Cassandra? Never met ‘er.

This piece of nonsense was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of 'meter', which recalcitrant Americans persist in believing is a measure of distance, proving that if you give them an inch they'll take 1.6 kilometres. Cassandra, the Greek patron saint of meterology, was blessed with the ability to take the …

The Sun shines out of Geoffrey’s artichokes

This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of 'verge'. Explanatory note: In Australia, a suburban garden verge is the strip of land between the footpath (sidewalk, pavement) and the street. Technically this land is owned by the relevant local government authority and some maintain them (e.g. mow the grass) …

The Eternality of Eternity

And now for something completely different this week; an historical anecdote. This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of 'eternal'. Arthur Malcolm Stace was born in 1885, brought up by alcoholic parents in poverty that led to stealing bread and milk and searching for scraps of food in bins, …

A Colonel of truth

This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of 'play'. It's basically true, allowing for some poetic license and what time does to memories, and I only publish it as a very poor confession for a thoughtless act. In my callow and thoughtless youth, I was a budding and ambitious …

Who the hell is Lou Ming?

This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of 'energy'. With my eyesight rapidly fading, I’m forced to type using a dictation app (so please excuse any Type O’s and things I oughta correct) and I’m reduced to getting my news from the radio and podcasts, but I’m not sure …

I’d love to turn you off, Ken Oath

This piece was written for the Six Sentence Story Challenge, with the prompt word of 'branch'. I was halfway through reading out a news story about how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall when Ken Oath, as was his wont, interrupted to branch off into ‘That reminds me of the dreadful potholes …

The house that Jerry built

This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of 'structure'. What the hell it means I have no idea. 😉 To describe what Jerry had built as a ‘structure’ strained the definition to breaking point and made Escher’s multi-dimensional fantasies seem like a housing project blueprint in comparison. The foundations, …

A dollar’s worth of vampiric destiny

This piece was adapted from an earlier piece of mine for the Six Sentence Challenge, for the prompt word of 'film'. I’ve picked up a job as an extra in the Coen brothers' new film, ‘Fargo Is No Country For Old Men’, starring Nicole Theron, and I’m Customer No. 3 on the set of the …

Single cell Nirvana

This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of 'guard'. Initially, Lester thought it would be interesting to share a cell with Jake, an Australian, given that over the years he’d shared a toilet and washbasin with guys from almost all of the 50 States, but it wasn’t long before …

You learn to smell it

This piece has been adapted from a longer work about my days as a roadie for largely forgettable rock bands in the 1970's. It responds to the Six Sentence Challenge prompt word of 'band'. This was a new band I was ‘auditioning’ for as their full-time roadie, in a sticky-carpeted outer suburban hotel where,  as …