1106 - ZEBRA

King BAsil was prEpaRing for his first knighting ceremony. He had to make sure that when he would reach for his sword his hand would always land on it. He then had to practice how to lift the sword off the shoulders in such a way that no ears were at risk. Then he had to learn how to say "Arise" in a firm authoritative voice that wasn't a shout. He asked the officials assisting if he needed a spare sword to hand, but was assured that this was not necessary. The next morning he woke up in a cold sweat not being able to recall anything from the previous day's preparations. It seemed as if someone had pressed the erase button on his memory during the night. In a panic he demanded they all reran the training session again. Whilst he waited for the right people to be brought back together for the rerun, he strolled into the garden and tried to relax by feeding the family's pet Zebra. This time the rehearsal went smoothly and quickly and King Basil realised his memory was intact.

King Basil loves the pet Zebra

1105 - DROVE

JEnny had been doing heR job for her whole working life. She had to put up with the noise of the vacuum cleaner six days a week as she cleaned offices. At first it was quite fun, interacting with the staff (especially the young men!). But as she grew older it had all become a chore, especially as she was now only allocated shifts at night when no-one else was around. Eventually it got to her and drove her to hand in her notice, but not before she had meticulously taken her vacuum apart  into as many pieces as she could without actually damaging anything. Her boss was furious, but couldn't do a lot since she hadn't damaged or stolen anything!

The disassembled vacuum cleaner

1104 - ORDER

AlicE was a bit boRed on a summer afternoon when she heard the sound of running. On looking up she saw a white rabbit, which was not that unusual. But things became odder when she noticed he was wearing a waistcoat and looking anxiously at his pocket watch. She couldn't help but follow the rabbit, even when it went down a rabbit hole. After following the rabbit for five minutes she realised that this was most peculiar and that she'd better turn round and get back up above ground. It took ten minutes, but she eventually managed it and her life started once more to have some order to it again.

The White Rabbit

1103 - KNEAD

AlbeErt was picking his old friend Hank up from the railway station; Hank had left his home in Colorado yesterday. They greeted each other warmly and Albert led Hank to his car "Gee, I like your sedan. But, what is it.", remarked Hank. "Oh, that is my old Ford Zephyr Mk 1", replied Albert proudly. "What year was that made", inquired Hank. "My father bought it new in 1954 and now it's mine", enlightened Albert. Hank thoroughly enjoyed the ride back to Albert's place, especially all the admiring faces looking his way! When they got to Albert's place, Albert said to Hank - "Please excuse me for a bit - I have to knead tomorrow's bread one last time before it rises and I can bake it".

Albert's Ford Zephyr Mk 1

1102 - SAVOR

From below, All looked noRmal. The Radar was tracking a regular course for the aircraft. Those looking up saw the familiar vapor trail. But in the cockpit all was not as normal. The captain was unwell and unable to contribute to the handling of the aircraft and the co-pilot had lost his confidence. The Co-pilot was praying hard asking God for favor to make the right decisions. His landing was textbook perfect. He brought the aircraft into its bay and the doctor and ambulance people admitted to assist the stricken pilot. At last the co-pilot could relax and savor the safe landing. After that day he made a point of thanking God every day for his favor.

Vapor Trail

1101 - DOLLY

Five oLd school chums went to a posh hotel for a celebratory meal. The other quiet diners were somewhat dismayed by how noisy the room had become after their arrival. Three mature ladies at another table started making remarks. "Golly", said Holly, "they are all talking at once". "Oh, I do wish they'd quieten down", grumbled Polly. "Do you think I should have a word with them?", inquired Dolly. "Oh, no, don't make a scene!", chorused Holly and Polly.

The Five Chums

1100 - BUGLE

GabrieL, thE chef, was thirsty. Even though few staff were there yet, but Gabriel didn't feel he could just open a can of coke because he valued his reputation. So he chose some fruits and an avocado to blend. Unfortunately this made a noise giving away his location in the vast kitchen. Fairly soon one of the diners, who was rather early and bored, heard the sound and came up to Gabriel, startling him. He turned to see a belle with her autograph book at the ready. Not only did Gabriel sign, but gave her a pheasant tail feather to add to the plume on her elaborate hat. They had a pleasant conversation together until the bugle sounded on the restaurant tannoy system to announce that the restaurant doors would be opening in an hour. Gabriel kissed her hand in farewell and turned his full attention to the evening ahead, but all the while hoping he'd encounter her again.

