Category Archives: Short Stories

Are you holding a grudge? About?

Jeez,what a strange prompt.Funny that’s not one of my proclivities. I always, felt I was capable enough of handling situations so why hold a grudge when you can resolve something, anything in your life if you have the will.

Anyway, holding grudges is about as useful as trying to count grains of sand.The grains come in all shapes and sizes and there are so many to count that the numbers would be infinitesimal.What a waste of time.

Move on punk…..

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

Leaving home for some is a long process that happens over many years.There may be many preparations and arrangements to be made before the “never to return” point is met or agreed.Perhaps you only leave home when you cohabit for the first time or indeed get married.

Some people, like me ,have it thrust upon them. My sister was in the middle of doing her PhD and couldn’t bear to have me around.My dad had been dead about two years and my sister had bought a house with my mum’s money with the idea that we would all live together,but it proved impossible.

Basically she told my mum that I would have to live somewhere else.

So I got a summer job on an island as a barmaid and never returned home.There was sea and a ferry  between me and my old home. All in all it was probably about a hundred miles.

It was a very different life and when I finished my summer job ,I went  to University and lived in digs and on graduation moved to Birmingham.

All the time moving further away from my old home,never to return.My mum, God bless her soul  always wanted me to go back,but I never would; and now; that old home seems a million miles away.A piece of history.A place that used to exist and  you can’t get any farther than that.

What does your ideal home look like?

I think I ended up at the Ideal Home Exhibition in London by accident one time.Don’t ask me how.I spent most of my time at the cookery demonstrations which is telling.

Bricks and Mortar are not my thing, my only care about cladding is that it’s safe and fireproof and my preference is for a wildlife garden.Don’t care for wallpaper or fancy sofas.

Caravans are ideal homes as you get a lot of fresh air and you can be located in any area of natural outstanding beauty with a decent campsite

Oh dear have I got this wrong,should I be talking about how many bedrooms and bathrooms I need and location and house valuations.The size of my garage whether it be double and if it is automated and if I need security gates and webcams.

Home is where my huerto is.

What brings a tear of joy to your eye?

Yusuf Islam wrote many great songs and one of those is Father and Son.It brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it. It is a tear of joy generated by a sad experience.

My father once had a terrible fight with one of my brothers.He threw him down the stairs.I was about fourteen and in my bedroom and heard the shouting and the banging on the thin cardboard like walls.

In truth my father was right to engage with his son, my brother was being led astray and was staying out all night,two of his friends had recently died of drug overdoses. So my father was right to be concerned.

It’s not for me to say his confrontation with my brother was the wrong way to go about solving the situation ,but at the time it felt wrong and indeed frightening . Although thankfully no one was hurt.

This line from Father and Son  brings a tear to my eye  every time I hear it. Over many   years it has turned from  a tear  of sorrow  to  a tear  of joy.

“Oh how can I try to explain….cause when I do he turns away again”

It’s the fact my dad was trying to save his son and  doing the best he could and that’s what makes me now  cry tears of joy.

Nothing in life is simple or straight forward,we can only do the best we can to make things better.

Father and Son will always be a special song to me.

Why do you blog?

I imagine being asked by my little Alien(above) why I blog and it struck me ,it is to communicate.Which is really very exciting and any channel that encourages open communication is a good thing isn’t it?

Harvey

Me : Harvey?

Harvey : Hello

Me: You’re always with me Harvey aren’t you?

Harvey: Humm, I suppose I am, yeah.

Me: Why is that Harvey? I’m happy you’re here and all, it’s not as if you get in the way or anything, I know I’m the only one who can see you.

Harvey: Yup.

Me: But how did this happen? Why are you here and why me?

Harvey : I don’t know why, I’m only a rabbit and a small one at that.

Me: Yes , in the film with Jimmy Stewart, you were six feet weren’t you?

Harvey : Yup, but that was just a film , that was make believe.

Me: So you think you’re real , not make believe?

Harvey: I don’t know, but I know I’m not in a film or on TV or anything like that.

Me: No, we’re not I suppose.(looks down at the ground). Sometimes things feel unreal though.

Harvey : I’d like to be able to tell you why I’m here , but I don’t really know. It’s fun following you about ;that’s all.

Me: Well you are a good friend and you don’t bother me , so I’m happy that you follow me around. You’re very good at getting out of the way, particularly of fast cars, you’ve got good road sense.

Harvey: Comes with the territory.

Me: I suppose it’s daft to ask too many questions isn’t it?

Harvey : No, it’s not daft , it’s just sometimes the answer isn’t always available or maybe there isn’t an answer at all : at the end of the day, I’m just a rabbit.

Me: To me you are Harvey. You’re a very interesting rabbit. Would you like me to rub your ears?

Harvey : Oh yes please, that is one of the perks of this job.

Me: (rubs Harvey’s ears)

Harvey: Hhhmmmn….

Me: Shall we go to the Park, it would be nice to get some fresh air.

Harvey: Yup, why not.

The End

How are you feeling right now?

I’ve got two days to get ready to go on holiday.No work,just concentrated packing,cleaning,tidying,and preening,

And just generally excited about life as the giant bollock hasn’t vanquished me  yet.

What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?

I used to play a little squash,not seriously,but in order to be in a good position to return your opponents shot,the idea was you tried to get back to the T. The T was a line marking in the centre of the court which formed a T shape.

I use that in my daily life and try and adjust to whatever happens on a daily basis,good or bad,by always making adjustments,whether physically or mentally to return to my T point.

The point where I’m ready to face whatever is happening  ,having positioned myself in the best place to deal with it.

I think it’s a good analogy.

Excuse the tennis racket….the T is perfect though

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?

Well it wasn’t actually me that searched for the wire.It was my poor other half who has been trying to mend his precious rather elderly motorbike for months.Unfortunately it is something electronic.

He’s done a lot,replacing the fuel pump twice and because the electronics were playing up he had to find a way to override the circuit.Hence he looked for and found a Puny bit of wire,available next day delivery online.

And then it begun, three weeks later,after receiving notification that said PBOW had been despatched from Romania of all places,it was posted through our letter box.

He was at work when he received the notification and panicked as our dog was home alone and once ate some wire cable that was posted through the letterbox.

He made his excuses,drove home and found the dog had opened the package but thankfully not yet chewed the cable.The guilty look on the dog’s face meant that my partner had arrived just in time. The dog got an extra walk and the cable was put safely in the drawer

Pleased to say the cable did the job and possibly with a new battery the bike may be up and running,perhaps when we get back from holiday…perhaps.