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UNCOMFORTABLE CORONAVIRUS VIBES

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SUNDAY 25th OCTOBER 2020 ~ BLOG POST

PROMPT ~ Write about a time you were uncomfortable

UNCOMFORTABLE CORONAVIRUS VIBES

by John Yeo

  The huge publicity campaign highlighting the dangers of interaction with other people during the current Coronavirus pandemic makes one feel extremely uncomfortable all the time. 

   Whenever one ventures out of the house the dangers, whether real or imagined are all around. Most people we come into contact with, take the necessary precautions by keeping to the metre distancing recommendations and a high proportion wear a face covering when entering the local shops.

 However there are still the virtually unconcerned minority, who take enormous risks with their own health and everyone else they come into contact with. 

  The daily statistics, sadly give a clear picture of the latest figures of people who have become infected with the virus and sadder still, the number of people who’ve been hospitalised. Then the most uncomfortable statistic of all, the daily death toll from this unremittingly vicious virus. 

 We live in a small town of narrow streets around the main shopping area that has been turned into a one way pedestrian area. One side of the main road has been designated by clear arrow signs pointing in one direction. The opposite side of the road has a series of arrows clearly pointing in the opposite direction. The shops and the shopping area are built close to the main road, with narrow pavements, leaving little room for people to pass one another and still comply with the social distancing recommendations. 

 The main shopping road is a one way road for traffic and the town gets exceedingly busy at times. Some incredibly ignorant, unenlightened people, will insist on walking along the pavements in the wrong direction causing other pedestrians to walk in the road to maintain the social distancing regulations. Very few people wear a face covering except for when they enter the shops, where it is a legal requirement.

  We tend to avoid shopping in town unless it’s absolutely essential, but of course there are times when a visit to the Pharmacy or the Optician or the Hairdressers makes it unavoidable. 

   At this particularly unusual time during this obnoxious Coronavirus pandemic going into town will always be accompanied by an unpleasant, uncomfortable feeling.

© Written by John Yeo

DEMENTIA

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WEDNESDAY 21st OCTOBER 2020 ~ BLOG POST

PROMPT ~ Write about your biggest fear.

DEMENTIA 

by John Yeo

   As an independent healthy young man I developed into an equally independent healthy middle aged adult. I have been fortunate enough to share my life with strong minded independent women and my attitude to life has always been secure and ongoing. Like many others of my age group, I have always felt thoroughly competent and many years younger in my outlook than my years would outwardly suggest. I’m sure most people feel so much younger and stronger than their years and perhaps this is a natural reaction to the aging process.

   As I grow older in years I feel I have always known my biggest fear and I take steps to avoid succumbing to the sad mental decline that is dementia. I dislike and I will eternally dread the thought of becoming totally dependent on others for many of my needs. I try hard to use my brain in as many ways as possible to attempt to delay the certain loss of mental acuity that invariably comes to us all, with the slow passing of the years. I keep fit and healthy and enjoy a balanced diet.

   I use my brain in as many ways as possible and hope this is helping to slow and perhaps stem the tide of the insidious onset of any form of dementia.

   I check my memory processes continually and carry out personal exercises in generating visual and verbal memory constructions.

    I’m aware of the early symptoms of Mild Cognitive Impairment and I continually check myself for any of these telltale signs of cell degeneration.

  I read up on anything and everything I can find to become fully  aware of the signs of dementia and I research for encouraging changes in diet or lifestyle to combat this mental insubordination.

  Perhaps I should say my absolute biggest fear and dread is succumbing to dementia and slowly becoming an insidious burden on my dear wife Margaret.

© Written by John Yeo

DAMION

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SATURDAY 17th OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION 

PROMPT ~ Three words: Long lost brother.

DAMION

by John Yeo

   I was curious to find an unexpected visitor on my doorstep when I returned from work today. I encountered a man who looked about ten years older than me leaning up against the doorpost. He had long fair hair, with striking green eyes. His eyes were noticeable as he had a permanent squint and he wore a pair of rather large plastic spectacles. He was over six feet tall and towered above me as he gave an impudent grin and said, ‘Hi! Pleased to meet you. I’m Damion, your long lost step-brother.’

 These words were delivered with a broad West Country accent. I was taken aback and I looked up at him and replied, ‘Are you mad? I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Get out of here before I call the police and have you removed.’

   ‘Hear me out and I will explain, I promise you we’re brothers, we have the same father, George Alexander. I was born in Somerset, where our father had set up a second home with my mother. I was the product of that relationship.’  This was said with the same impertinent grin.

    I responded angrily, ‘You’re obviously mistaken Damion! You look nothing like me and I don’t believe a word of your story. Now get out of here before I call the police.’

