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