BEFORE TINDER

There I was at Fenchurch Street station, 7 p.m. as agreed, top of the escalators.  And there he wasn’t. It had seemed a good idea at the time.  His on line ad had sounded just the job:  Tall, dark and handsome?  Not me.  Not that tall, more mouse than dark, and not that handsome.  But…

The Pain

Tar stirred.  The dream had not yet left him entirely.  Slowly, element by element, the world dissolved into its bleached palate of cold reality.  First to go were the voices.  Had there been words or only notions?  Sensations felt beyond fingertips, ideas concrete as a crumbling arch.  Next the faces, now featureless as a cloud…

T.C.I Friday

Is that spinach in her teeth? I squint, looking closer when I realise she’s glaring at me. I panic, look down. I’ve read somewhere that you should never look a predator in the eye. Don’t poke the bear or something. Bears. Why am I thinking about bears? Concentrate. I squirm uncomfortably in my chair, trying…

The Meadow

The muscari bobbed in the breeze and the daffodils nodded as if approving of the child. All around the meadow a wind was whipping up as the sun gently made its way upwards in the sky, observing.  He started to walk deliberately around the stones he’d placed in a circle. Slowly at first, then faster…

The Awakening – Dorothea and Saleem

They met in Pizza Hut, or more specifically just outside the toilet.   The shopping centre management, following government guidelines, had marked up which direction to walk.  She began to walk the wrong way and someone shouted ‘follow the arrows love!’ Dorothea became confused about which way to go. She didn’t know whether to go back…

Awakening

It wasn’t spiritual – Saul on the road to Damascus, St. Eustace and the gleaming cross of the hart in the wood. Nor scientific – Archimedes “Eureka” as his marble bathtub filled to the brim; Newton’s “ouch” as a falling ripe red ‘Ribston Pippin’ crowned him. I stood, awkwardly, facing Debbie Coutts; she was dressed…

Reflection

They’d often see him gazing at his own reflection, minutes at a time spent in front of the mirror. It seemed to make him happy, alive. Awake. He didn’t have much happiness left in his life anymore. He smiled back at his youthful face, the strong jawline clothed in a thick, dark goatee. His eyes…

Children Cooking at Maldon Nursery

Cooking

One of the children in pre-school has an egg allergy but we didn’t want them to miss out on some baking so we made egg free banana muffins for snack which everyone could enjoy

letterbox maldon

Pen pals

To engage with the elderly folk in our local community the older children have each been allocated a ‘Pen pal’ with whom they have been exchanging letters and cards throughout the year. There has been much excitement every time a letter drops through the letter box at pre-school for one of the children.