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The story is told
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The tallest tale.
News
Tag: Story
Carol cast cartoon
A celebratory cartoon of the cast of A Christmas Carol by Glenn Martin who did a brilliant job playing Scrooge. We had a blow up turkey suit so the person playing the turkey was much bigger than tiny Tim. I only played one part today. We were due to perform outside, but freezing rain, and members of the cast with or getting this horrible cold meant that we performed inside the guildhall in Newcastle-under-Lyme instead. We were accompanied by a brilliant school choir and my hubby really got into his role of ‘the ghost of Christmas present’. I was due to play Mrs Cratchett but the lurgy had knocked me sideways. The audience appreciated the show. But what was upsetting was that one of the casts phones was taken. Very upsetting, spoiled the fun.
Christmas Present
One of the characters in A Christmas Carol is the ghost of Christmas Present. A big, jolly fellow in his robe and Holly crown, he leads Ebenezer Scrooge through the lives of his contemporary characters, we see Scrooges nephew and family enjoying Christmas merriment and wishing his uncle well. Then there is a scene with the Cratchett family, settling down to enjoy a meagre but happy Christmas meal. We see Tiny Tim, there little boy who is possibly destined to die because of the families poverty despite Cratchett working for Scrooge. When Scrooge asks what will happen to the boy Christmas Present says that unless there is a change in their circumstances there will be an empty chair where the boy now sits. He throws Scrooge’s words back at him saying if he is to die then it should happen sooner rather than later and decrease the surplus population!
A Christmas Carol
This poster of our performance of a Christmas Carol has just been released. The painting was done by the organiser Glenn James. He’s a very talented artist and performer. If you happen to be around Newcastle under Lyme on these dates you might like to come and see us. The figure on the poster is a portrait of the actor Alistair Simm. He appeared in a film version of the story a long time ago (1950’s or 60’s), it was such a brilliant adaptation. I really love watching it.
The bricks….
Someone had taken off the plaster and replaced the bricks, you could see it, new mortar holding them in place. The house had been bought at auction, half refurbished, needing plasterboard and plaster. It wouldn’t take much to tidy it up ready for the rental market.
But Sam was nosey, she liked riddles, and as the wallwas double thickness and she wanted to fit an extra window, well why not put a lintle in and add the bathroom window here?
She decided to get her brother to help. They would support the top of the hole with a metal beam and then knock out the hole afterwards. They managed to get the beam in but it was late so they stopped.
Early next morning she went to the house. Picking up a sledge hammer she hit the wall where the new bricks were a couple of times, there was a crack and half a brick fell out. She could see, what? Plastic behind it. Someone had wrapped a package up and stuffed it into the gap between the layers of bricks. She hit the wall again, the bricks shattered and fell to the floor. She reached in…. A bag full of ten and twenty pound notes! What were they doing there. They were new style notes, the ones that look like plastic not paper.
Should she keep them? Should she hand them in? The phrase ‘finders keepers’ came into her mind…. Should she?
Odd story
I saw the twins again today, she said. They are getting older, but they still look the same. Craggy, serious, hard.
Yes, I know, he said, they were never cute, but they certainly have character.
I think I will ask them if I can draw their portraits she said. It would be interesting to chat with them and find out a bit about them.
So three weeks later she say down with a pen and paper and started to draw Kim and Jen. She started slowly, trying to find their differences and their similarities. Chatting with them she found they finished each others sentences. Kim was a Chemist, Jen was a Jeweler. Both had problems with their lives. The world couldn’t get its head around identical sisters. Well, not exactly that, she could see what they meant.
Wooden puppets! Who knew they could be alive and walking round the world. Pinnochio had a lot to answer for!
Spoilers
I just started watching an old film ‘the Winslow boy’. Five minutes in hubby pipes up, oh this is that’s story where…… I stopped him, please don’t tell me. I haven’t seen this for years! Doing that is called a spoiler. Thankfully he stopped telling me about it!
It’s not the first time he’s tried, and succeeded in spoiling a film for me. The worst occasion was in the cinema when his voice boomed out, oh its so and so who’s the killer! I was mortified. Shhhhhh!
Misty morning
The trees sat in a thin mist rising up from the pools. Moss making the paths slippery. Branches and twigs had broken off in the winds of the night before.
What walked out of that wood was not alive. It had risen during the darkness, disturbed by the roots of the trees. It looked out through the mist and watched for anyone passing close by. It waited without thought. Without intelligence, but with quiet patience. Darkness had started to fall again when it heard the sound of steps. Steady and strong. The steps of a man walking home through the wood. Taking a shortcut. As the moon brightened the pathway a figure lurched in front of him. And then they both sank down into the pool. Together forever.
Reading
A friend here, @stoneronarollercoaster just asked what book got people into reading as a child.
I remember reading Myths and Legends books from quite early on. The story of Pandora box for instance. I remember them when I was about eight or nine. And when I was older I liked the Nancy Drew Mysteries then Agatha Christie stories.
But the main book that got me was when I was about ten I read ‘Old Yeller’ a book that shocked me as it was about a dog that had caught rabies. I remember it was very sad and made me really aware of death. I’ve never read it again. Maybe I should. I’ve been a bibliophile ever since.
Passion flower
Suddenly there was a passionflower in the garden. She didn’t know where it had come from. Could it have been planted there by a bird? A squirrel? She knew she hadn’t planted it… At least she thought she knew…
A week later she was pottering in the yard. A beautiful lily caught her eye. Again she racked her mind, thought back to spring? It might have been in a bag of bulbs she had bought? It was early autumn. Too long ago to remember.
Over the next few weeks new plants appeared in her borders. Beautiful flowers and plants. Expensive plants. The gate was locked at night, and she only went out occasionally in the day. Was she being stalked…?
The revelation of who was doing the planting came late one Friday evening. She was having a drink with an old school friend. As she sipped her red wine she told her about the plants popping up in the garden.
Her friend blushed and smiled. Oh dear, she said. I’d better tell you. My garden is full, too full. I decided to spread plants out to my friends gardens, you, Jackie, Maude and Sisley.
Well it started as a bit of a joke, but once I realised I could push through the hedge down the bottom of the garden? Well I just kept coming back. I hope you enjoyed the plants? I should stop!
Don’t you dare! I love them. I was spooked, but now I appreciate the surprise. Thank you. Keep going, its fun.
Mallaband-Brown 