1410 - BLISS

The day drew to a cLose and Mary was relieved when the noisy builders had left for the day (see 1419 - DUMMY) . Now she could enjoy the birdsong, the evening sun, and the gentle breeze - bliss.

Birdsong, sunset and breeze = bliss

1409 - DUMMY

The builders were a cheery bunch, though rather noisy, chattering away in Ukrainian. As the lorry was unloading the dumpy bags, the builders took a break for safety. One got out his guitar and they all sang some dumky. A woman passing with her baby in a push chair stopped to listen to the music and watch the lorry. The baby blew the dummy out of its mouth and joined in the music, shaking its rattle in time to the music. Mum was gobsmacked and resolved to give baby opportunities to participate in different types of music. This was a success, though baby was most motivated when listening to a dumka.

Mum sought out every opportunity for baby to listen to a dumka

1408 - WEEDY

ThEre was a strange noise from high up in the beech tree in the garden. At first he tried to ignore it, and get on with sorting out his weedy patch of the garden. But the noise persisted and, with no tree-climbing grandson imminent to climb up and investigate, he had to resort to using his lightweight drone to peer into the tree to see what was going on. A piece of expanded polystyrene had got wedged between two branches and squeeked with every movement of the tree. Time to see if the grandson's visit could be brought forward!

The beech tree

1407 - CLASH

CindereLlA scrubbed away; the tears were flowing. Suddenly this weird apparition materialised. "Get away from me", commanded Cinderella, "I've been doing karate, you should know." "Don't be afraid dear, I'm your fairy godmother. I've come to tell you that you shall go to the ball.", soothed the apparition. "But you don't look like a fairy godmother dressed in your distressed jeans, Bardot top and boat shoes", protested Cinderella, hands on hips. "Us fairy godmothers do try to keep up with the trends, you know. But if that's a clash in progressing, I can change if you want", the fairy godmother replied as, with a twirl, her outfit transformed into the cloak-clad, hooded image that quelled Cinderella's misgivings. "Ok", she responded, "but what ball are you referring to", said Cinderella with a puzzled look. "Oh, oops, I meant to say 'you shall go to the disco'!" Cinderella's face lit up with excitement …

The fairy godmother after the twirl

1406 - KNOWN

"Why are you so noisy and disruptive", Mum sighed. "Dunno", was the really helpful reply! Mum contacted the school about her son. Mum was shocked to learn that he was as quiet as a mouse and was certainly not known for any disruptive behaviour.

Is he like this at school, do youu think?

1405 - GENIE

Edward had just finished the washing up, and, with a satisfying flourish, rubbed the clean bottle vigorously. There was an eerie noise from the bottle and then the genie appeared. "You called", it said. Edward was flummoxed - "this might be important", he thought to himself. "If I asked him how many wishes I get, and the answer is one, then I'd have asked my question and got nothing special!", he mused. The genie was starting to look impatient. "I'd like to have a billion pounds times the number of wishes I get land in my bank account please", he piped up. "Smart move, laddie", oozed the genie, "£3,000,000,000 it is then". Edward's smartphone started making all sorts of sounds as the transaction took place! "I'd like Russia to retreat from Ukraine", ventured Edward. Again, Edward's phone went wild as extraordinary News items flooded his news feeds. "And finally, I'd like my wife and I to have four healthy children", he smiled. "Tricky one that, but I'll see what I can do", said the genie as he disappeared back into the bottle.

Edward and the Genie

1404 - OZONE

WhEn the Concorde aircraft took off it made a very loud noise. As a young man watching an early take off, my whole chest shook. The aircraft flew much faster and higher than conventional jet / turbo fan aircraft. It went up into the stratosphere and would occasionally pass through parts of the ozone layer. Whilst Concorde was a great success, ultimately its poor fuel consumption and unpopularity with those affected by the sonic boom caused it to be retired and used as museums.

Concorde taking off

1403 - ARTSY

GlendA was worried when she learned her granddaughTeR was learning a sutra a night. But she needn't have worried. Being an artsy sort of person, her granddaughter was using them as material for her A-level submission for her exam.

A manuscript page from Kalpa Sūtra (Jainism)

1402 - SPATE

EAch nightT, all hE fancied was a mango. She was worried about him, even considering contacting the Doctor about it. But then, just as suddenly as it started, the spate of mango eating ceased.

