a-few-good-things

[a-few-good-things]

A couple of 250 word stories

I wrote a couple of 250 word (super) short stories to enter into Literary Death Match's bookmark story competition. Thought I'd post them here because I had fun writing them.

Curse of the Sun

Sweat slips between my skin and the rubbery fabric of my coat, chafing all over. The sun is burning brands of every stitch into my skin. This polyester prison will only hold me for a little longer. Soon I’ll be free.

Walking into the park I see shaded eyes and shining smiles everywhere. Nothing brings the punters to the park like the sun in London. The excitement makes me taut against my bodily covering. I’m bursting to get out.

Sunglasses leave me uncertain whether anybody is following my progress. Some might question a man in a long coat on a hot day, but they’re more likely to dismiss me as a beggar or a leper. Not for much longer.

I slip from the grey of the path to the green of the grass.  Now it’s just a matter of finding the right spot. Snaking through chattering circles of bodies I see a spectrum of faces at different stages of sun and alcohol induced merriment. It’s finally my time to join them; the laid-back leisurely Londoners. It’s been so long.

Where all the footpaths converge, I stop. Here I’ll get the most sets of eyes on me, from the walkers and the sitters.

I’m primed. I grab two fistfuls of my coat. I look for a face. There: the old couple eating ice cream on the bench. I yell wordlessly straight at my target septuagenarians. Faces whip round at me. I pull my hands apart. The coat pops open.

I’m free.

Bathetic Bus Ride

 She got on at Angel. He looked up from his book, catching sight of her as she stepped onto the top deck. He felt an immediate flush of attraction. This was exactly the kind of woman that Greg pictured himself with.

If she’d sat somewhere behind him it would have been over. She’d be out of his view, out of his life, only in his imagination for a while; soon replaced by another.

However, it just so happened that she sat right next to Greg. He should have returned to reading, but she pulled out her phone and he glimpsed what she was listening to. Did that say…?

Then she pulled out a book; one of Greg’s favourites. She got to reading, not noticing Greg’s surreptitious glances to triple check what he was seeing.

Now it was a problem. Here he was, next to a facsimile of his ideal woman. If he didn’t speak up and say something this moment would haunt him forever. This woman on the bus would become That Woman From The Bus.

Now the universe had fashioned the meet cute he’d wished for, was he just going to sit there, a lumpen ball of cowardice?

He tried to think of ways to open the conversation, but all he could think of were reasons why he shouldn’t.

He decided. If she stayed on two more stops, he’d talk to her.

Two stops. Nothing.

Two more stops. Ten thousand internal insults.

Another stop. He composed himself.

‘That-.‘

DING.

[a-few-good-things]

Album review: Marissa Nadler - Strangers

"In each song Nadler exhumes the spirit of her subject and makes them dance in softly-lit slow motion, graceful and utterly innocent, despite their many shortcomings. Through her vocals and arrangements, Nadler expresses a deep love for her subjects that transcends the music."

-Have a read of my review of Marissa Nadler's gorgeous Strangers over on The 405.

[a-few-good-things]

Album review: Marissa Nadler - Strangers

"In each song Nadler exhumes the spirit of her subject and makes them dance in softly-lit slow motion, graceful and utterly innocent, despite their many shortcomings. Through her vocals and arrangements, Nadler expresses a deep love for her subjects that transcends the music."

-Have a read of my review of Marissa Nadler's gorgeous Strangers over on The 405.

[a-few-good-things]

Album review: Parquet Courts - Human Performance

"Parquet Courts' brand of taut, nervy guitar music is the perfect vehicle for these stories, and they expertly build and release tension in their guitar interplay; obsessively measured fuzz and feedback adds to the muddiness of minds depicted."

-I reviewed the brilliant new album Human Performance by Parquet Courts. Read it on The 405.

[a-few-good-things]

Album review: Parquet Courts - Human Performance

"Parquet Courts' brand of taut, nervy guitar music is the perfect vehicle for these stories, and they expertly build and release tension in their guitar interplay; obsessively measured fuzz and feedback adds to the muddiness of minds depicted."

-I reviewed the brilliant new album Human Performance by Parquet Courts. Read it on The 405.

[a-few-good-things]

These kids made the most impossible board game. Pretty much every other square was DIE. Except if you landed on 21; then you automatically won. Unsurprisingly actually playing it wasn't that fun, and they promptly destroyed it. Managed to get this pic before it was in shreds.

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A good night of skating

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The bottom half of my hoody is frozen solid. A sign of a good day/night's boarding (at 휘닉스파크 (Phoenix Park))

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7am Beijing airport #gettingthere #exhausted (at Beijing Capital Int'l Airport 北京首都国际机场 (PEK))

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Brains or dim sum? (at Hong Kong International Airport 香港國際機場)

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Ladies and gentlemen, your obligatory shot from The Peak #hongkong (at Sky Terrace 凌霄閣摩天臺)

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Unknown Pleasures in Hong Kong (at Tamar Park 添馬公園)

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at Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens 香港動植物公園

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Made it to Hong Kong! Time to refuel

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Layover in Beijing airport. Next stop Hong Kong! ✈️ (at Beijing Capital Int'l Airport | PEK | 北京首都国际机场)

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Your face is our advertising space #ABCmart #korea

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Ring of fire til past 3am. Back out on the slopes this morning. At least the temperature is rousing. (at 휘닉스파크 스키장 (Phoenix Park Ski World))