Keith's Ramblings

for Six Sentence Stories where the given word is Box

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“Spend time with her” our doctor said, “she doesn’t have long”, he said. 

I’d not planned an early retirement but a few days later I went to collect my bits and pieces from work.

“I put your things in a box,” my secretary said, “I left it in your old office”, she said. 

I’m alone in my office, it’s the same but it’s different because on my desk there’s a picture, a picture in a frame of a young girl wearing a patterned dress of pink and green.

I look into my box and see a picture, a picture in a frame of my soulmate, she’s sitting on a sandy beach beneath a sky of blue and gold.

I pick up my box and as I turn and walk away, Tom Wait’s gravelly voice murmurs in my head, ‘I’m gonna love you ‘til the wheels come off, oh yeah…’

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Thanks to Denise at GirlieOnTheEdge for hosting.

for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

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I went to a garden party yesterday. Determined to be the centre of attention, I wore my smartest shorts and most colourful shirt. You should have seen me! 

With my fabulous car parked in full view, I tilted my hat at a jaunty angle and sauntered into the crowd. Everyone smiled, they were so pleased to see me.

The smell from the barbecue was wonderful, I couldn’t wait to sample the delicious food.

I spotted my mother and strolled over to her. 

“Mummy, are the burgers ready yet?” I asked as I tugged her skirt and gazed up at her.

 

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Click Froggie to see what others made of it!

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PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

for Wordless Wednesday and bloghops various! 

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The origins and meaning of the figure have baffled archaeologists and historians for hundreds of years. Some are convinced that he’s prehistoric. Roman coins with a similar figure lead others to think he dates from the 4th or 5th centuries. An Anglo-Saxon origin has also been suggested. Or perhaps the Long Man is the work of an artistic monk from the nearby Wilmington Priory sometime between the 11th – 15th centuries.  Nobody knows!

 

The Village

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Spot the Long Man – click once or twice to enlarge, it makes it easier!

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Time for a pint!

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Add your link to join in the fun!

A short story for Sadje’s What Do You See? photo prompt.

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What a lovely spring day! Let’s go for a stroll. Look at those flowers, look at those ducklings, look at those…clouds. 

There’s nothing to worry about, they’re just playing hide ’n seek with the sun. There it goes, here it comes, there it goes…there it goes. Oh it’s gone.

The clouds are a little grey, but I don’t care, grey is the new white, or so they say.

I do believe it’s spitting with rain. I enjoy a sprinkling of water from the heavens. Actually, it’s beginning to rain somewhat heavily. That’s okay though, it’s quite refreshing. 

Someone wrote a song about singing in the rain. What was it called? Oh never mind, I’ll make one up. La la la la …whoops. 

That puddle was a bit deep, but my shoes needed a wash, it was clearly meant to be.

It’s getting a bit muddy, but I don’t care. There’s a song about that too. Mud, mud, glorious mud, there’s nothing quite like it for….wooo!

I haven’t slipped over like that since it snowed. But it’s fine.  I’ll just sit in this bog for a while and marvel at nature’s unpredictability!

On second thoughts, I’m heading home. I wish the weather would make its wretched mind up.

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All together now…!

Image credit; Geetanjal Khana @ Unsplash

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt where the given word is clockwork and the limit, 99 words.

Late to the party this week I’m afraid – my clock stopped!

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Welcome to Clockwork, an exhibition of timepieces old and new! 

Cuckoo clocks, that compete to koo the loudest. 

A curmudgeonly grandfather clock with a boring bong, not a jolly ding, that stops at eight-twenty to make his face more miserable than normal.

A glass clock with its innards exposed, wishing it could go incognito, and some alarm clocks that always appear frightened!

Some carriage clocks with their swaying pendulums vying to be the oldest swinger in town.

These watches are keeping an eye on things.

The most popular clock is the Teasmade. Milk and two sugars in mine, please!

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*In case you are too young to remember the Teasmade, it’s a bedside clock that does exactly that!

for The Unicorn Challenge which is brought to us by Jenne Gray and C.E.Ayr.

