Sunday, May 28, 2006

Friday, May 19, 2006


One of the girls'

You can see where this one is going....

A more traditional effort.

Not bad for a day's work!

My Effort!

Someone a little more accomplished than I!

Carving at Hardwick

I recently went on a one day stone carving course at Hardwick Hall http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hardwickhall/
This is what I achieved in 1 day, along with some of the efforts of some of my fellow apprentice masons!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Openings for Imaginary Novels

1. An atomic Bomb exploded behind his eyes. He was suddenly in a billion pieces, experiencing every particle of dust in the room. Being every particle in the room. The smoke cleared, the dust settled. Hayley Johnson had just entered the room.

2.The wind swept icicles into my face as my ketch turned. In the distance, rising and falling with the waves I could see the lights of Novya Zemlya. I desperately wanted them to be the lights of home, but the spray washed my face and the salt stung my eyes. My vision blurred and one hundred metres off starboard, a giant black wave hauled itself out of the sea and towards me.

3. The street was wet. The neon shone a thousand parody reflections across the street. A 1930 Oldsmobile slid up to the kerb. A rear door opened over the sidewalk and Danny O'Rouke, the shoeshine boy rolled out. The Oldsmobile pulled away at breakneck speed and disappeared around the first corner. Danny lay still until I got to him then looked up at me and grinned.

4. The tabby roused herself, flicked her ears and performed the obligatory backstretch. She settled back and gave herself an ablutionary lick, then shot a glance over to her sister who was lying along the back of the settee. A glance shot back, before they turned together to look at a mouse in the centre of the floor. Their eyes glowed momentarily, and the mouse, caught in the crossfire, erupted in flame.





5. The galleon heaved to port as the wind caught her full and the sails billowed. Above, the dirigible struggled to hold on to the anchor caught in the rigging of the galleon. It bobbed and waved like a cork until someone on the rigging cut the rope and the ship of the sky shot upwards, leaving the crew gasping for breath.