Followers

Friday 29 October 2010

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #139 Accident.....



Her whole being screamed "NO"!


as she watched the rescue team take her husband from the wrecked car.


He was still alive, she heard someone shout.


She hovered as close as she could get, then heard someone say


"Too late, she's gone"


as she turned to see her broken body being lifted into the ambulance.



Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

I've taken over for the day.....

MWM here.   Akelamalu has given me permission to do a guest post today regarding my birthday yesterday.   My darling wife bought me a very special birthday present - I got to experience riding on the footplate of this




60163 TORNADO - the first steam engine to have been built from scratch for 50 years and it took 19 years to build by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust at a cost of £3.1 million.  For any anoraks out there reading this, it is a Class A1 Pacific loco originally designed by A. H. Peppercorn in 1945 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).  Unfortunately none of the original 49 that were built were preserved, hence this new build.

Here's me on the footplate being given instructions of where to sit so that I was out of the way of the footplate crew.


Here's the driver Brian

and the machinery that makes it all work so magnificently.


Here's the view of the track from the fireman's perspective.


 It has been a lifetime ambition of mine to enjoy a footplate ride and to realise this ambition on such a unique engine, on my birthday, was absolutely wonderful.    All too soon the 50 minute journey was over but the memory of this day will be something I will cherish forever and I have a certificate to prove I did it.

Here I am looking very happy riding the train back home





PS TORNADO is off to Scotland next week.

Monday 25 October 2010

Microfiction Monday #25...


Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:



Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.




Maybe this was the wrong location for the picnic,



there was a definite ‘country’ smell in the air.



Or maybe it was John’s beer giving him gas.

Friday 22 October 2010

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 138 Gotcha...


He sat watching, waiting.


He'd made a mental note of how long they'd been there.


There were four of them, he'd get them before they knew what had happened.


Checking his watch, he moved quickly.


He only had a couple of minutes to


slap parking tickets on the cars that had run out of time.




Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

The Lakes.....

You may recall last Wednesday I said we were off on a jaunt?   We went on a day trip to the Lake District and our first stop was Kendal, which is considered to be the southern gateway to the Lake District being only around 9 miles from Windermere and around 30 miles from Keswick. The other lakes are all within an hour or two's travelling by car from the town, as are locations for walks and rambles, both gentle and demanding.   The town’s traditional trade was in wool, from which the town’s motto “Pannus mihi panis”, literally meaning “wool is my bread” was taken.  The town’s most famous export must be Kendal Mint Cake. Joseph Wiper came up with the original recipe for the Everest conquering energy bars, and by the time the company was sold to rival mint cake makers Romneys.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived in Kendal was this





Whoopee!  However as it was only 10.30 and it didn't open until noon we had a walk round the many little streets looking in the shops and visited the small market first.   




I've put together a little slide show of some of the little streets in Kendal and the more interesting buildings.




We then found this charming pub where we decided to have lunch.


With a history...



It was lovely inside - warm, welcoming and bright.



We had a lovely lunch of Steak and Ale pie with new potatoes, carrots, sugar snap peas and cauliflower all washed down with real ale.



By the time we'd finished lunch it was 12.45 and the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Beer and Cider Festival at the Town Hall across the street had been open for 45 mins so we decided to pop over and partake of some more real ale.

The Town Hall is a beautiful old building and inside was typical of old style town halls with wood panelling and shiny tiled floors.  On Heritage Open Day in Kendal the Town Council open the Mayor's Parlour to the public.  This is a rare opportunity to see and learn about the historic artefacts stored in the Mayor's Parlour, including The Sword of State, the pair of Maces, Kendal Pattern Book and Queen Catherine Parr's Book of Devotions. Catherine Parr the last wife of Henry VIII, was born in Kendal Castle.


This is what greeted us when we got into the room where the Festival was being held.


We hired two half pint tankards and bought a sheet of payment vouchers for £5 and made our way to the bar where we purchased two halves of two of the 30+ ales and ciders on sale very cheaply, then found a seat at the other end of the room.  Some of the more unusual named ales were Chocolate Cherry Mild, Perfect Disaster, Bottle Wreck Porter, Cocker Hoop, Thirst Rescue, Hung Drawn & Portered, Lonesome Pine, W'Ruff Night, Collie Wobbles, Village Idiot, Warlock Stout and Old Bushy Tail - you want to try some now don't you?



