I find this ABC Tales website a warm and welcoming community where writers of all abilities can share their work in the knowledge that it will be appreciated and encouraged. But what makes the site particularly special for me is that a close friend from long ago was a popular member here, regularly posting poetry and prose years before I joined. Julia Macpherson (ABC username Overthetop1 ) left this world far too soon, and at a point where too few had recognised the high standard of her writing talent. Following her death in 2016, her mother Coral (ABC’s seashore ) and her sister Sarah worked with Cerasus Poetry, and with the support of ABC members and the MIND mental health charity, to publish a compilation of her work. I lost touch with Julia in the mid-1980s, but found her again through ABC Tales and the pages of her book, Waiting For Another Velvet Morning .
The answer, my friend...
Posted on Tue, 25 Nov 2025
But what about Bob Dylan? You couldn't have found a cooler bloke in the day but the words of many of his songs oozed pessimism. So you might find life easier if you just tried to be like him.
Read full commentPosted in Absolute Zero Cool
Dust
Posted on Sun, 23 Nov 2025
Thanks very much for that Di. I wasn’t sure whether it worked as a poem or not and dithered for a while over posting it. It didn’t take me very long to write so that made me think it probably wasn’t up to much. It didn’t take long to write...
Read full commentPosted in Street Dreams
Bunch of Grapes
Posted on Fri, 21 Nov 2025
My friends and I used to go to a lot of gigs at Colston Hall and the Arena in Bristol and for both venues the Bunch of Grapes in Denmark Street was the perfect place to meet. It was too for Hippodrome punters and actors, so that might be the pub...
Read full commentPosted in Drama Of Pheromones
Ballet hell
Posted on Fri, 21 Nov 2025
A story of a great memory for you there Jenny, and nicely told.
My only memory of the Bristol Hippodrome brings back the smell of fear. About twenty-five years ago I went with some people from work to see a performance of Swan Lake. Our...
Read full commentPosted in Drama Of Pheromones
Me Nan
Posted on Thu, 20 Nov 2025
I know exactly what she'd say if she knew that people were wanting to read more about her.
Her favourite expression of surprise was...
'Well I'll go to sea!'
Read full commentPosted in Dolly Blue Monday
Beady eyes
Posted on Wed, 19 Nov 2025
That'll be why the nuns told us to always keep our eyes off groin areas.
Read full commentPosted in Oestara
As if there was no tomorrow
Posted on Mon, 17 Nov 2025
Brilliant! These are powerful words Jane, and depressing, but also true. And what's equally depressing is the fact that so many of us don't see that there is a problem, or we just choose to ignore it.
Good on you for sharing your thoughts...
Read full commentPosted in The World is Closed
Crazy and the Wonder Dog
Posted on Mon, 17 Nov 2025
Many thanks for that GlosKat. I'll pass the message on.
Would you like to sponsor them? For just £10 a month you'll receive photographs and regular updates of their wellbeing together with birthday and Christmas cards. For exactly the...
Read full commentPosted in At Home with the Rhizomes
Rogues
Posted on Fri, 14 Nov 2025
I can only see the USA as the bent copper rather than the policeman of the world. And although Putin with his acts of international aggression should be deplored, the number of wars that Russia has been directly involved in since the end of World...
Read full commentPosted in Easter 2025 by Alfred N.Muggins (Rogue Reporter (please don’t shoot me, I’m only the armchair journalist))
Pintxos
Posted on Fri, 14 Nov 2025
Pintxos are new to me too. I try not to eat snacky food like that as my basque ends up being too tight.
Read full commentPosted in Saturday Night's Alright for Peaches
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