for Friday Fictioneers.

 

 

My friend Rosey rushed into the pub with a big grin on her face.

‘Guess what?’ she shouted interrupting our conversation.

‘Guess!’  she squeaked hopping up and down.

‘Do tell us’  pleaded Sally,  ‘don’t keep us in suspenders!’

‘Drumroll please’  yelled Mike tapping his hands on the table.

‘Well … I just parked my car… between two others … perfectly!’

‘Wow,’  I said remembering the time I tried guiding her and she ran over my toe.

‘And, both wheels are exactly one inch from the kerb!’

Then her expression changed.

‘But there was no one there to witness it’  she sighed.

 

 

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting and J Hardy Carroll for the picture which immediately brought to mind some of the weird places Rosey parks her car!

Click on Froggie to join in the fun!

for Wordless Wednesday

You can’t travel to Rome right now, so I’m bringing Rome to you!

 

 

The Trevi Fountain

The Coliseum

The Vatican

St Peter’s Basilica

The Vatican Museum

Pincio Gardens

The Roman Forum

Victor Emmanuel Monument

The Pantheon

Piazza Navona

I could go on but I’ll stop here!

PLEASE ADD YOUR LINK!

 

 

It’s back, the annual A-Z Challenge, and I’m back too!

This April I’ll be resurrecting a theme I first used in 2016,  and once again present daily pieces of flash fiction, stories between one and two hundred words, each of which contains one or two under-used or obsolete words. 

I’m clearly a glutton for punishment!

I will, of course, explain their origins and meanings in the hope my tales make sense! 

So, welcome to another month of scriptitation –  a 17th-century noun meaning ‘continual writing’!

The 2020 Theme Reveal List

for Friday Fictioneers

 

I used to love this garden with its swaying trees, smiling flowers, and the calming sound of sprinkling water. 

But now look at it, it’s totally neglected. 

Here in the empty fountain, buried beneath dead leaves are the coins I dropped in all those years ago.  What a fool I was to think my wish would come true.

I’ll gather them up. 

But they are old, soiled and worthless now.  A bit like me.  I may as well throw them back. 

Did I just imagine a splash?  It’s a sign.  I’ll make my wish again and wait a little longer.

 

 

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting and CEAyr for the photo.

Click on Froggie to join in the fun

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for Sunday Photo Fiction

 

 

You’ll probably think me odd when I say my car was jinxed.  I swear it was. It attracted vandals and dodgy road users.  My kids are normally well behaved, but not in the car. I envied parents whose children simply asked if they were there yet.

My wife Martha and I had a bad marriage.  We clung on for the children’s sakes. But one afternoon in a supermarket car park we had the most awful row.  Terrible it was.  The car’s fault, of course, it always was.

I’d had enough.  The next day I drove to the forest, shoved the lever into reverse and drove full pelt backwards into a tree crushing the boot.  It took me a few minutes to recover as I sat dazed amid the inflated airbags.

I’m no longer with Martha. Just me and the little ones now.  People ask where she went.  I say I don’t know.  As far a the cops are concerned its just another closed missing persons case.

                                                                               *

The scrapyard’s an odd place.  Like a cemetery of busted, unwanted and unloved worldly goods.  Everything from washing machines to motor vehicles.  There’s my wretched car, up there where it belongs.  The red one with the crushed boot. 

Rest in peace Martha.

 

Thanks to Donna for hosting. The photo is from Morguefile 

for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt where the given word is Perplex and the limit just 90 words.

 

 

I’m playing this word quiz online.  It’s quite easy. 

I know cattywampus means askew, borborygmus is the noise my tummy just made because I’m starving and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a lung disease. 

Pauciloquent is someone who hardly speaks, bloviating means speaking non-stop and blatherskite, someone who makes more noise than sense. 

And the next word … perplex.  Is it plastic?  No that’s perspex.  Cotton fabric?  Nope, that’s percale.  Is it to understand?  No, that’s to perceive, something I’m struggling with right now!  Actually,  I’m totally bumfuzzled, dumbfounded, non-plussed even.

 Perplex?  Per-plex?  Perp-lex ……

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For Friday Fictioneers.

 

Though I say it myself, I’m a brilliant cook.  No recipe books for me, delicious concoctions come naturally.

I visited the market this morning. It was just closing so there wasn’t much left. No problem though, I can create mouth-watering dishes from pretty well anything.

I got a plump melon, this stinky garlic, those eye-watering onions, some of that asparagus that makes your wee smell, and this, whatever it is.  Oh, and these.  Not sure what they are either.

And we’re off! 

Cut this, chop that, blend those, sizzle, boil, bubble, mix, mash and serve.   Yea!

OMG!  That is simply … 

 

disgusting!

 

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting and to Roger Bultot for the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Click on Froggie to join in the fun.

for Wordless Wednesday

Here are just a few of the National Trust properties I visited last year.

Biddulph Grange, Staffordshire.

Keddlestone, Derbyshire

Nostell, West Yorkshire.

East Riddleden Hall. West Yorkshire.

Mottisfont, Hampshire.

Sudberry Hall, Derbyshire.

…and closer to home, Scotney Castle, East Sussex,

and Petworth House, West Sussex.

…I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there!

 

for Sunday Photo Fiction.

 

 

I saw an angel yesterday … don’t laugh, I did!  

Where? On the church tower.  She was sitting there with her legs dangling down … what?

No, not the pointy bit.  She would hardly sit on the pointy bit,  would she?

Why are you grinning?  I didn’t imagine her.  I was out running … why are you laughing? 

I need to run now and again because it’s good for my knees and if you don’t take me seriously I’ll bend you over one and give you a good spanking! 

That’s better, thank you.  As I was saying … what was I saying? 

Oh yes this girl,  no,  this angel was smiling at me and … what do you mean  ‘how do you know she was an angel?’ 

Because she had a label stuck on her back saying ‘made in heaven’ – duuuh!  Of course she was a bloody angel,  she had wings. 

As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,  I waved to her then she … what now? 

Yes, I had stopped at the pub,  well,  two pubs actually,  so what? … oh, I give up.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Donna for hosting. The photo is from Pixabay.

 

 

 

 

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for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt where the given word is Epoch and the word limit just 27.

 

 

As epochs go it was hardly humongous, but discovering my friend Rosey was certainly life-changing for me – and my muse!  You’ll never believe what she did yesterday….

 

 

*My friend Rosey has featured in over a hundred of my stories, many of which can be found here. 

 

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