Monday 15 May, 2023
This story is a response to a Writers’ Circus challenge for May 2023:
“Write a story in 100 words inspired by “Sliding Doors.”
Thursday 13 April, 2023
This story was written for the Writers’ Circus on the topic of ‘Home Coming’.
The deadline for submission was looming and I had only a vague idea what I wanted to write about.
We were on a short break to celebrate our 51st wedding anniversary.
When I saw Castle Stalker and Lismore Island, the story wrote itself.
It is about a woman from Canada who brings her parent’s ashes to scatter in Scotland.
However, there was a problem. It did not have a proper ending.
My friends at Writers’ Circus urged me to ‘finish it properly’.
After a further week of mulling it over, re-reading what I had written, the ending came.
Wednesday 12 April, 2023
During a recent short break to Port Appin, I saw this poster and at once the seed idea for this daft story took root.
Monday 20 March, 2023
Sometimes when we are on our travels an idea occurs and I reach for my iPad and begin tapping.
Most of these snippets don’t ‘take’ and languish unfinished.
Looking for something else in my iPad library, I found this one and thought it worth polishing.
I hope it might amuse, over a morning coffee?
Sunday 19 March, 2023
This story comes from a Writers’ Circus challenge entitled - ‘The Day After’.
Indeed for most of the time I was crafting this, I called it ‘The Day After the Night Before’ until a different title suggested itself from the dialogue.
It is set in 1955, in the West of Scotland, in Motherwell which at that time was a thriving steel town.
The characters are middle-class, twin sisters competing for the best of two brothers.
In true Peoples’ Friend style it is full of twists and turns and flew easily from my noddle onto the screen, keeping me amused as the story told itself.
I hope this fun comes across and that you enjoy it too.
Sunday 19 March, 2023
This is a tale about a an ordinary man who buys a boat.
The boat is odd and holds secrets which make it the target for others, who want to take it from him.
It is set mainly on the West Coast of Scotland and the Irish Sea, centred on Ardrossan, Largs and Ayr.
Give it a try, why don’t you?
Friday 3 March, 2023
This story was scribed while in Gran Canaria, while people-watching, in a local restaurant.
Beside us at the next table, a lovely American couple ordered a bottle of expensive wine. (You can read about this in the final few paragraphs.)
The chap looked to me as if he was an ‘academic’.
He and his lady companion, both in their fifties, were ‘too friendly and polite to each other’ to be married, was my take.
I was intrigued.
Read on....
Monday 27 February, 2023
An insight into the life of a modern entrepreneurial Glasgow girl depicted in a stream of consciousness telephone monologue.
Delivert in Glasgow vernacular, so it is!
Thursday 19 January, 2023
Drew our seven year old grandson was heading for footie training but he had lost his gloves.
Reluctantly he choose another pair from the Hat and Glove box but he was not happy.
This is a tale which tells what transpired.
Wednesday 11 January, 2023
This tale was penned for our Writers’ Circus group on the topic: “the room was cold”.
It is about a group of retired friends who share a passion for wildlife photography. They make a journey from Yorkshire to a luxury eco-lodge north of Inverness in search of stills and videos to exhibit at the January meeting of their photography club.
Although the weather id dreadful, they keep going, determined to make the most of their short winter break to the wilds of Scotland.
Note: There is another Devil’s Elbow in Scotland, on the dangerous high pass route between Glen Shee and Braemar, a road subject to frequent closures during winter.
This story is about a quite different Devil’s Elbow.