A small, abandoned (?) caravan behind a gap subsequently blocked with four huge concrete cubes
That's one seriously mean fence! It would be interesting to hear from anyone who knows what moved Harrow council or whoever (TfL?) to erect it. It's a pity that the parkland and woodland around Sudbury Hill is not open to the public, as it is owned and used exclusively on three sides by the Post Office union sports club, John Lyons School and Harrow Cricket Club. However, we do have access to Grove Farm, and part of the Capital Ring, both nearby and a little further up Greenford Road (hiking boots on) to Horsenden Hill. "Mustn't grumble!?"
Update 2022: The site is protected for work on railway sidings, which is ongoing.
For the next in our 2020 lockdown series, we revisit the joint-winner of our inaugural short story competition. Some of you may be running around without face or leg coverings for the allowed daily exercise but it's not compulsory, you know. Happily, we can still stay home and read short stories. (Ed)
“Later, in The Tinners, they sit together in Dodie’s corner on sagging burgundy plush cushions. He has bought her a cider, he drinks beer from the bottle. They talk. Dodie is half listening, looking at the scratches through the varnish on the table…”
Vanessa Gebbie
Novelist, short story writer, poet, Vanessa Gebbie has won awards for both poetry and prose, including the Troubadour International Poetry Prize, a Bridport short story prize and a much-coveted Willesden Herald short story prize. Author of ten various books, her novel The Coward’s Tale (Bloomsbury) was a Financial Times novel of the year, and her debut poetry pamphlet was selected by the TLS as one of the best of its year. She is commissioning and contributing editor of Short Circuit, Guide to the Art of the Short Story, editions 1 and 2 (Salt). She teaches widely.
"The author of “Dodie’s Gift” cares about character. It is a beautiful piece about two people circling each other, wondering whether to make contact." (Zadie Smith – Judge’s report, 2006)
"All funds raised go to Safe Ireland, you can check out all the great work they do on their website https://www.safeireland.ie/ [...] A huge thank you to Kevin Cassidy and his team at Document Films for the beautiful video edit."
"Collaborators: Ailbhe Reddy, Aimée, Áine Cahill, Allie Sherlock, Caroline Corr, Elaine Mai, Emma Langford, Erica Cody, Eve Belle, Faye O’Rourke, Fia Moon, Imelda May, Laoise, Lilla Vargen, Lisa Hannigan, Loah Lyra, Melina Malone, Moya Brennan, Niamh Farrell, Orla Gartland, Pillow Queens, Roe, Róisín O, Ruthanne, Saint Sister, Sibéal, Soulé, Stephanie Rainey, Tolu Makay, Una Healy, Wyvern Lingo"
"Musicians: Aoife Dennedy, Louize Carroll, Lucia McPartlin, Maria O’Connor, Maria Ryan, Sarah Lynch, Theodora Byrne"
Safe Ireland: "Can you imagine an Ireland where women and children are free from violence and abuse?" (Donate)
"Dreams" is a Cranberries song written by Noel Hogan and Dolores O'Riordan.
In the second of our 2020 lockdown series, you are the writer. Have you ever missed a step on the stairs or turned back in fear? Have you ever given someone a piece of your mind? Are you an object of desire or the subject? Stay home. Ed.
“As Richard tends the first patient of the evening – a young woman with black eye make-up and an arm wound – he thinks of the pills, safe in their bottle, doubly safe in his jacket, safer still in his locker. The arm wound is self-inflicted. It is too precise.”
Nick Holdstock is the author of The Casualties, a novel, and several books about China.
“They all fell silent for a moment. I could see them trying to look into the future, to imagine themselves as adults, married maybe, perhaps with families of their own, working away in jobs like Uncle Tommy in the Post Office, or Auntie Lizzie in the nursing before she was married, or gone to England, like my mother and father, or even further afield.”
John O'Donoghue
John O’Donoghue is the author of Letter To Lord Rochester (Waterloo Press, 2004), The Beach Generation (Pighog Press, 2007), Brunch Poems (Waterloo Press, 2009), Sectioned: A Life Interrupted (John Murray, 2009), Fools & Mad (Waterloo Press, 2014), and The King From Over the Water (The Wild Geese Press, 2019). Sectioned was awarded Mind Book of the Year in 2010. His journalism, essays, and reviews have been published in The Observer, The Guardian, The Times Educational Supplement, The London Magazine, PN Review, Acumen, and Orbis. He lives in Brighton and teaches Creative Writing at the Brighton Writers’ Centre.
Partly as a response to and respite from the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown blues, we've reopened the submissions window for Story of the Month. It would be great to hear from writers who have not been featured before in this online series.
Stories previously published in print but not online will be considered. Please advise details so that acknowledgement of the original publication can be included.
There's a rolling deadline of the second-last Friday of every month but often select the featured short story before then.
There is no reading fee. Recompense is limited to one copy of our latest anthology. Copyright: apart from permission to display it on our website online, you retain all rights in your story.
523 people hospitalised with #Covid_19 at Northwick Park (& sister trusts) have been discharged since March 4th. Tragically 364 people have died there. 250 people still being treated as of yesterday. I can only begin to imagine the sense of loss (1/2) https://t.co/Zy2nAFHff1
"A family from Kent who shared a video of their living room performance of a lockdown-themed adaptation of a Les Misérables song have become a sensation online. Ben and Danielle Marsh and their four children changed the lyrics of One Day More to reflect common complaints during the Covid-19 lockdown. They say the video, which has gone viral, was intended to give friends and family a laugh during this stressful time" (Guardian News - YouTube)
Vision, having sight of the problem, is vital in order to solve it. Jeremy Hunt cites other countries who have got control of their outbreaks with intensive testing and contact tracing. Let's hope the government understands this message and acts on it.
Daffodils are ugly, egomaniacs
Blowing their own trumpets,
Playing silly buglers, monotonous
"Does my bulb look big in this" bimbos.
Oh but we love them, we love them senseless
Because we know they're better than us.
Apology
For avoidance of all doubt,
daffodils are lovely, hapless
horse-like, handsome flowers.
I apologise to daffodils,
they cannot help themselves,
it's the way they're brought up.
This is a sort of avant garde short story or flash fiction in a Twitter thread. Follow the link to read to the end.
If I ever met Jurgen Klopp I’d say “omg if we have a baby we should call it Klipp” just so he’d raise an eyebrow at me and tell me I’m a moron and I’d be so naked by the time he’d finished doing that.
South Vale has been resurfaced, as was badly needed. Additionally speed bumps have been added as part of the new 20 mph zone. (This is a follow-up to our previous report about this area.)
Wood End Road with roadworks roadblock outside Harrow Cricket Club
South Vale newly resurfaced
Example of the new speed bumps
Considering the number of car crashes seen around these back roads, including one where one car ended upside-down on top of another one [Why haven't we got a picture of that?! Ed.], this is a welcome development.
