1189 - SMOKE

ThEre was a persistent knocking at the front door. In the living room there was a different noise as Mark was trying to shove the stolen spode china in the chimney breast. He hurriedly lit the fire and, glancing back to make sure there was smoke, he casually opened the front door. "I'm sorry - I was in the midst of lighting a fire which accounted for the delay", explained Mark, trying to look innocent. But Albert of the Yard (See 1178 - DEBIT) knew a thing or two and Mark was soon in handcuffs and the stolen goods recovered.

Some of the spode china Mark had stolen

1188 - PRESS

LunchtimE was veRy busy with the inevitable noise one would expect. She picked up an egg and cress sandwich, a packet of crisps and a can of coke. But there was such a press at the pay tills that it took ages to get her food and the rest of lunchtime was then busy trying to finish the food before she had to get back to work.

Egg and cress sandwich

1187 - FULLY

ALways on a Tuesday, under the holly bush stood the filly eating a bag of oats held by the gilly called Billy. It was usually a scene of peace and calm, but this Tuesday something was amiss. What was it that could sully the scene? There was clearly something on Billy's mind so that his relationship with the young horse was dully, so much so that the horse didn't fully finish the oats. Whatever it was had gone by next Tuesday and the scene was back to normal.

Feeding the young horse

1186 - BEAUT

Alex was enjoying ThE peace and quiet of the classroom whilst the kids screamed and ran around outside. He ate his meaty burger whilst he prepared what he was going to teach next lesson. But just then two boys burst in, shattering the peace. "Why, you have a beaut of a black eye, Carlos", remarked Alex. "But why are you here, Sean", asked Alex. "Probably because I hit Carlos in the eye", sulked Sean, "though he was asking for it". "Right, Sean, I want you to soothe Carlos's eye with some swabs and ice - there's the first aid kit and you know where the fridge is. Be careful not to put any pressure on Carlos's eye."

Carlos's eye

1185 - HONEY

It was night timE and it should have been quiet. But tonight was noisy, what with the foxes squabbling, the owl at full blast and the local dogs all a-jitter. However there was one run-down boney fox quietly on the prowl looking for a good meal of a coney or two. Also there was a rather satisfied bear who'd found a bee's nest and was tucking into the honey. Sometimes it pays not to make a fuss!

The fox after the coney

1184 - RECUR

Eloise was excited to have a chance to decoRate her room. Her parents were quite apprehensive, wondering what a sight the room might be. But they needn't have worried because Eloise had very sensible ideas about the décor she wanted. Late that day she proudly showed her Mum and Dad her room. "With this décor I won't be getting those awful nightmares that would recur night after night with the old décor", she announced.

Eloise's new décor

1183 - BROAD

Rob is a keen AngleR and had been out early that morning and caught a couple of roach from the lake. He was not very kind to his brother Frank and played a prank on him. He put one of the roach in a bottle of water and tied the fishline to the inside of Frank's trousers so that when Frank put them on, the poor fish was pulled out of the water and started flapping around inside his trousers! Frank had a nasty shock, spent ages getting the poor fish back into the water and then finding some dry trousers. To get his own back, Frank set up an array of wind-up toys behind the arras in the breakfast room. Whenever he wanted, Frank could set one of the wind-up toys going without having to get up. Rob was quite unnerved by these mysterious noises. Frank made out it was the woodland dryad that had set up home behind the arras - this freaked Rob out even more. Then Rob caught Frank with a broad grin on his face and the two brothers made peace and vowed not to play pranks on each other again.

Rob's early morning catch