Heidi had met Charlie only a few days previously at the café where she worked as a waitress between lectures. They laughed when they discovered they were studying the same course, only he was a year ahead. The weather had been dire, raining every day, so they stayed in the café once Heidi’s shift was […]
Category: Prose
Dream a Little Dream
From the hill, the small town seemed to be composed of parallel streets lined with neat little houses and shops with awnings striped in primary colours. On descending the road that led down the hill and into the village, she noticed that the colours were deliberate: red for the butcher; green for the greengrocer; yellow […]
Spring Fever
Spring seems to have arrived with abandon, the air full of birdsong sparkling in the early April sun. I imagine the boisterous hisses, honking, hoots and whoops of geese, barn owls and swans, birds that mate for life, busy renewing their marriage vows. I think of humans preoccupied with weddings in a season bursting with […]
The Ghost in the Corner
I’ve had enough of being haunted. It’s not that I’m afraid of the ghost in the corner, but she’s a distraction, especially when I’m reading, writing or watching television. She always has a little smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eye, as if she’s making fun of me. I admit, I do […]
Uplifted by a Breeze
Between grey days filled with blustery gusts and heavy rain, a window of wintry sun invites me out for a welcome walk. Gentler breezes give me an encouraging push towards the little bridge and the winding lane alongside paddocks, where horses and ponies stand solid as the wind tugs at manes and tails, rabbits freeze […]
Early Morning Gathering
I wake at half past three, unsure whether to lie still and listen to the sounds of the outside world beginning to rouse, or get up, drink a mug of tea and go for a walk. I choose the latter. The tea steams while I pull on some warm clothes and boots. I take several […]
A Halloween Affair
We meet on the edge of dusk as the moon starts to rise, its misty light highlighting the lacy stonework of the church tower and the shadow of its silent bell. Eleanor leads me through graves blotched with moss and lichen that over hundreds of years have erased the inscriptions and life stories of the […]
Voice
I close the cottage door with a soft click and turn onto the road that leads past cottages and bungalows. The smell of hot earth and sun-scorched hay stubble settles over the village’s fields and lanes, where wilting scarlet poppies congregate. Before the small hump-backed bridge, I turn right, feel prickles of dry grass through […]
Ogden’s Extraordinary Emporium Episode 2
We waited until our evening meal was over, when Miss Pecksniff nodded off by the fireplace in her room, and then, warmly dressed in our outdoor clothes, left by the servants’ entrance. I locked the door and placed the key in my reticule. Bella and I clasped gloved hands and set off through wisps of […]
Ogden’s Extraordinary Emporium Episode 1
A sheet of printed paper landed at our feet, swept along with the autumn leaves by our governess’s skirt. Isabella – she preferred Bella – picked it up and read: ‘OGDEN’S EXTRAORDINARY EMPORIUM – ONE NIGHT ONLY’. The spidery black words filled us with anticipation. The address was not far from the house where we […]
writing in north norfolk 