Tidbits - the written word

Snippets and musings on the written word

  • Tidbits - the written word

    Let there be light

     I have been trawling through the files in my archives again and the story below rose to the fore and demanded to be read. Just a timely memory I thought I’d share. I promise not to include too many of these ‘down memory lane’ extracts but sometimes it’s good to look back and remember how it was. The couple in this tale are the same couple who appear in Nappy cakes, picnics and popcorn by the way. Let there be light When I think of the 1970s,  I remember the cheerful fashions, wonderful films like ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Sting’, good music and long hot summers with clear blue skies and of course, being a teenager. …

  • Tidbits - the written word

    One Lovely Blog Award

    Awards must be just like London buses; you don’t see any for ages and then two come along at once. So it was with me this week. Not only was I told I was to be a BON on Monday, but I also received a ‘One Lovely Blog Award’ from Katie Gates. Thank you Katie! (I discovered an icon for this Award which I have pasted on the site. I thank whoever it was who produced it.) Do visit Katie at Katie Gates: Stories and Opinions . Katie is a very talented writer. Her personal essays are topical, thought provoking and often humorous and I can personally recommend her novel, ‘The…

  • Tidbits - the written word

    WOW!

    WOW! Today is my BON day! I am pleased and flattered to have been chosen as ‘Blogger of Note’ by Sandy and Pam over at Words of Wisdom today. This is indeed an honour. Thank you! I am also a little nervous since I have read many of the brilliant blogs that have been highlighted over the past few months and I know I am in esteemed company. WOW’s mission is to help bloggers of substance find each other. They do that by not only offering a place for like minded bloggers to gather, but also by highlighting great blogs each week. Visit them at Wisdom of Words to find…

  • Tidbits - the written word

    Calmer and Kama – How about that?

    No sooner had the ‘ink’ dried on the page as it were, than the phone rang. It was a call from a chap from an Energy Company. He was clear. I heard his first words. I listened and I replied and thanked him for his call. The operation was painless. Not a Swahili word anywhere. Did my words of yesterday really inspire this sudden about turn in my ability to hear? Is this another instance of ‘what goes around, comes around’? I am mildly superstitious and I believe in all sorts of things that you probably don’t want to hear about, including ghosts. Why? One day I’ll tell you. I…

  • Tidbits - the written word

    “I heard that – Pardon?” *

     This post is inspired by what I now see as selfish behaviour on my part. Yesterday, the telephone didn’t stop ringing. As well as calls from family, there were many from British Gas, BT and a variety of sales people not to mention those irritating automated calls that begin by telling you it is an important public announcement (it never is). Having spent most of the day answering the phone and part of the evening, I began to think Alexander Graham Bell was perhaps my least favourite person. I even stated on ‘linked-in’ this morning that I was ‘out’ to callers. How wrong could I be? Where would I be…

  • Tidbits - the written word

    ‘Help For Heroes’ BBQ

    The Barker Summer BBQ has been around for some time and is a well known feature of summer in these parts. Previous years have seen us basking in sunshine beneath blue skies, our guests scrabbling for a place in the shade. On only one occasion have we been virtually ‘washed out.’ That was a challenge! With Dave manning the barbeque outside, beneath a hurriedly erected gazebo, the rest of us huddled indoors. At least, most of us did. The children still insisted on running through the rain to play on the bouncy castle and some intrepid teenagers managed to join them. The guest list had dwindled somewhat as some people…

  • Tidbits - the written word

    Lamenting Lambert

    Perusing my old files, I came across this little verse that I had been inspired to write and send to the Council Parking Officer, back in 1998. Our local car park had changed its policy over the Christmas period and was now offering a free half hour of parking, with every minute over that being chargeable. Having not seen the small print saying one had to take a ticket regardless of whether paying or not, I found that my five minute stop attracted a fine of £30.00. Despite the fact that the car park attendant saw me pull up and read the sign from a distance, he did not think…

  • Tidbits - the written word

    New Header for Summer

    This small corner  of our large, partly unruly, garden, just encapsulates my love of colour and contrast so here it is on my blog. My life is one of organised chaos. Had my husband not piled those garden chairs up and placed them just so, they would surely have been scattered about the place, possibly upturned, legs pointing to the skies, like a series of struggling beetles. Even with his ‘tidy minded’ help, I love the fact that everything appears to be jostling for space and that the gate you see dividing the back garden from the front is not really a gate but a hastily erected contraption of wire…

  • Tidbits - the written word

    No More Ribbons

    Something from the archives of my hard disk – a nostalgic snapshot of childhood (Tidbits) January 1962:  I’m five years old and eager to begin the first day, of the first term, of the rest of my school life. Frost white pavements stretch for miles. My shoes tap out an excited rhythm on their blank pages. A warm gloved hand in mine – mother’s hand. Nearly there, nearly over the bridge that crosses the railway tracks where today, I do not stand to watch the last of the old steam trains chug through on their way to nowhere.  Today I fly past, wings on my heels.  My breath bursts forth…