The belle in her hat

1099 - EDICT

IT was thE time of yer for the big town gathering. If you wanted to be in the know you would be there. The town square was of course noisy and it was quite difficult to move around there. Then it was time and the crowd quietened. The town chief stood up on the platform and unrolled the year's edict on what the town plans for the forthcoming year were and what was expected of the residents. There were various reactions as the edict was read out, from gasps, to boos, to YESs, to same-olds etc. After the gathering it was time for the big town feast.

The Town Gathering

1098 - PAINT

ArThur and Edith were enjoying their retirement. Arthur really enjoyed being able to hone his skills as a furniture repairer. Today he was working on replacing a broken joint. Poor Edith had eaten something with a taint and had gone to bed feeling quite faint. This gave Arthur plenty of time to paint the furniture that had been fixed.

Arthur fixing a chair

1097 - SCENT

ThE operating theatre was all prepared and the team of medical staff were all scrubbed up and ready. The patient had been brought into the prep room earlier, out of the noise of the hospital corridor. He was wheeled into the operating theatre and the procedure started. With well-practiced precision the stent was inserted into the artery and the patient was tidied up ready to go to the recovery room. In the recovery room the patient opened his eyes and saw the recovery nurse sitting beside him. He started flirting with her - "That's a lovely scent you're wearing; come closer so that I can smell it better." She laughed and said - "There's not much wrong with you! Do you want a cup of tea?"

Inserting the stent

1096 - TERSE

Professor Logan Smith was having To work from homE today as his wife had to attend a confeRence in a distant city. After getting the children settled into doing something absorbing and enjoyable, he settled down to his work. But half an hour later the children were making a dreadful noise and Logan had to break off. On entering the children's room, there was pandemonium, with snatching of toys from each other and tears and disorder. "Right! Settle down and back to what I set you up doing", was his terse, barked response and the room went quiet. This time he got another three-quarters of an hour of work done before being disturbed again. He didn't get an awful lot of work done that day and was so relieved when his wife returned the next morning!

Later on that day

1095 - COVER

It was EaRly August and Gary, the officious yet lazy head gardener, wanted yet again to check on what his staff were up to. He sent up his drone, taking it high enough so that it made no sound down at ground level. All the staff except one were busy at their tasks. It took a little while, with the drone at the hover over different parts of the garden, but Gary eventually spotted a foot sticking out from the garden bower. Whilst he went to fetch his canine gofer, he lowered the drone so he could get a better look. "Yes", thought Gary, "he's become a dozer". He dispatched his trained boxer bitch gofer to wake up the weary worker. She crept as close as possible to the worker's ear and suddenly started barking loudly. The startled worker quickly came out from under his cover and started work again. The dog growled at him and went back to his owner.

Waking the garden worker

1094 - PRIOR

Daniel had tRained his dox, Rex, to chase after his small drone and to keep guard of it once he'd located it until Daniel caught up with him. Today they got to just outside a small wood and Daniel got the drone started with its gentle whirr. Up into the air it went, over the wood and into the field beyond where he brought it down to the ground. He could hear Rex rushing through the undergrowth and eventually barking as he got to stand over the drone. Meanwhile, Daniel started to practice his animal tracking, searching for spoor in the wood. He was able to see which route Rex had taken. He'd had a satisfying time recognising the spoor and went out to meet up with Rex. To balance out the enjoyment, he then gave Rex several drone chases in the field. After the run-around they headed back with Daniel again using the drone to check ahead the route and destination so that they would have prior knowledge if there were any hazards on the way. (There never were any hazards, but Daniel liked to play it safe!)

Rex chasing the drone

1093 - GRIND

Doing the laundRy for Alicia had become unendurable now that her hearing had become hypersensitive. So she had to get rid of the noisy washing machine and revert to hand washing. She had to buy a mangle instead to wring out the cleaned clothes. Other things had to change too. No longer could she grind the coffee beans and instead she had to buy pre-ground coffee.

Alicia's wrangle

1092 - PROUD

HaRry made his living dishonesty. He well-known for being clumsy and noisy. Yet, despite that, he was a successful crook. One night he was talking excitedly to his friends at the pub and was openly proud about all his thefts and scams he'd run. Unfortunately for Harry, on the next table was a detective seeing what information he could pick up. Within a few minutes a couple of police officers arrived and arrested Harry.

