Blogs

Heroes can be as boring as superheroes. There have been a slew of programmes with names like Who Dares Wins? Some recount the lost glory of figures that fought and never foundered during the early days of the second world war. Men a bit apart from the ordinary soldier. That’s Jason (Foxy) Fox. Joined the marines at the impossibly young age of sixteen and soldering was his life. The army was always there for him. And he was a natural leader with...

Am feeling a bit blogged out. I want to do well in my coursework, but doubt it’s only that. Was wondering, in an egocentric fashion, how getting around 4,000, sometimes 12,000?, reads could result in ne’er a cherry. Quickly sussed, blogs are out of scope for cherries. Fair enough. Pretty soon, came to enjoy the freedom from the chase of the cherry. The complete liberation of it. Like no Oscars for comedies. It’s an unwritten rule. It’s a crap...

BPL decided that both she and Bus Pass could do with a bit of an adventure. The most adventurous activity within bus-passing distance, was to get the James Bond bus 273 down the cliffs into Gardenstown, then walk the sea path, at low tide, to Crovie, hopefully without falling in, should the tide turn before adventuring back. There were three thrills to this adventure; firstly, the warning not to use the sea path due to risks of falling bits of...

Have been thinking about words. I blame that most lyrical of writers, Alice Hoffman. She writes such dreamy prose, though the story wasn’t her best. That, and the written charms medieval farmers used to help find their lost cows. There are hundreds of surviving medieval charms, many, for finding lost cows, and those are just the recorded ones we know about. The main takeaway, the thing that keeps me awake at night, is what the hell was going on...

Pierre Lemaitre writes block-busting novels with larger-than-life characters and elaborate plots that rise and fall in the right places. All Human Wisdom is a block-busting 417 pages. And he deals with big themes. Here it’s the interwar years of great poverty and great wealth in France and other European countries. Hitler is on the steps of the Reichstag. Bankers and industrialists know which way the wind is blowing. Lemaitre’s novels start with...

A new week dawns, perhaps the magnesium has kicked in again, and I’ve spent the sorry-for-myself energy on house-cleaning. Then, as if by the magic of Findhorn, in the Daily Stoic I read; “ Let the sunk cost of the past stay there. You now have the present. And the presence of mind to know what it’s worth ”. And suddenly, my ‘Yes’ returns. In gratitude. Gratitude to see not only the life I chose and relish, but in those mirrors, my own...

At twenty minutes to eight the after-hours bell went off. It was an old buzzer. His father had wired it to sound through the whole building so a delivery driver at the front door could raise somebody in the stockroom, and it came up through the floor and the shelving and the soles of Odell's shoes. He sat still until it stopped. Three children were standing on the step. They stood a hand's width from the glass. The one in front wore a skeleton...

Posted by airyfairy. Another bumper week on ABC as we move further into autumn. Thanks so much to everyone who's contributed to our latest challenge, and there's still time if you haven't had a go yet! New Writing Challenge By SoulFire77 - Win Us Some Money! | ABCtales Our Story of the Week is 'Flashback' by SteveHoselitz. It's beautifully written, full of rich characterisation, and shows the complexity of relationships and memories: Flashback...

There are women who seemed, in 2004, to rule the roost in Findhorn. Organising meditations, leading Taizé, focalising, saying the things, keeping the place running. Some died too young. Some stayed too long, making such little income, that they couldn’t afford to leave when it all collapsed around them. Like the grasshopper who sang all summer. The one who works in the Phoenix shop will throw your chocolate at you, as if it was a curse. If you...

Geraldine Brooks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. Horse is Lexington (Darley) was called the greatest American thoroughbred racehorse of the 19th century and champion shagger. It covered a record number of mares and produced a record number of champion-winning racehorses. I’m sure you get the picture. Theo stumbles upon a picture of Lexington by accident. An elderly neighbour is leaving junk outside her house after her husband died. A sign...