Man on the moon

A few things have recently brought the moon back to my attention:

  1. My wife and I have been watching “For All Mankind” (which I love and my wife loved certain bits of)
  2. All of the articles about the very exciting Artemis project – in particular this article in the Guardian
  3. When I was in the toy section of the department store this weekend I saw this Lego set which said it was inspired by NASA’s actual designs (!)

And then I opened up my word press drafts after ages away to find a partially written short story about the moon…which meant of course that I had to finish it.

I think the flow will reflect being started and then stopped and then started and finished but enjoy anyway!

—–original start—–

Just a super short story inspired by all the recent celebrations around 50 years since the moon landing…

“Wouldn’t it be amazing to fly out beyond the sky, to actually break through and enter the void? Go beyond and stand on another celestial object. First the moon and then further?” The young man mused to his grandmother.

She nodded along, sitting in her arm chair browsing a photography book, but said nothing.

“Would you have gone if you could have Grandma?”Read More »

The secret to loving lunch

This is a story I wrote about the different types of lunch – those you loathe and love, those you endure and those you relish. it’s partially a story about the corporate grind and part a story of my love of food and cooking.

The story

The rumbling began dull and low, then spun back on itself to a gurgle, before finally resting after a final deep sound that must be what a full stop would sound like if it had a sound. Frank was determined not to look up from his laptop to acknowledge the unsettlingly loud noise that signalled to his entire pod in the open plan office that he had waited far too long to go for his lunch break. Some of his colleagues noticed it, but others were plugged into their headphones and probably wouldn’t have heard the fire alarm if it went off. One that did was Frank’s office confidant, Ashley, who came over to his desk and said, “spare us all your pleas of ignorance Frank and go get something to eat – it’s way past lunchtime and I know that email can wait.”

Read More »

The golden turtle

One go at a vignette on my pirate sisters idea

The winds whipped up against the wooden sailboat, cruising it along the dark shore. Cleopatra stood aft alongside her steersman while a young girl crouched in the bow looking for signs of rocks in the dark. They used no lamps so as not to give away their position to the residents of the shoreline.

Some would be considered friends of a sort, but too many would report them to one of their numerous enemies. The annoyance of having to engage in a skirmish during this particular mission wasn’t worth it, though the crew and her captain typically relished any fight.

Read More »

Twinspiration

As annoying as I know some people will find the headline, I can’t help it sometimes and it does have a certain ring to it.

Some of the mannerisms and interactions of my twins started sparking ideas about pirates fighting over a golden submarine (the twins shrieking at each other over the one plastic yellow submarine bath toy we have – yes, we should have bought two but didn’t). Naturally the two pirates are related, though probably not twins. They’ll love each other but fight tooth and nail for the right to have what the other is holding.

If it’s a comedy (or comedic – not sure yet) they will of course have their unconventional pets (a sheep and a lion – stuffed in reality, naturally).

Maybe I won’t write any story along this lines. I do like the ideas swirling around in my head though. It’s certainly amusing.