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You don’t love me anymore? 032/100

The story today is a parable really, a kind of lesson or some fables of the deconstruction or even just a simple life-guide. I’ve not just been shit-canned, fired, “let go”, transitioned, eighty-sixed, decruited, “freed up for the future” or even had a “career alternative enhancement” handed me. I’ve also… Read More »You don’t love me anymore? 032/100

A shot of a red faced Gordon Ramsay doing the usual "I'm a Michelin starred chef, you're a piece of shit" shtick. He's pointing his finger at a man in front of him, saying "You bullshitting little fucker". Don't give this man any oxygen of publicity.

As a starter for ten, here’s a list of 20 questions for your next character 028/100

Struggling for the muse? Difficult day at the office? Need quick inspiration? This hack might just get you out of the writing hole… After you’ve run through the list, you should have a coherent picture of the character you’re aiming for, their situation and some of their life. Credit to… Read More »As a starter for ten, here’s a list of 20 questions for your next character 028/100

Refugee cooks 026/100

Dave had heard the story so many times that he could recite it verbatim.. But that didn’t make it any the less remarkable. Years before they got offered (and rapidly took) the chance to run the pier restaurant in Deal, his parents had been refugees; one from India, one from… Read More »Refugee cooks 026/100

A shot of a woman, Parastoo and her mother Elahe cooking food from their home country of Iran, including Mirzah Ghasemi (smoked aubergines with egg) and Adas Polo (meatballs with rice and lentils). In the foreground is the food with Parastoo standing behind the counter, behind her the stove and her mother.

A false memory of murder. 025/100

Two thought exercises came via Greg Bear’s “Queen of Angels”, a book I’d read 30+ years ago but whose central character had stuck in my brain ever since. Mary Choy, a police detective assigned to a multiple murder case — in a society where people are so well balanced that… Read More »A false memory of murder. 025/100

An African antique black ebony statue of woman carrying a water jug on her shoulder, a skirt that looks almost like fish scales and naked breasts against a white background

Electricity from the air 024/100

It seemed like magic then of course. Now, it’s actually possible via an enzyme whose name sounds like an ancient Aztec god: Huc I was reminded of Ben’s experiment when reading a recent piece about the discovery of an enzyme that can, literally, produce electricity from the hydrogen in the… Read More »Electricity from the air 024/100

Ben Franklin holding aloft a key attached to a kite with the cherubs being assisting and providing the wind.

The village idiot? 023/100

They called me a halfwit for most of my life. I’m thirty-two now. I’m told people aren’t supposed to call me that now. Let me tell you about me. My name’s Johnny and I used to work at the mill for old Mr Kenny, helping him with the bags of… Read More »The village idiot? 023/100

Actor John Mills as the character Michael in Ryan's Daughter; he's wearing. flat cap, torn and ragged clothing, has teeth missing and is described as the (derogatory) "village halfwit"

The cook’s downfall 019/100

Damien was a cook. Well, he called himself a chef. but he wasn’t. He was a cook. Nothing wrong with that latter appellation or the work done by everyone who had the same job-title, but he wanted to big up his title, so CHEF was to be what people were… Read More »The cook’s downfall 019/100

Two checks working, prepping lots of meat. The one on the right, bearded is mopping the brow of the other with a small white cloth. The other chef has glasses and carries on with his knife work. For Stone and von Hauske, it’s all about supporting each other.

The hidden valley 016/100

Henry had seen this image many years ago. It had stuck with him, through his inevitable divorce after the early death of both of his kids, through his years wandering the roads looking for a place to stop, to lay down even a few roots, even through the brief but… Read More »The hidden valley 016/100

A cracked mud river or lake bed. Deep canyons of no water. Brown and desolate. There's a man with an oar sitting stranded in a wooden dugout type canoe, white shirt and straw hat, inspecting the waterway that he used to be able to float and traverse along.

The new Fen cathedrals 014/100

This piece is something I’d started writing in parts as Val and I talked and walked in the local woods; I decided on using it today as there was a news report this morning of more up-to-date research showing which areas of the UK were likely to be under-water or… Read More »The new Fen cathedrals 014/100

Flooded UK town; all the houses have water across their front gardens and coming into the front doors. There's a car or two also submerged.

Pottery on the shelf 013/100

Prompted by the ongoing Kitchen God project, I’m writing about the — for millennia — most important item that humans made; the pot or bowl, that most vital item allowing them to heat, transport and eat food from. This image shows (against a blue & white striped background,) an ancient… Read More »Pottery on the shelf 013/100

Against a blue & white striped background, an ancient ceramic pot damaged, broken but still mainly intact is cupped in a man's hand. His fingers and nails show ingrained dirt, perhaps from the earth that surrounded this item?

A whale of thrushes 011/100

There is a part of the Fen, a section of magical land — not far from here — where there are air-whales; leviathans able to take flight, dip, soar, swoop, almost avian in their agility. I want to fly with them one day.

A murmuration of thrushes showing over a Fenland landscape with a water inlet showing bottom right, rushes growing in the foreground and a line of trees in the middle distance. The birds together look like a whale

Creeping seas 008/100

The changes were subtle at first, the sea-line moving imperceptibly each day further and further up the shingle. The road traffic running alongside wasn’t aware of the new encroachment, the drivers unseeing that the Channel was slowly getting closer and closer. Why would they though? They probably didn’t even glance… Read More »Creeping seas 008/100

An old WWII concrete bunker; moss and growth on the roof, slowly rotting away, with slit windows against a blue sea, waves coming in slowly, the foreground is beach and wild grasses.

The death apple tree 005/100

We lived and worked in Florida for a number of years but I don’t recall ever seeing this one there, the Manchineel, unforgettably described as “the most poisonous tree in the World”. Quite benign looking really. Nondescript. Pictures of some of the famous poisoners from history are similarly lacking in… Read More »The death apple tree 005/100

Typical of Dutch genre paintings from the first half of the seventeenth century, Wtewael’s kitchen scene abounds in visual jokes of a frankly erotic nature, such as the prominent display of meat on a skewer. The grins of housemaid and errand boy indicate their enjoyment of one another’s company, while the lavishly depicted foodstuffs surrounding them allude to the pleasures of the flesh. Such combinations of risqué humor with abundant still life elements had deep roots in Netherlandish painting.

The man in a hurry 004/100

I don’t know the source of this photo; it was sent to me by Val as a prompt, so I’ve not looked for it or tried a reverse image search. Just here to allow me to give a description. —– Cigarette tight between his lips, this archetypically Continental man, blouson… Read More »The man in a hurry 004/100

Cigarette tight between his lips, this archetypically Continental man, blouson jacket half zipped over black Breton fisherman style jumper, makes his way past a derelict back-drop. A large watch peeps from underneath his left sleeve. Moving from right to left, eyes fixed in the middle distance off over the viewers right shoulder, the buildings behind him, having been subjected to some trauma, fronts demolished, glass shattered and lying on the ground, track-marks from maybe armoured vehicles or recovery trucks in the mud and brick dust behind him.