Blogs

We are positively heaving with good stuff on here this week - particularly prose, so it's been very hard to pick the best - in fact I'm going to cheat a bit and do some honourable mentions too... Anyway, our Story of the Week goes to Weatherwax's two-parter 'A Meeting with Kindness' - a departure from his usual genre (fan fiction), and I hope to see more like this from him. A big honourable mention to Celticman for his hilarious 'The Best Days...

Some of you may recall my failure to purchase a steak pie from a local cafe a while back? I'm quite prepared to believe that this event hasn't exactly burned itself deep into your memory but I'm hoping there's a small chance of a sliver of recognition? For those for whom this earth-shattering event did not register, you can find the gory details (which include a spot of drain-unblocking) here . If you can't be bothered to check out the whole...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b08ywk09?suggid=b08ywk09 I wouldn’t have watched a programme like this on Channel 4 or 5. I’m biased that way. Hate those that pedal welfare porn and mock sympathy with smattering of right-wing agenda. Trumpet at a them and us world and look at the money we’re wasting on scum. I’m not really sure this is much better. I know the script. Phoenix Futures Specialist Family Services in Sheffield offer addicts the...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08yrc78/i-know-who-you-are-series-1-episode-1 I must admit to overdosing on Cardinal recently and watching a whole series into the early hours. The premise of this Spanish drama is pretty simple but very complicated, because it involves memory and not remembering. Juan Elias Castro (Francis Garrido) may or may not have killed his niece, the beautiful Ana Saura (Susana Abaitua). Ana sent a phone message to...

A few minutes of meditation today. True silence is not possible of course. The sound of my breathing is mingled with the sounds of my enviroment. Breath in, the birds outside my living room window chatter. Mostly sparrows, an odd jay or cardinal adds a percussive rhythm. Aircraft on their way to landing filled with people and their thoughts pass overhead. I hear the groan of the engines and wonder at the lives passing by. My lungs are filled, I...

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 14 Jul 2017 A plethora of riches to choose from this week! Our Poem of the Week is Rosa Cruz's 'Seals in the Currents', a wonderful combination of intricate detail and poetic vision: https://www.abctales.com/story/rosa-cruz/seals-currents Story of the Week goes to Cooper King's 'What Happens Near Rome'. I laughed, my toes curled in painful recognition - and from the reactions, I wasn't the only one: https://www...

A plethora of riches to choose from this week! Our Poem of the Week is Rosa Cruz's 'Seals in the Currents', a wonderful combination of intricate detail and poetic vision: https://www.abctales.com/story/rosa-cruz/seals-currents Story of the Week goes to Cooper King's 'What Happens Near Rome'. I laughed, my toes curled in painful recognition - and from the reactions, I wasn't the only one: https://www.abctales.com/story/cooper-king/what-happens-...

A couple of weeks ago, I went on my annual Walking Weekend with "the Lads". I've mentioned before that this epithet is becoming more and more of a misnomer with every passing year. After all, I'm 62 and I'm the youngest! Anyway, I was to be dropped off to join the other three but before that, we had to take our six-year-old grandson, Flynn, to school. I drove there and Hilary and Flynn got out of the car, with Hilary reminding Flynn to say...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0788q6m/the-big-think-aliens ‘If ET is not out there, the earth is some sort of miracle.’ This isn’t a Uri Geller soundbite but a quote from Senior Astronomer for the SETI Institute and former Director of Center for SETI Research, Seth Shostak. Here we have Professor Martin Rees, former astronomer royal, looking at the evidence for alien life on other planets, but we don’t mean primordial slime, we mean...

I'm going to take you to two very different places for this week's picks. Story of the Week goes to TJW's Point Blank Period which charts his trip fleeing a hurricane in Florida, and our Poem of the Week is Tail-end, where you can join Parson Thru in a summer evening's thunderstorm in Madrid. Both great pieces which I hope you will enjoy as much as I did! https://www.abctales.com/story/tjw/point-blank-period https://www.abctales.com/story/parson...