Harry tellng his exploits to his friends

1091 - VAULT

WaLter wAs a collecTor of valuable objects (To Walter they were valuable but to most people they would mean nothing.) Every so often, Walter felt the need to make a tally of his collection to make sure nothing was missing. A security vault was hidden in his house. He would wait until no-one was around before going into his vault with his notebook to record the tally.

Walter's vault

1090- ANGST

OliviA was in a sTrange city at the beginning of her three year degree course. She was talking to Mason about her first night in her landlady's student accommodation. "We were served our evening meal. I was the only one to say 'Thank you' for my food. When Jake was served his starter he said that it stank and asked what it was. The landlady said that it was her homemade sauerkraut and, moreover, he'd need to get used to it as it's very healthy and would help us students get good exam results!" (She was very proud of her sauerkraut and would boast about it whenever she could.) Olivia went on: "In the morning it was more straightforward as we could fix our own toast and cereal whenever we showed up for breakfast." As the term progressed, Olivia noticed that Jake never looked at ease and seemed anxious about something. On speaking to him he admitted as much, though he couldn't explain the origins of his angst.

A lovely plate of sauerkraut

1089 - DETER

AfTER morning prayers, Brother Peter set off for a countryside walk. He crossed a gap in a wall whereupon, to his utter astonishment, he spotted an otter stuck in a fence. He cautiously approached to see what had happened. He discovered that the otter had broken a miter joint which had resulted in the fence collapsing and trapping the otter. Brother Peter lifted up the collapsed part of the fence and the otter ran off. Brother Peter felt quite pious at his good deed. He considered mending the fence somehow, or constructing a barrier of some sort to deter other creatures from mishap, but he realised that was beyond his skill set!

The freed otter

1088 - SWUNG

Nick stood on the platform, apparently in his own reverie and ignoring the hustle and bustle. As the express drew into the platform it became more noisy with the squeal of brakes and the hissing of steam. Nick took a pinch of snuff, but he was alert and watching. Olaf alighted a carriage, looking around. He seemed satisfied and stode off towards the exit. Nick was also on the move and with great speed and spunk overtook Olaf by leaping over a high gate. As Olaf turned a corner, Nick swung his fist at Olaf so forcefully that Olaf was dazed. Within seconds Olaf was in handcuffs and being forced into an unmarked van before being taken to the questioning centre in the windowless basement.

The express train arriving

1087 - MANGA

Just before the concert stArted, Clarissa popped outside and picked several pansy flowers to form a buttonhole. Then she joined the other musicians and walked onto the stage to play Pachelbel's Canon and other pieces of chamber music. After the concert ended, the musicians gathered for refreshments and conversation. In a pause in the conversation she glanced at her watch and gasped. There ensued a manic rush around, gathering all her things together, grabbing one last piece of mango and running to the bus stop just in time to catch the last bus home. Once she got inside, she kicked off her uncomfortable shoes and collapsed onto her recliner. Something mindless was needed, so she picked up her latest manga comic to calm her down towards bedtime.

Clarissa and fellow musicians playing Pachelbel's Canon

1086 - CROWD

The paRty was in full swing; loads of people were talking and some were even singing. Because it was so noisy, Amanda pushed her way through everyone to find a quieter spot. It was then that she noticed her broch was missing. "Oh, no, a crook must have taken it off me as I pushed through the crowd. She sat down in tears. Ten minutes later a handsome young man appeared. "This, I believe, is yours", he said, holding out her broch. She gasped and a big smile spread across her tear-stained face. "How ...? What ...? Where did you find that?", she stuttered. The young man replied "I just happened to be looking at you just as the thief took your broch. I apprehended him, retrieved your broch and got the bouncers to banish him. I then came and found you." "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. It was my great-great-grandmothers", she cried, throwing her arms around him.

Amanda's precious broch

1085 - HENCE

FErdinand was visiting his village hall which was very noisy at the time. Just then a man came out of the room where the noise was coming from. "What is going on in there today?", he asked. "It's a class where we endue the participants with the skills for handling swords", came the reply. "What sort of swords?", Ferdinand asked. "We teach them to fence",was the reply. "How much does it cost?" "It's three pound and forty pence." Ferdinand joined the group straight away. Six weeks later he passed his first exam. At the award ceremony the instructor said "You have completed the first stage and can now go hence and take on anyone with confidence (though not necessarily with success)."

Learning to fence

1084 - MELON

My naturaL rEsponse to encountering a slime mould is revulsion. Yet, according to the Wikipedia article (Slime mould), they are fascinating. My revulsion is partly to do with the smell, the feel and the blocking of my drain! Apparently some people in Ecuador eat them. I'd rather eat a melon!

