITV take them, they’re old hat , we can get cheaper and better,well if not better ,different.”.

“..and anyway”Max continued “We don’t have the money”.

Everyone knew this to be true..

“Look I’ve been doing the figures, this is where we are and this is where we need to be”

The meeting rumbled on, but Max got his way…a complete reorganisation of News and Current Affairs, less Drama and Comedy and more Reality and Quiz shows, everyone loved a Quiz.

In reality , that meeting was the beginning of the end for the traditional, socially aware and basically British television.

The BBC had to get real, if it wanted a National Licence Fee, then it had to appeal to the Nation,all of them.It had to prove it’s worth to those who they disagreed with in principle,they had to be less lefty and more appreciative of the right.

Somehow, Max had integrated this thought into his well prepared, yet impromptu presentation and he was very  pleased  with some of the board member’s reactions .It had hit the right spot with some key people .There were mutters of ” yes”, they needed to change and to appeal to the masses.

The majority though were disheartened, Play for Today was riding high,with “Edna The Inebriate Woman” making a strong statement on Social Issues in Society that needed to be addressed, good drama could drive Policy.

“Our job is not to drive Policy, that is for the Government in Power to do, we must reflect Society, all elements of it , however distasteful that may be.We are a Nation of millionaire entrepreneurs as well as alcohol ridden social misfits.’

And so it continued, Max had set the seed in place  for the future…he woke up in his chair at the Club,just as the meeting he had relived in his dream ended.

It was one o’clock in the morning, he sat bolt upright  in his  chair and decided he would head home and plant his seed in Marlena, she would still be up waiting for him.Perhaps he would get her to dress up for him and do her funny German accent, it was so funny. Marlena was such a good sport.

©️GeraldineBanks2025

A fictional story about what might have happened to our well respected British Broadcasting Corporation if it had gotten into the wrong hands.Any similarities to events or persons is completely coincidental as the author has used her imagination to envisage the outcomes of her characters actions.

Max sat back in his favourite leather chair in the smoking room of his Club.They called it a smoking room, but no one smoked anymore,the last one Max remembered was an old soak who used to drink like a fish  smoked imported cigars from overseas,at least three a day and ended up dying painfully of cancer of the spleen, at a famous  London Teaching Hospital, apparently he exploded on the operating table,made a hell of a mess.The surgeon in charge (who was also a Club member) had said that the operating theatre was closed for weeks and any staff present were having weekly  tests for pathogens they may have been exposed to.

The talk in the Club had cured everyone of smoking and most drank moderately.Max smiled at the thought of the exploding cadaver, and then his thoughts turned to Marlena his wife. He smiled again, She was at home as usual, their two children, dutifully with their mother and studying hard for their up and coming exams.

The children would grow up wanting to be like him, not their mother. Still ,she was a good wife and he had no plans to divorce her and his days of chasing skirts or trousers depending on his mood were over.

He was close,so close to achieving his dream. The secret meeting he had had with his comrades the evening before had confirmed how much progress had been made. Operation Infectious Spider Bite was coming to a conclusion after twenty years.The poison was pulsing through the veins of Society and there was no known. anti-dote

Society was a rabid monster, and anyone who tried to control it would very soon find themselves dealing with those who had been disenfranchised and left without any hope of prosperity or a future.

And how indeed  had it all happened and why was Max such a key figure.No one had at first taken him seriously, he was just a kid rooting around in the archives of The BBC.

It was when he started bringing old footage which he had stolen and suggesting  it’s impact on the outcome of the War, that someone , he wasn’t sure who had “recruited” him and a whole new World opened up to him.

The meetings were always secretly held and no one knew any of the other attendees.They did however all speak traditional German,the only permitted language. It was known as “Higher or Pure German.” It was a matter of honour to not make any mistakes or address anyone incorrectly.It was a discipline Max appreciated.

His role had grown in importance over the years as it became obvious that Propaganda was a key resource and that Britain needed to be broken.

Max was in the perfect position to help with that.No one was in a rush, the process would take a long time , each step was a step forward.The BBC was a prize for the taking and would ensure there would be no repeat of the debacle of World War Two, indeed no ridiculous Lord Haw Haw, who everyone laughed at and no one believed.

The people would take everything seriously .The population in their desperation  would be unable to laugh at anything anymore ,  themselves or ridiculous events and it could all be done by “programming” which Max was very good at.

Now that the end was so near, Max.looked back at what he had done and he was very pleased with himself