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Oh look

Where?

Down there.

Oh yeah.

It looks like a fanny pack.

I beg your pardon!

That’s an American name for a bum bag.

A what?

A little bag for bits and pieces.

I’d leave it alone.

Very funny. I see what you did there, leaf it alone, it’s surrounded by…

No seriously, you should never touch unattended bags.

Why, it may contain money or even some sweets. 

No. I’m rigging 999 and when they ask which service I require I’ll say the bomb squad.

Don’t be a wimp, I’m picking it up. Let’s see what’s inside.

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Welcome to the Ten o’clock News. A loud explosion was heard in the city this morning and minutes later bank notes and sweets started falling from the sky. Our reporter Manna von Heffon is at the scene.

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© Ayr/Gray

for Six Sentence Stories where the given word is Yellowbelly

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Yellowbelly Nelly led a mundane existence having missed out on so many adventuresome and exciting things enjoyed by others and it led her to think that yellowbelliness should no longer be belittled and was a condition deserving of recognition.

Nelly and her daredevil friend Kelly were in the pub one evening when she thought she’d carry out a survey to see how common a problem it was, and not having the nerve to do it herself she asked Kelly to find out how many of the other nine young ladies in the drinking establishment suffered similarly.

None of them did, which led Nelly to the conclusion that one in ten suffered from Yellowbelly Debilitation and as a result, she thought it might be a good idea to set up a support group for other young ladies that experienced compelling cowardice and to call it Yellowbelles.

It got off to a slow start, with many would-be members shying away due to their nervous disposition, but after a while, it built up a staggering membership totalling seven!

One of her plans for the future was an adventure park with a roller coaster that only climbed two feet, a slow roundabout where one sat on snails not flying horses and a non-ghost train where jolly people handed out sweets along the way.

The apparent success of Yellowbelles caught the attention of a local TV news channel and she was invited to the studio for an interview thereby providing it with some much-needed publicity, but unfortunately Nelly yellow-bellied out of it! 

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Thanks to Denise at GirlieOnTheEdge for hosting. 

…for Friday Fictioneers which is hosted as usual by Rochelle.

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I may have slept, I don’t know. I’m so excited. 

I crawl from my tent and look around. There are thousands here. The atmosphere’s electric!

It’s starting to rain. It’s pouring.  The ground’s turning to mud. A cheer goes up, after all, what’s a festival without mud?

I join the crowd as we move toward the arena. Nearly there.

I hear guitars being tuned, drums bashed and mikes checked. One-two testing, one-two!

It’s almost time. Ready?

Suddenly the sheer volume drives all thoughts from my mind. I sway, swing, spin, sing. I look stupid, but who cares? Nobody!

Festival….enjoy!.

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Bang The Frogineers’ drum to see what others have written!

 

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PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

for Wordless Wednesday and bloghops various.

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.I came across these pictures that I took back in 2010 and thought they deserved another outing!

I came across these pictures that I took back in 2010 and thought they deserved another outing!

Pashley Manor was built in 1543. It remains today a family home which sits in eleven acres of gardens surrounded by glorious uninterrupted countryside on the border between the counties of Sussex and Kent.

Click pics to enlarge and improve!

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At the time of my visit, the gardens provided a stunning backdrop to an exhibition of about 150 pieces of modern sculpture, all of which were trying to attract purchasers. Here are just a few.

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Dreamer

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The Little Flautist. 

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Untitled

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Skittles With Scarletti. 

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Leaf form

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Family. 

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Mr Bennet’s Daughter. 

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Bulls Head with plinth.

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Jack Frost Creeping. 

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Freeflow. 

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Piggyback.

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Reading Chaucer. 

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Untitled 

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Lucretzia V. 

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That’s it! I could have easily gone on and on posting pictures of sculptures, but I had to stop somewhere!

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Add your link to join in the fun!

For Sadje’s What Do You See? picture prompt

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Image credit; EvgeniT @ Pixabay