  He nonchalantly grinned and pulled a large envelope from his pocket and withdrew some photographs.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

LUCIDITY EPITOMIZED

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SATURDAY 17th OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION 

https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/author/sammicoxwriter/

LUCIDITY EPITOMIZED

by John Yeo

The clarity was crystal clear 

Every word was clearly defined,

As the solution began to appear

The facts were simply refined,

The answer was finally here

Born in the cells of a lucid mind.

Cold emotion helped to steer

Lucidity to the undefined.

(43 WORDS)

COMMUNICATION

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 TUESDAY 13th OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION 

PROMPT ~ Write about why you write.

COMMUNICATION 

by John Yeo

 Why do I write?

  The answer to this question goes back many years to the dim and distant past to my school days. In the days when pens were dipping pens that scratched on exercise books using an inkwell that transferred thoughts to paper. I remember I was always in my element in the English class where my imagination was allowed to run riot as we were all encouraged to write short stories and poetry. My fingers would become stained blue and sometimes the blots of ink would reach my face as I bit the end of the pen in absent-minded concentration. Sometimes the teacher would read out loud one or two particularly interesting pieces of work for the benefit of the rest of the class. 

  I remember one young lad who wrote about his life at home and the bruises his Mum and him would sometimes receive on a Friday night when his Dad returned from the local pub full of drink and frustrated anger. This was a story that wasn’t read out loud to the class but involved the headmaster and the police getting involved to stop this violence happening.

  It was then I first began to realise the importance of writing and the changes writing could effect in our lives.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

GRANDAD’S STAMPS

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 PROMPT  ~ You have a billion dollars in your bank account. How did you make it?

GRANDAD’S STAMPS

by John Yeo

   I was fourteen years old when the seeds were sown for my fortunes beginning to arrive by the lorry load. My name is Sebastian Large, I am a self made billionaire and I put all my large fortune down to a combination of luck and hard work.

   It was shortly after my fourteenth birthday when my Grandfather Albert died. This made me feel terrible and I remember crying myself to sleep, every night for a whole week. 

   Grandad was always a good friend to me and we used to laugh with each other whenever Mum and Dad took me to his house for a visit, which was usually about twice a week. Grandad was a tall man, slightly stooped in his shoulders with a shock of grey hair that was always unruly and usually in need of a visit to the barbers. He had bushy eyebrows and pale blue eyes that seemed to pierce through you to your heart. He was an ex-naval man, having spent over twenty years in the merchant navy on cargo ships. Grandad had been around the world many times over and he had a fund of tales and stories that he would relate to me almost from the day I was born. I loved hearing these wonderful tales of life onboard the trade vessels and the descriptions of the crews and sailors he had worked alongside. 

  Grandad was also a keen stamp collector and he had a roomful of stamp albums and stamped envelopes that he’d picked up during his travels. I remember looking through them with him many times, admiring the colourful square pictorial stamps from all around the world. Grandad would tell me many tales of the countries where these stamps originated from and how they came into his possession.

 One day we were going through an album of old English stamps when Grandad suddenly turned to me and said,

      ‘Seb. When I take my leave of this world, I intend to make sure you receive my entire stamp collection. Take real good care of them and they will someday take good care of you.’

I laughed nervously and replied. 

   ‘Grandad you will never die, I would miss you too much if you ever left us.’

   Sadly a year later, Grandad died and I inherited thousands of stamps all neatly pasted into stamp albums and on many different sized envelopes. I kept them in one of the rooms in the house where they simply began to gather dust and spiders webs.

   I left university with huge debts and a degree in creative writing and I soon discovered that budding writers weren’t paid much money. I suddenly had the bright idea to have my inherited stamp collection valued and perhaps they would raise enough money to pay my debts and start me off in business.

  The day of the valuation arrived and I asked a couple of auctioneers to value the collection. Imagine my surprise when I was informed, Grandads stamps were worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at a conservative estimate. I was delighted when they were finally sold for close to a million pounds as there were some rare oriental stamps among the collection printed in gold leaf paint and some extremely early valuable English stamps.

  This was my springboard to making me a billionaire. I invested much of this money in technology and oil shares and soon my fortunes rapidly increased.

 However this wasn’t anything to do with the main income that led me to amassing my billion pounds. 

  No! I wrote down many of my Grandads stories and sold millions of books, some became films and plays and then several television series. 

   I became a considerably wealthy famous author and I bought and sold many mansions and even two private Carribean islands.

  Yes I have a billion dollars in the bank, thanks in many, many ways to my hard working, seafaring Grandad. 

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

(I picked up this prompt from a site on the internet called freewrite.com I was at a loss as to where to find my subject for the day. I think this response turned out pretty well and I wrote the above piece in about an hour. The words just seemed to flow once I got started and I’m extremely pleased with the result.I intend to publish it on my WordPress site and expand the story later.)