Every night he would eat a mango

1401 - PATCH

AT the sound of the dinner gong, the workers hurried to the canteen. It was never very scrumptious food, but at least it was food. Today was typical - a very fatty stew. The portions were generally small, though once a week, the stew portion size was increased to one catty per person. The workers had to work six-and-a-half days a week and their clothes were quite tatty. One of the workers had a keen sense of the injustice there and managed to smuggle out their account of what was happening in a batch of tins destined for Europe in the hope it wouldn't get found until it arrived there. When the batch of tins was unpackaged, the secreted report fell out onto a bare patch of ground just in front of a workman. They picked it up and took it home where his daughter took an interest and soon realised that this was something rather important. Her boyfriend was a journalist who was able to get the document translated and to publish an article exposing the malpractices.

The canteen

1400 - INBOX

It was Christmas Eve in the office and it had got very noisy as the managers released the workers to enjoy themselves before the holiday break. There was a lot of random chatter, but someone had also set up a session of bingo with the caller making up work-related phrases to call out the numbers. One colleague in turn had to leave the party and monitor the customer inbox so that customers would have some sort of response to their questions, even if that response was a holding response.

Office Bingo in the wind-down to the holidays

1399 - DIRGE

This is my 10-year-old Granddaughter's version:

WhEn Lara got back from the maRket, she saw her Mum crying on the floor. Lara rushed over to comfort her. "What is it Ma?", she asked softly. "Granny Mae … she … died", Mum wept, her hands in her face. Lara fell down on her knees and started weeping too. Suddenly they found themselves quietly singing a dirge, the song Granny Mae used to sing. After the song they hugged each other and wept some more. Out of the blue Lara found a surge of energy and ran to get Granny Mae's special music box. At least they could smile and listen to something brighter now.

The music box

This is my version:

HE had been a populaR fellow. He could brighten up the evening with his karaoke contributions. So when the funeral carriage was pulled through the streets, there was a surge of weeping as folk joined the procession. The band at the front of the procession played many a dirge, which only enhanced the gloom of the occasion. Fortunately the vicar at the committal knew him well and had chosen some more hope-filled music to lift the mood.

The mournful funeral

1398 - STOOD

This is my 10-year-old Granddaughter's version:

Lara walked past the fields of her hometown, taking in all that was happening. The sun was scorching and bright, as usual, and the market was very noisy and bustling with people. Lara saw young women with glittering outfits and hijabs. She saw men with bags full to the brim with shopping, and some sitting in their stalls with fruit and veg surrounding them. A lady was selling pretty bracelets and jewellery. Another lady was selling baked goods to a mother and her son. As Lara walked past the farm fields and waved to the farmers, who were carefully plucking grain, they waved back. One man stood up and called out to her, "Hello Lara! How are you!" Lara nodded back, "Fine thanks; you?". The farmer nodded and went to stoop down again. A woman with a vase on her head went to speak to him and Lara focussed on some young boys. They were helping on the farm by standing the stook in the sun to dry. They waved too, and Lara smiled back. Then she went on her way to buy the loaf of bread her Mother had sent her for.

Lara's interesing journey

This is my version:

He Thought it would be noisy harvesting the wheat. But today there was an exhibition of older farming methods. A gang of labourers went out with sickle to shear the wheat by hand. Other labourers followed on behind and stoop down to gather up the wheat and tie each bundle into a neat stook. The judges were keeping a close eye on each pair of labourers and, after comparing notes, declared the winners who then stood on the podiums for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Stooks of wheat

1397 - MORAL

Whether or not your act of kindness is LARge or small, it will show that you have a good moral compass.

Moral compass?

1396 - ASHEN

She gAspEd for air as she was rescued from the smouldering building. The fireman asked her how she was. "I didn't think I'd make it", she replied, with an ashen face. "Right, let's get you checked out by the medics", commanded the fireman as he grabbed a volunteer to take her to the emergency evacuation centre.

Rescued

1395 - CREST

He was  deTERmined to play a cunning trick on her. He pretended to be fast asleep on the couch. When she came in, she crept past him. As she got to the other door he leapt up shouting "Surprise". To his consternation, she just ignored him and carried on out of the room and upstairs. He was crest-fallen. "What happened there", he thought to himself.

He was crestfallen

1394 - LAUGH

"Now that LAst episode really did make me laugh. I must have latched onto their sense of humour."