We had to meet the coach at 1.30 p.m. to take us on the next leg of our trip but we just had time to try another half pint of a different brew before we took our tankards and voucher back for a refund.   We did consider asking our coach driver if she could come back for us later but decided against it.

Our next destination was Bowness on Windermere, which is Cumbria’s most popular destination, with the town busy for much of the year. People come to enjoy the lake for sailing and watersports, or just to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the area and the town’s delightful setting.   Our coach driver dropped us off right next to the lake and although the day was very overcast there were plenty of people taking boat tours on lake Windermere, which is the largest lake in England.




We headed up into town away from the lake to meander around the streets for a while.   We came across a confectioner's that specialised in celebration cakes and just had to take a photo of this wedding cake in the window.


Isn't it fabulous?

Here's a little slide show of the photos we took around Windermere.



It was almost time to return to the coach for our journey home so we popped into The John Peel for one last drink before heading back.

The weather wasn't fantastic - dull and chilly - but we had a great day.  Hope you enjoyed it too.

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Getting fit.......

Our town has a brand new Sports Village which was opened at the beginning of September by HRH The Duke of Gloucester; Olympic Silver Medalist Swimmer Kerri Ann Payne, who lives in the town, performed an inaugural swim in the pool.


Here are the facilities at the village:
  • The new sports village boasts: 
  • two new swimming pools  
  • four court sports hall  
  • 100 station fitness suite with changing rooms and steam cabins  
  • two exercise and dance studios
  • outdoor artificial turf pitches - full size and 7-a-side
  • outdoor grass pitches with changing facilities
  • Shokk youth gym and youth area
  • community and training rooms  
  • Badminton courts  
  • Bowls  
  • Cricket nets
  • Table tennis  
  • Trampolining for juniors

 
  You can see some photos of the facilities here.   Impressive isn't it?


I have been lucky enough to have been given a three month free membership because of a scheme here run by the NHS called Exercise on Prescription.   Anyone with a health problem (in my case Diabetes) who needs to lose weight (which I do) can be referred to a local gym for a free membership by their GP.  My GP referred me and if, after the trial period, I have used the facilities regularly and have lost some weight the membership can be extended for another six months.  

I started last Monday and for the first week I just used the gym.  The exercise machines, bikes, treadmills etc., all have their own TV screens and connections for headphones and even Ipods so you can watch TV or listen to your own music whilst exercising.   This week I did a dance class on Monday and today I've booked in for an Aquafit session in the pool tomorrow.  In the meantime I have been using the exercise bikes and treadmills in the gym, working up a sweat!  

I am so enjoying myself and hopefully getting fit and slimmer in the process.   I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can get an extension on the membership.  Wish me luck.

Monday 18 October 2010

Microfiction Monday #24...



Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:



Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.



The Princess thought the Prince was over reacting by bricking up the door of her room.




She’d only shaved off one of his eyebrows as a joke.

Friday 15 October 2010

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #137 The Meeting....


They had been emailing back and forth for months.


She was pushing to meet, he not so sure.


She was beautiful - the photograph told him so.


She said he was handsome - the photo told her so.

It was arranged - 12 noon at Euston underneath the clock.


Neither recognised the other - from the photographs they'd sent.



Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

10:10:10

Want to know what we did on 10:10:10?




We boarded a beautifully restored pullman carriage


on the East Lancs Railway


and had a long


leisurely




delicious


 Sunday lunch


whilst being hauled by a vintage steam locomotive


through the beautiful Irwell Valley





for an hour and a half.





We're off on a jaunt today so I will catch up with you all later.

Monday 11 October 2010

Microfiction Monday #23....


Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:



Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.



As Mavis waited for the arriving train to stop,



she suddenly had the horrible feeling




that she’d left her train ticket at home - buggeration!

Friday 8 October 2010

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #136 Contraband.....


Waiting for their luggage by the carousel, Bev noticed the sniffer dogs.



Having returned from Columbia, she was nervous,


Wiping away perspiration from her top lip, she whispered to Sean


"What if the dogs take an interest in our cases, considering what's in them?"


"Don't worry" he said


"they're looking for drugs not extra cigarettes!"




Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.