Slime mould fruiting bodies that produce spores

1083 - ETHER

As usual in ThE moRning, Emily was busy applying toner to her face. So she was surprised, and a little flummoxed, when the doorbell rang. She wiped off the worst of the toner and hurried downstairs to look through the security lens on her front door. She opened the door to Frank, the blind piano tuner. "I wasn't expecting you so early Frank", she remarked as she led him in. "I'm sorry to be early", he replied, "but I'd been warned about some roadworks en route with disruptions to pavements and diversions, so I left an hour early so that I could steer around the obstacles and get help if necessary. But the journey all went smoothly." Emily reminded Frank where the cloakroom was and made him his favourite cup of tea then went to her room to complete her face. She was just about to put on her radio and scan the ether for something to listen to, but she then checked herself, realising that it might be confusing for Frank downstairs.

Frank at work

1082 - ORGAN

AfteR the service (see 1081 - GROOM ) the Bishop suggested that the children might like to meet the organist. The organist took them to the loft and showed them the console. The children were amazed at the array of keys, pedals, stops, etc before their eyes. Only one of the children let out a groan but his siblings glowered at him and he blushed. The organist sat at the pipe organ and played the theme for the Flintstones. Then he gave each a chance to play a tune. At bedtime each of the children declared they had had a wonderful day.

The pipe organ console

1081 - GROOM

Most of the guests weRe seated and chatting quietly. The organ was quietly playing soothing music. The door of the cathedral burst open and the bride's cousin came in with her brood of 6 noisy children. She had to say sorry to the seated guests as she made her way to her nominated seats, all the while with her children making comments about the grand building or talking indiscreetly about the size and shapes of the women's hats. By the time she sat down she was so embarrassed that she felt like legging it out of there! But just then the bishop with his fancy robes and shepherd's crook approached and spoke kindly to her. "I did enjoy your entrance! It was so refreshing - like a new broom sweeping clean!" He then turned to the children and winked "If you can keep quiet until the wedding has finished, you can come into my room where I've got two big boxes of chocolates for you to pick from." On the way back to the front he paused by the groom to assure him that all was fine.

The newly-weds

1080 - STARK

When he Arrived at the Town it was deseRted and turned out to be a bad choice for the tramp, with his caravan and horse, to spend the night. There was no chance to buy food or eat anywhere; he was down to his last sprat or two for dinner that night. His night was no better with a stray dog bothering him and his horse off and on during the night. The morning dawned with the stark realisation that he'd have to move on another 20 miles in the hope of replenishing his stocks.

The deserted town

1079 - BRAVO

HARvey used to get on well with his neighbour, Hank. He thought their friendship was solid enough to allow Harvey to play a prank on Hank. Harvey managed to find a very lifelike model shark that moved and which he put into Hank's swimming pool one night. The next morning as Hank drank his orange juice, he spied the shark in his spool and he spilled the orange juice all down his clean shirt. Because Hank was late leaving for work (having had to change his clothes), he was driving too fast and had a prang in his car. The damage to the car looked minor at first sight, but when it was examined by the garage mechanic, it was discovered that there was a major crack in the suspension system. Hank was waiting outside when Harvey returned home from his work. As he stepped outside his car, Hank started a slow handclap and exclaimed "Bravo. Here returns the gallant trickster". Harvey was confused until he saw the estimate for fixing Hank's car along with hearing the account of poor Hank's day.

The model shark in Hank's swimming pool

1078 - BASIN

GrAndad was loved by his family. He was a musician who played the tuba. But the trouble was that when he practiced, the house because too noisy to hang around in. So his family had to get out somewhere until the practice had finished. When Grandad passed away, the family wanted to have something to remember him by. His daughter hit on a unusual idea and managed to get a craftsmen to turn his tuba into a wash basin which is now installed in the cloakroom.

The old tuba turned into thee cloakroom wash basin

1077 - CHAOS

The Lone RAnger and Tonto had had to spend the night in an abandoned shack because their planned route was blocked by an unexpected chasm which they arrived at just as the sun was setting yesterday. After breakfast they saddled their horses, put on their chaps and mounted their horses to head off to the nearest chasm crossing. But when they got there the place was in chaos with so many wagons, horses and people trying to use the narrow wooden bridge. They groaned as they joined the queue.

The Lone Ranger