(761 WORDS)

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SATURDAY 10th OCTOBER 2017 ~ FLASH FICTION

Weekend Writing Prompt #178 – Asinine

ASININE

by John Yeo

An Ass is either a male or a female donkey,

Either sex behaving in a selfish, ignorant manner would be

described as asinine,

However when humans behave donkeyish 

they are exhibiting asinine behaviour.

When the leader of the herd indulges in stubborn, narcissistic, asinine behaviour, anything can happen.

Divisions in the herd can swiftly appear and factions will split.

The herd instinct is particularly noticeable among the followers of an asinine donkey.

Bray away!

(74 Words)

DEAD AND ALIVE

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  PROMPT  ~ You and your ghost best friend are an infamous crime-solving team.

Image courtesy of the internet

DEAD AND ALIVE 

by John Yeo

   It was 3 o’clock in the morning when my mobile phone shrilled into life by my bedside. I came to consciousness rapidly, still in the throes of a wild dream, where we had solved a huge case for a fantastic reward. 

  I’m Case Cassidy, a private investigator attached to the Mutual London Insurance Company. I have been called in to privately investigate some large life insurance claims where murder has been suspected.

 Little does anyone know that I have a partner, I like to think of him as a sleeping partner. He doesn’t answer to a first name, just his well known name when he was alive which began with the letter ‘C’. He was a famous detective during his lifetime and I must say I’m glad to have him around.

‘You’d better get that.’ came the familiar Italian/American voice clearly in my mind.

 ‘O.K! O.K!’ I replied, ‘Keep your mackintosh on!’

I punched the button on the mobile ‘Hello!  Yeah!’

   ‘Hey Case!  This is the Insurance fraud controller. There’s been some new evidence on the Johnson case that we paid out on last week. We’ve had a tipoff that the beneficiary is at the airport now fleeing the country with some ill gotten gains. Try to get to the airport before he leaves and tail him until the police arrive to arrest him.’

‘I’m on my way!’  I replied and slammed my finger hard on the disconnect button.

   C’s voice came into my head instantly. ‘I remember we met the suspect a month ago, I remember him vividly. A smarmy sort of a guy who spoke with a cut glass public school accent. I’ll fly over to the airport now and keep tabs on him while you jump in your beat up Peugeot car and negotiate the traffic.’

    ‘O.K, but haunt him with all manner of three dimensional interventions until I get there.’ I found then; I was talking to thin air.

    The six mile journey to the airport was fast and smooth at that time of the morning. I was lucky not to encounter any police patrol cars on the way. I got through to a noisy, crowded terminal one when C’s voice came clearly into my head,

    ‘He’s in the first class lounge on terminal three. He is drinking champagne and looks quite pleased with himself,’

  I headed straight over there and produced my ID card to the airport security man and approached the suspect.

  ‘Hi Mr Johnson! Fancy meeting you here, I remember you from a few days ago when you were in our office in Holborn. How are you? Are you off on a trip?’

 C’s voice broke into my mind and said, ‘Tell him he’s under arrest for grand larceny and fraud.’

 Johnson looked somewhat shaken as he replied, ‘No, I’m off to visit family in Spain.’

Meantime in my mind C was growling, ‘Cuff him until the police arrive.’

 I replied to C in my head, ‘Look you know I’m not a policeman!’

I replied to Mr Johnson. ‘Nice, what part of Spain?’

C was aggravating my composure with his comments when I suddenly said to Johnson.

‘Oh one more thing! I’m making a citizen’s arrest and you are under my custody until the police arrive.’

Johnson tried to run but the airport security guard stopped him at the door.

 The police arrived and took him away. C and I were arguing for ages over the way this case turned out.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved 

RUNAWAY

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 Prompt  ~. Tell a story from your favorite era.

THE RUNAWAY 

by John Yeo

     I woke up in a haystack at the side of a large field near the village of Sparkwell. I’d run away from our home near Dartmoor after a pedlar had visited our village with the news that the Spanish were on their way to Plymouth with a huge armada. 

  My name is Jim Wilson, I’m 15 years old and I can hardly wait to get there and join the navy. My Dad and Mum wouldn’t let me volunteer so I’ve run away to join up. Oh! I think I may be in luck, here comes a hay wagon.

     ‘Hey stop! I need a lift. Stop!’

The driver slowed and turned his weather-beaten face towards me. He was wearing a worn black outfit that most farmers and their vassals who followed the Puritan religion wore.

     ‘Hop on the cart son; I’m only going about two miles along this road. Where are you headed?’

 I started to climb onto the back of the cart but the driver signalled to me to sit beside him on the front. I answered his question with the single word Plymouth.

     ‘Plymouth! that’s about ten miles from here. Why are you heading that way?

      ‘Have you heard the latest news? The Spanish are on the way and I want to join the navy to help with the fight.’ I responded.

