Turlough
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I have 159 stories published in
7 collections on the site.
My stories have been read 329911 times
and 214 of my stories have been cherry picked.
682 of my 2,496 comments have been voted Great Feedback with a total of 713 votes
Terence Mullan
During the hot Balkan afternoons it’s grand to lie on the settee with jugs of glacial tea and a summer soundtrack. Joni Mitchell, Joseph Canteloube, Bob Marley and Mississippi John Hurt on scratchy vinyl all sooth as Pavlovian mosquitos snarl from their sides of insect screens.
Those afternoons will be back soon, I hope. I don't care for this having to wear socks nonsense.
My collections
My stories
Johnny Ten Levs vs Jack Daniels
It’s that one hundred words thing again, covering the first half of March when I was mostly in Bulgaria.
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- 12 reads
Streets of Stoke Newington
Possibly the most tenuous link ever to a weekly inspirational point (this week it’s toast) and a fond recollection of happy times in the mid-1980s living with ‘her indoors’ in a North London oasis of social harmony.
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- 12 comments
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- 689 reads
The Archers in Cyrillic Script
The events of February 2025 (the second part) in my neck of the area of land, smaller than a forest, that is covered with growing trees, described using my usual one hundred words per day method.
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- 12 comments
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- 355 reads
Please Tell Him That I Said Hello
The events of February 2025 (the first part) in my neck of the copse, described using my usual one hundred words per day method.
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- 14 comments
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- 416 reads
The Lighthouse Keeper of Ras Gombo
It’s a well-known fact that seafarers staring at the sea during the hours of darkness can be hypnotised by the calming waves and the bioluminescence as their ship cuts through the water. In their half-awake half-asleep state of mind, they feel an unexplainable urge to walk to the railings, climb over and jump in. I once experienced this peculiar feeling whilst on watch on a bulk carrier sailing south through the Red Sea towards the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Indian Ocean beyond.
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Fireflies and frogs
Posted on Sat, 21 Sep 2024
A couple of times in our garden, after a summer evening rainshower, I've seen small frogs that have swallowed fireflies. I only know this because I've seen the dull flashing from inside their throats.
This is a lovely poem Jenny. I really...
Read full commentPosted in Enchanted insects
Bernard Manning
Posted on Tue, 09 Jul 2024
The former existence of Bernard Manning pours doubt on the possibility that there has ever been a supreme being that's made us in their image.
Read full commentPosted in Imperfect Beauty
Kind words, Di. Thank you.
Posted on Fri, 21 Jul 2023
Kind words, Di. Thank you.
If it helps you keep the giggling under control I'll read something about my involvement with the bubonic plague on 12 August.
Read full commentPosted in Our Man in Golubac
Suffering children
Posted on Fri, 17 Jan 2025
It is said that the cries of the suffering children can be heard echoing late into most nights.
That's what our neighbours used to say when we lived in York in the mid 1960s but it turned out they were talking about me and my...
Read full commentPosted in The Golden Fleece (Ghost Walk) Part Two of Two
Those women
Posted on Sat, 21 Dec 2024
I really like your line... Their songs like wire in no man's land
Some of the roughest times in history were passed down the years in song. Always thought provoking and haunting, as your poem is. Good on those women!
Read full commentPosted in The Border Ballads
Leeches
Posted on Wed, 18 Dec 2024
The effects of war, pollution, drought, disease and starvation inflict much more harm on the world and its population than potentially life-saving vaccines do, but many governments and the people who vote for them seem to be able to overlook that...
Read full commentPosted in Why I'm a consistent and unabashed 'anti-vaxxer'
Righto Di...
Posted on Mon, 16 Dec 2024
Righto Di, thank you.
It was the memory of Julia that brought me to ABC but that memory is the most difficult thing I have ever attempted to write about, especially when taking into consideration the awful circumstances of her unnecessary...
Read full commentPosted in Velvet Goldmine
The Balkans
Posted on Wed, 13 Nov 2024
There are several sides to this story CM. In the past I've spoken to Croats and Bosnians about those wars but this was the first time I'd had a conversation with a Serb. None of them have ever had anything to say on the subject that wasn't...
Read full commentPosted in Boško’s Clouds
Wooooooo!!!!
Posted on Mon, 30 Sep 2024
Do creatures of the night perceive apparitions?
What a wonderfully thought provoking question. Is it only humans that have a fear of the dark? Could it be that ghosts are scared of humans and that is why we rarely see them?...
Read full commentPosted in Visions Carried On The Wind
Can Can
Posted on Thu, 15 Aug 2024
Having cans lifted from you carry out is no joke. I feel for you CM. I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes.
Read full commentPosted in Benches & Hedges
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