New at Bermondsey

I think it's the best thing you've written in a while - it has pace and lilt and style. Just one small niggle: I sip timidly at my own tea which wishes to be hot But doesn’t quite manage it and I feel nervous and new the 'but doesn't quite manage it' ruins the scan - it needs different words. Read it out loud and you'll what I mean. But it's good Jude - very good!

Jude is brilliant at setting a scene wihout recourse to ornate decription; comfortless room, nervous people, nasty tea ... says it all. Great.

Yep, I can smell that floor. Putting milk in the pot?...Ugh. Bermondsey?! Ahhhh! :) "She brushes invisible tears, leans against the wall" is a fave line. Thanks It aint law if it aint laminated!

Thank you but all this really happened last night ...all I had to do was describe it to you, quite straightforwardly (for the usually long winded me). I am still reeling from the shock of seeing white tea emerging from the spout of the teapot. A friend of mine told me that he had witnessed this spectacle at a meeting but I think it was 'Up North' and I didn't believe such things could happen in the civilised world. I didn't entirely say what I should have- that despite the bad tea, hard chairs and sitting opposite a nervous newcomer - I was truly safe and at home. Perhaps it needs a partner poem some day. I am really glad but suprised that you all liked it. I wrote it in about 10 mins and made no major revisions whereas other stuff I've laboured over recently- their branches yield no cherries! That said, I will make the amend as per TCs suggestion, which I can see is needed! Thanks again the jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net