When I was a student we didn’t have much money. The heating was a coal fire in the living room, no central heating and an old hot water boiler in the kitchen that dribbled a bit of warm water out of the spout occasionally.
Once we had a letter from TV licencing asking if we had a TV. We were students and didn’t. My boyfriend sent the letter back and wrote ‘you can come and park your van outside our house for as long as you want, we don’t have a TV’ signed transistor sisters in anarchy! Later we got a black and white TV. They came and checked, black and white licence, black and white TV. No problem!
It’s strange how these memories come back in the middle of the night. My mind has turned to the distant past and I’m remembering a lot of things that are probably not important but that mean a lot to me.
My friend Eve let me used a black and white photo of a horse as the basis of this acrylic on canvas titled “Red Horse”. I had thought of doing a blue or green version too, but I think this works best. He’s certainly a character. On display at the Etruria Industrial museum in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. I think he could be one of the horses that used to haul barges along the Trent and Mersey canal.
This is my second short story on a spooky theme to be read out with my writers group at Halloween x
I’ve been watching the summerhouse for a few days. I thought I saw someone inside it. I can see it from the kitchen window, the one on the side of the house, a small square piece of glass.
It overlooks the main garden and is where I have my cctv camera. Last night the camera beeped. I looked at the recording, but it was just a moth, fluttering in front of the camera.
This morning I went out to look at the Summerhouse, but it was still padlocked, the windows are OK and apart from some ivy growing up the side everything seems fine.
I’m loathe to walk in the garden. I have to use a stick and I’m a bit unsteady on my feet. There’s a wobbly step to negotiate and it makes me nervous.
Anyway that was a few weeks ago. I’ve not seen anything recently. But the cctv has been quiet, apart from recording falling leaves. It’s almost autumn and the nights are getting colder.
I still look out at the summerhouse, it’s more visible now the branches are losing their firey burden. Sometimes I see shadows, but I think it’s the way the sunlight filters through the undergrowth.
2am, the milkman just delivered my milk, he always moves my bin to put it over the gate. It’s too late to go out now and it’s a bit frosty so I’ll wait till morning.
I woke up a few minutes ago, there was another noise, I think the bin was moved again? It sits in front of my gate which has the basket for the milk bottles on the back… I’m not going out….
Now it’s morning. The milk was still there – gate still padlocked – but could someone have climbed over?
I put my shoes on. It’s frosty out here
I’m recording this on my phone – I want to take photos if I need to. Don’t trip over, I’ve got my walking stick…. I should be OK….
There IS something in the summerhouse!
A dark shape. I can see eyes glinting in the dawn light. My chest feels tight, my pulse is racing. What the HELL IS THAT?
Mrs Smiths phone was found by her corpse Sir. She seems to have come out looking for something or someone. She seems to have had a seizure, could be hypothermia? The Summerhouse is empty and there is no sign of forced entry. The backdoor of her house was locked from the outside we think, she had the key. The death was recorded as unexplained
I joined a writing group recently and this is one of my first stories.
Moonlight
In the past the shadow of Earth would gradually spread across the Moon. Time for mayhem, time for fear.
But these days people don’t consider the changes that could happen during full moons, or even more so – a lunar eclipse.
Blood red Moon due. The TV news channels were full of it. The weather man explained when you could see it. Start at 2.32am, mid eclipse 4.17am, and the end at 6.23am. If there was a clear sky people would go out and look. In the dark of the night they would dress up warmly ad try and watch the marvellous sky borne event.
But in the dark things were scampering, hiding close by, hidden in trees and bushes and tall grassland. Things that changed at the full moon, ready to capture and ensnare. The blackness of night was increased during the full eclipse, when the brilliant moon was dimmed.
It was 3am and she decided to view this lunar delight. A flask of tea, a warm coat and scarf. Strong shoes to stop her turning an ankle in the tussocky grass….. A good torch with new batteries. Out of the back door-
Out the gate and into the alleyway…. She moved through the misty air. Feet slipping on the frosty ground.
Down the path into the feild edges. She was watching where her feet fell but chanced a quick glance up. The moon was pinkish, a darker shadow on one side.
As she walked she heard shuffling sounds in the grass. But she took no notice, probably a cat? Out into the main feild.
Quietness. The eclipse was doing it’s thing, gradually reddening. A blush on the lunar surface. Moonlight but crimson. Like blood.
She sat on a wooden bench and poured herself a cup of tea, strong no sugar. Sipping it she tried to sit comfortably, head up, neck cranking to get a good view through the entangled tree branches. SNAP! atwig crunched. Turning her she saw a glimpse. A Werewolfs smile…..
(I’m going to read this out at a local event. Wish me luck!)
I don’t know how old this poster is, it was my hubby’s. It says “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Francis Bacon.
I think hubby got this before we met, in the 1970’s when he was at college. He always loved books and probably 3/4 of our books were his. We both had an eclectic taste in books. I need to declutter, but they are all old friends. X
Glass bottles on a windowsill, crinkled glass window panes behind.
Seen last night at the Greyhound inn at Penkhull. Such a simple idea but effective. Now I’m seeing colours better, I’m noticing things like this. Everything seems to sparkle and shine. I’m so lucky to have had cataract surgery. I hope people who need it get it too.
This weekend I went to Middleport pottery to sing with a choir to accompany a play called “Boats, Barrels and Bottle ovens”.
We sang seven songs. From different years over the time when the Trent and Mersey canal and the Caldon canal that is an offshoot of it were built by Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley. Each era was represented by the cast acting out scenes, first by the side of the Dane, a working narrow boat, then inside a bottle oven to represent the Harecastle tunnel in Kidsgrove. A scene at a boat club in the 1960’s where they discussed reopening the cauldron canal that was full of rubbish and weeds at that time and finally we sang in a scene from the 1980s and then up to date.
I’m not fit or well and this was challenging with freezing cold, wet and windy weather, uneven cobbles and slippery surfaces. I can only thank the people who placed chairs for me so I could sit down in safety when I needed to. Without them I could never have done it. X
It would have been our anniversary today. We lived together for years before we married. I painted him when I was about 20 and he still sits in this painting looking out at me. I did a lot of drawings and portraits of him over the years, I am glad there are visible memories of him.
What will happen when I go? Who knows what my relatives will want to do with all my art? Will a local museum take them, or will they just get skipped? I don’t know, I won’t be here but I would like to have some recognition. The trouble is I’m very eclectic, I paint for my self in these images. Ah well, more questions…
On our honeymoon we went caving! Today would have been our anniversary. When I thought of writing this it was our anniversary eve but I fell asleep and only just remembered to post something….
Time flies when you’re feeling sad. It rolls along leaving you behind. I keep imagining what things would have been like if he was still alive. Being on your own means having no one to discuss problems with. Yes I’ve got friends but it’s not the same. We went through a lot together. I wish we still could.
Mallaband-Brown 