Empty Park

Sitting on one of the wooden benches scattered about the park i walk through every day.
Nothing is different today.
It is 4.30 and there is yet to be a person in sight.
But this is nothing new. Often the park is quiet and empty. And dark.

Green grass stretches across hills.
Seperated into chunks by thin slivers of pathways.
Trees line the paths.
The wind whistles through the trees echoing the silence.
Grass blows softly.

It is a peaceful experience to sit.
Watching.
And listening.
In the quiet park after the school bells ring.

Then into the silence rings the sound of laughter.
A dog barks and tugs on its lead.
Trying to reach the man who is jogging down the hill.
The park comes alive.
No longer a quiet expanse, but teeming with life.

The time for watching is over,
In the no longer Empty Park

Garden Antics

Sunshine, Fairytales and Magic

You know how when you're a child you automatically believe in things like magic and fairies and the ever elusive unicorn who, no matter how hard you try, can never be found?

You think they're hiding at the bottom of the garden waiting and watching. Flying and flirting. Playing in mounds of dirt that your own mother won't let you play in because you have to wear your good trousers to Sunday lunch.

And then disaster strikes. A most tragic event.

We grow up.

Then following this immediately comes

FORGETTING

Suddenly we are all too "grown up" to believe in magic and miracles. It becomes a taboo subject just to suggest that you believe, even for the tiniest of seconds, that a colony of faries live in the shrubbery.

But why?

There is no reason to forget the tales we grow up hearing. The things we wish with all our might would be real. Sometimes these are the things that keep us going. Somehow we can survive our "grown up" life a lot more easily, if we let our imaginations run WILD for a change.

Try it. I dare you.

Christmas Lights.

Q. What makes the christmas lights go on?
A. Magic!

In Mushroom Castle on Twinkletop Hill

Once upon a time there was a little faerie girl who lived in Mushroom Castle. She worked for the princess and she didn't like it one bit. Her jobs were the worst: looking after the princess who was very spoiled. She even had to do her homework!

Now this young faerie had glittering stars in her hair and the most beautiful wings of green and silver mist. Many wondered how one so pretty could have ended up a maid. But it wasn't her fault, she was forced into it by the princess who had pretended to be her friend before commanding her to work for her! Rumour had it the princess was jealous of the faerie girls starry hair.

One evening when the faerie girl had just finished her chores she climbed up onto the roof of the castle and stared out across Twinkletop Hill. From her perch she could see the sparkling lights of the other faerie homes throughout the land, lighting the black night sky, and she longed to be with them. She was summoned from her thinking by the shrill voice of her princess calling her to make her bed.

She stormed into the princesses chambers and threw the bed covers onto the floor. "You can make your own bed princess" Angrily she took to the skies and tore out all the stars from her hair chucking them into the sky where they stuck forever lighting the sky at night. The faerie girls fluttered down into the town and was immediatly taken in by her old family. "Luna! You came home" with a smile Luna settled down into her own home where she lived happily ever after.

Oh No I Just Killed Christmas!

Week 1: Costa Friday with the girlies. Grab the usual caramel latte and then notice the FABULOUS christmas biscuits they have. So naturally i ask for a Rudolph shaped one. Only to realise when i sit down that if i eat this then Santa can't find his way to the houses... however he looks so good that i do eventually eat him with minimal guilt.

Week 2: Costa Friday with the same girls a week later. Again the usual caramel latte. And again the christmas biscuits take my fancy. So this time i have a christmas tree. Very little guilt required for this one because it's just a tree right? WRONG! I now realise that i have eaten everyones decorations for christmas and so whilst they already won't be recieving presents they can't even have a nicely decorated home.

Week 3: Not even a week later. Wednesday. Teaching a class of first years all about christmas in R.E. Surely i can't do any damage here? Well you would be surprised. How many people would like to forget about maths during the christmas period? Well i associated maths with christmas. Percentages of all things. There is no way christmas will ever be the same for these kids now.

The conclusion i have managed to draw from all this is that although i originally felt very little guilt over Rudolph, my destruction of christmas slowly escalated and now there is no way that it can continue. Without Rudolph Santa can't find the houses. Even if he could they wouldn't be decorated with trees so he wouldn't be able to find them. And lastly even if the trees were there and Rudolph was too, maths and christmas don't add up and so many hearts won't be in it at all. I can't see any way to change this huge mistake and so it can be concluded that i have in fact killed christmas. Just my luck.

A Break

Taking a break from my usual style:

I feel it's time to get to know me a little.

I love to sing... even though i can't. Definately not blessed with the voice of an angel.

But i have a never ending imagination. Creating stories out of any situation, painting a piture with words. I love to create a character, and feel their pain, love, joy, the same way i feel my own.

I marvel at the size of the sky. The knowledge that we are sooo tiny! In comparison to the universe.

And like every teenage girl, i love to hang out and eat pizza with X factor on the screen.

My schoolbooks are doodled with the pictures, the ideas for my stories. Pictures i turn into words. Page after page of my Little Black Book. Though i'll admit it's actually A4 so not that little.

So there you go, the basic me.

Aren't i wonderful? Just kidding, i also have a brilliant sense of humour... Sometimes!