Month: February 2014

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups Week# 122

Posted on Posted in flash fictionTagged , , 16 Comments

100wcgu-7Julia said ‘the blackness just enveloped me’, and the challenge requires another 100 words, here are mine.

Gomantong Caves

‘We’ll turn the lights off just for one minute’ the guide said. I was scared of the dark, but I’d be okay wouldn’t I? Mark was here. A flick of a switch and the darkness just enveloped me. Every sound was amplified. I tried to reach Mark’s hand, but instead felt something scuttling on the handrail. The single cockroach I’d seen became a thousand in my imagination, and the sweet, sleeping bats were suddenly a murmuration. A silent scream got stuck in my throat and my knees began to crumple.

‘Imagine sleeping here in Gomantong caves?’ said the guide.

Get me out of here.

Strolling at Titchfield Haven

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , 29 Comments

This is the my last few hours of a weeks leave from work, boohoo! I’ve had an amazing week, including a real once in a lifetime event, that I’ll tell you about soon. On Wednesday I braved the storms and went east to visit Scarlett and her mummy and daddy, driving through floods, high winds and relentless heavy rain. The next day for a few hours the sun came out and we decided to pop to the coast at Titchfield. We strolled beside the tiny harbour,

looked back towards Lee on Solent, 2014 Feb 13_9005_edited-1

and then visited the Nature Reserve, Titchfield Haven.

There is an abundance of bird life that almost rivals the Exe Estuary close to home, but not within view of the lens I had with me. They have created two short trails, with boardwalks through the marshes and a stunning new hide for the serious twitcher.

The sunshine was a real treat, as was the fresh air, after the really dreadful weather we’ve had for weeks. Next time I’m in Hampshire I’ll try to remember a long lens and walking boots!

This post is for Marianne’s challenge One Trip Every Month, over at http://eastofmalaga.net/ who asks us to tell her about visting somewhere for the first time.

 

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups Week# 121

Posted on Posted in flash fictionTagged , , 23 Comments

100wcgu-7Julia has been to see Gok Wan so her prompt this week is . . . on the cat walk . . .

The Moment I Wake Up

My first heels. Only an inch high, but oh-so-shiny patent, with little velvet bows on the front. They’re beige, and a perfect match for my shift dress. It’s a soft yellow, big bold flowers and way above my knees.

I’m wearing Miners Dead Beige lipstick and Pan Stick. My hair is tied high with a chiffon scarf, looped into a puffy ball and Linda Wright gave me a squirt of her Aqua Manda.

I’m thirteen, it’s my school fashion show, and I’m strutting on the cat walk in the dress that got me first prize in needlework class.

I Say a Little Prayer.

 

Join in at http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-week121/

 

Lazy Poets Thursday Haibun

Posted on Posted in Ghana, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , 12 Comments

Ghana 1

Along the Tamale Road

She’d packed her shop up for the day, all hope of sales abandoned. Resigned to eating the hard boiled eggs herself, with the plantain that no-one wanted either. All morning she’d snacked on the pastries she baked before dawn. Once upon a time she couldn’t make enough of them, they sold like hot cakes. A tourist asked if her canopy was for sale, she’d said no – how would she have shade without it? Perhaps . . . perhaps she could try making some small ones to sell.

What’s this? A tourist jeep stopping, she gathered her wares in her apron and ran. ‘Fresh eggs, tomato, banana, what will you buy?’

 

Travellers lunch break

a bargain fresh as the day

benefits for all