      ‘No! I didn’t know they were nearly here. I had heard they were on the way to invade England and King Philip wanted to inflict the Catholic religion on us. I’m sure the Queen has organised a fleet to meet them, but I know we’re heavily outnumbered by the Spaniards.’

  I introduced myself and explained that I had left home and had spent the night in a haystack.’

    ‘Probably the one in the field where I stopped to give you a lift. I’m Farmer Frank, Have you eaten anything today? No, I didn’t think so. Why don’t you come to our farmhouse and share breakfast with my family. My wife will look after you and we can see if we can find someone who is heading towards Plymouth Hoe. That’s where you are certain to find the English fleet. I believe Sir Francis Drake is in command of the fleet.’

    I was so grateful for his help, I couldn’t help smiling broadly, I thanked him by offering to do some jobs around the farm for him. He readily agreed to this and we were soon pulling up outside some ramshackle barns and outhouses where Farmer Frank unhitched the horses and I was shown where the fresh hay was. I filled the feeding trough and poured some buckets of water into the water trough. I enjoyed a substantial breakfast and met the Farmer’s wife Sarah and their two strapping sons Terry and Robin. I was then asked to clean out the pig sty and the stables to pass the time while Farmer Frank went to make some enquiries among his neighbours. 

  I set to work willingly and cleaning and clearing up after the animals while Terry and Robin went off to work in the fields. Farmer Frank was visiting several people in the neighbouring farms and didn’t return until late. I must admit I was feeling dead tired when it was time for our evening meal. Sarah the farmer’s wife had fed me a lunch of cheese and apple with a huge chunk of rough bread earlier in the day.

  Farmer Frank said,  ‘Jim, not good news I’m afraid; nobody is going towards Plymouth for a while, but you’re welcome to stay for a few days and earn some money working on the farm. You can sleep in the small barn’

 I reluctantly agreed to this and I made my way there and settled in the corner on some warm hay. I was so tired, but you can imagine how much sleep I got when I heard the sound of bolts on the outside of the door getting drawn and I realised I was locked in and a prisoner.

  I tried the doors but they were firmly shut and I desperately searched for an exit to enable me to escape. I found a boarded up window high in the barn and began to physically break the rotten wood that comprised the window frame. A barn owl had made a hole and I smashed my way out through this, to the consternation of the owls that were screeching loudly as I broke out. As I jumped through the hole and landed on a pile of straw ten feet below, the farmyard dogs began barking loudly. A lantern was alight inside the farmhouse as I hobbled away, having twisted my ankle when I landed. I hid in a huge water-filled wooden barrel and escaped across the fields before dawn.

   I was fortunate to be picked up along the road by a pedlar who was heading into Plymouth. This man was a tinker who made a living selling and repairing pots and pans. A large red-faced friendly travelling man who was jovial and glad of my company. He introduced himself as Peter Potter. He was shocked when I described my recent experience with Farmer Frank and said he would spread the word everywhere he went for people to be on their guard.

 We were both surprised to find Sir Francis Drake calmly playing bowls when we arrived. Apparently the Spanish were defeated by the weather. I joined up anyway and soon became a cabin boy on the good ship, VIctory.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

THAILAND (2)

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SATURDAY 3rd OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION

Prompt ~ Explore what your travels in Asia have been like.

THAILAND (2)

by John Yeo

 At the end of our first week in Thailand during our visit to Phuket botanical gardens, we wandered around the hot houses. We enjoyed the orchid house and the impressive cactus house. At the end of our visit we viewed a large ornamental lake packed with huge Koi Carp where we enjoyed feeding these impressive creatures with fish food.

   There were some fantastic sandy beaches adjoining the hotel and we hired a couple of sun loungers for the princely sum of 100 baht each and spent some quality time on the beach. The seawater was warm and shallow for a long way out and we enjoyed a few beautiful relaxing days on the beach. We became friendly with the owner of the beach concession who arranged for us to have our clothes laundered at extremely reasonable rates.

  We were treated to another colourful show in the resort restaurant in the evening.

  Another interesting experience was our trip on a traditional Thailand long-tailed boat. We hired a boat complete with a young sailor who took us on a trip around the bay. The sea was as gentle and calm as a millpond and there was a nice gentle breeze.

 We visited a huge Thailand night market, this was an extremely memorable experience. 

There were many food stalls selling a huge variety of street food, at the beginning of the market. This led to the main section of the market where a huge display of clothing, electrical goods, jewellery and much besides, was on display. Several different varieties of live music was performed by street musicians all along the length of the market.

 Our next attraction was a small museum that recorded the huge influence of the Chinese settlers  on the development of Thailand.

Margaret attended a Thai food cookery course and was presented with an impressive certificate on completion of the course.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.