Laughing at TV show

1393 - NURSE

Although thE Rain had eased, the mist was everywhere, making the street quite eerie. As she turned the curve in the street, she held onto her purse very firmly and made sure she looked all around. Eventually she arrived at her house, took off her nurse uniform and started to unwind.

The street was misty

1392 - ARROW

The sARgent spoke to the recruits. "There's a whole array of different shaped targets for you to aim at. You need to get your first arrow to hit each target. You won't be able to do that yet, but with practice you should be able to. Any questions?"

One of the archery targets

1391 - TURBO

AlThough BRenda was annoyed with the noisy youths in the street outside, she was rather pleased when they threw a gasping trout at her front door. It catered for several meals. Next week it was a bag of turbo snails that was thrown. Brenda was unsure about these, but read up about them and how to cook them to make an unusual meal or two for her. The next week there were no noisy youths and they never came back.

Brenda was puzzled by the bag of these turbo gastropods at first

1390 - WHEAT

"Yes, is thAT thE police? I wish to report a spate of nuisance incidents." "And what is the nature of these incidents madam." "Every morning last week there's a meaty pie left on the doorstep of my café with a big bite taken out of it." "I need to understand the nature of your complaint better. How anent are these part-eaten pies and why are they so much of a problem?" "Well it fits in with the thema of the other incidents that occurred this week. You see, I run a gluten free vegan café. So when bundles of wheat are left outside the café one week and meaty pies another, it appears that someone has it in for me. I'm fearful for the next intrusion." "Ok madam, we'll get Kelby to investigate."

A part-eaten meat and mushroom pie

1389 - SPARE

Glynis wAs about to tuck into an AERo chocolate bar when her friend Giselle put up her hand. "Don't have that - it will not be good for you. Have this instead", she said handing her a container full with grape after grape. Glynis knew it was the right thing to do but struggled to eat them all. "there's a few spare grapes left over - you can have those", she said to Giselle.

Glynis was about to tuck into her mint Aero bar

1388 - HAZEL

LAmEntably, the antique gavel had been left in the sunny south-facing window for too long and all the lovely wood colouration had paled. Now you could hardly tell if it had been made from hazel or from mahogony.

The gavel in its youth

1387 - VILLA

ALison hAd been bothered by an itchy head for ages. As she walked along the new-to-her path today she spotted a sign which read 'Scalp Treatment Centre'. She just had to investigate and, following the signs, she came across a villa which was very smart. "Mmm - I bet this is going to be expensive", she thought as she went inside to see if they could help her.

Relief for Alison at last

1386 - FOAMY

She wAnted a quiet day with the sound levels minimised so she decided to poach her fish for dinner rather than use the multi-cooker. And rather than use the shower, she had a lovely relax in a foamy bath.

The foamy bath suited her just right that day

1385 - KRILL

It was a normaL SatuRday for Fred and Freda. Fred was outside being noisy. Freda was upstairs adjusting the frill on her blouse to look just right. Fred had a task to accomplish with his drill, hammer, grinder, screwdrivers etc. It was time to dismantle the tired old barbecue and grill and load up the small car for a trip to the recycling centre. Fred's responses varied from "Brill" to "***" as pieces either came off easily or refused to budge. Meanwhile, Freda was having her first go at cooking krill for the special lunch party. She was hoping to impress, though it was a high risk strategy. Fred only just got back from the recycling centre in time.

Freda's krill turned out just fine

1384 - SHEAR

GerAld lookEd out on his gaRden. "Right, today's the day", he thought to himself. He filled up his dewar flask with sweet tea, and headed to the garden shed. Before long had started to shear the hedges. It would take him all day and the dewar flash would need refilling.

Gerald's dewar flask

1383 - CURSE

ThE same two mates (see 1378 - VERSE) weRe again walking together. "Remember, no snide remarks", said A to B. "Just as if", equipped B. "My cruse of healing oil is ready just in case and I'll remember to do up your morse, if you fail and I have to resort to the gorse bush treatment", joked A. Unfortunately, at this point in their walk, B stumbled on a protruding rock and, with a curse B fell into the same gorse bush. You know what follows!

Déjà vu

1382 - JEWEL

ELsiE filed her nails whilst listening to the blues. Then she put on her jewel necklace and admired herself in the mirror. She was ready for the party.

Elsie checking out her jewellery

1381 - BOOTY

The pirates were very noisy unloading their booty.

Sharing the Booty