DRIP, HYPNOTIC, SULK

For Three Word Wednesday

SUBLIME

Gush – delight; Drip – sulk
Hypnotic influences
Matching mood thresholds

DESIGNED TO INTIMIDATE

IN THE ROOM WHERE DECISIONS ARE MADE

For The American Sandwich

Through the door, a pair of rimless glasses frames a smile that hides a scowl.
The stench of authority, a perfume we don’t care for, fills the air.
And that face, angled to suggest concern; condescends, patronises.

SAY THE NUMBERS

DOUBLE UP

For NaiSaiKu Challenge?

77
154
308
154
77

Seventy seven
One hundred and fifty four
THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHT
One hundred and fifty four
Seventy seven

WHERE ARE WE?

A Durian from the garden - honestly.

Photo by Kanpirom Srisongnang.

M14

For TOP – Random Stuff

We were eating seventeen we bought from Thom’s Place (1)
On the corner where the Princess kisses Greame (2)
We considered six or seven in the Claremont (3)
Lights out twelve catch us forty and a dream (4)

Six black mice guide a carriage through the rust storm
To ensure on-time express delivery
Blinking lights, durian sherbet; confusing thoughts
Waking up in a panic – WHERE ARE WE?

From thirty three it’s seven on the forty one (5)
You can do it in about twenty five (6)
From thirty two it’s five, but it always takes two (7)
Get two fifty, then get one-o-five
Or get one-o-three, perhaps choose one-o-nine (8)
You’ll do the job in fifteen or twenty (9)
You’ll never be stuck if you’re coming from the south
If you do it by bus there are plenty

*Metrolink* will get you to the centre of Town
Then buses south will go down Wilmslow Road
Don’t get too relaxed, you know it’s only a mile
So check out all the landmarks as you go
**Refuge Assurance clock, now the Palace Phallus
Past the Universities and MRI
Whitworth Art, The Curry Mile, then any right turn**
And the land of M14 meets your eye (10)

Cocktails are now being served. Today’s special is:

DURIAN SHERBET

The order:

“Durian Sherbet
Agitated, not disturbed”
Best drink of the day!

The ingredients:

Puréed Durian
***Home distilled ‘Isan’ Lao Khao***
Sun-dried chilli flakes

1 - Number 17 on the menu (Chicken Chow Mein) at Thom’s Fish Bar
(an unlikely name for a Chinese take-away)
2 - The junction of Princess Road and Greame Street
(I think it should be GrAEme, but everyone says CREAM anyway)
3 - Six or Seven in the Claremont – 6 or 7 pints of Holts Bitter in the Claremont Pub.
4 – In bed by midnight, forty winks (sleep) and dream
5 – 33 (M33) is the post code for the town of Sale, 7 miles away, 41 is the bus route
7 – 32 (M32) is the post code for the town of Stretford, five miles away, but it’s a two bus journey
8 – 250, 105, 103, 109 are all bus routes
9 - Buses are frequent so the journey only takes 15 or 20 minutes
*-* - Metrolink is Manchester’s Rapid Transit System/Tram Route
**-** - The Palace hotel used to be the Refuge Assurance building, its clock tower is a huge Phallic symbol
You pass Manchester Metropolitan University (formerly Manchester Polytechnic) as well as Manchester University itself, Manchester Royal Infirmary (among other large hospitals) and Whitworth Art Gallery, before hitting The Curry Mile (rows of shops), most of which are Indian/Asian/Halal restaurants
10 – M14 is the post code for Rusholme/Moss Side, Manchester, UK

***-*** - Isan is the north-east region of Thailand - Lao Khao is Rice Liquor

MEMORIES

BATH NIGHT

For Monday Poetry Train Revisited

Do you remember bath night?
How scary was it for you?
Embarrassed at having to expose
Yourself to your giggling siblings?
Worried mum might rub shampoo
Into your delicate eyes?
Doesn’t bear thinking about
Does it?

Long before central heating
For most people anyway
When the immersion heater was
Too costly to use every week
You know…back in the sixties
Only telly was black and white
Everything else…dismal grey
And cold

Pans of water on the stove
Condensation scaling walls
Steaming up the kitchen windows
And clinging tight to the ceiling
“Use towels to carry hot pans
Not the clean ones – they’re for kids
Who must also be spotless”
Of course

Kids in two’s; mum gets busy
Using scrubbing brush and soap
Setting her controls to ‘severe’
First two boys, bright pink in seconds
Rubbing shampoo from their eyes
Clutching towels for modesty
And shivering themselves dry
Bath night

Indulgence

For Sunday Scribblings

HOLIDAY

I’m lying on my favourite beach
Soaking up sun rays, breathing in scents
My three best friends are absent this year
Due to other commitments

We’d holidayed here in Ninety Six
I remember it like yesterday

Each morning we’d awake to the cry
“Surf’s up – grab your boards – let’s play!”

Never a surfer, so I’d decline
Though I’d promised to give it a go
In truth, I was scared of the ocean
And dangers that lie below

Closing my eyes, I go back in time
Reliving those moments of magic

Trespassing on happy memories
Images, dark and tragic

Suddenly, my worst fears were confirmed
From beneath the surf, Kraken rising
And twenty subterranean beasts
Intent on terrorising

Panic broke out on the crowded beach
As sunbathers scramble caused mayhem
I tried to warn my three surfing friends
Of monsters, out to slay them

My pointing and shouting were in vain
My voice wouldn’t carry that distance
Oblivious to blood-thirsty beasts
They offered no resistance

I could do nothing for those at sea
‘Natural’ disaster, so They say
Dismembered body parts washed ashore
On that fateful, fatal day

A backpacker sits down beside me
He’s travelled for years, I don’t doubt it
“If it’s your first time at this resort
I’ll tell you all about it

The beach is great, and the night-life rocks
But not as good as it used to be…
…You should have been here in Ninety Six…”

“I was…just now…you woke me”

Gloom, Kneel, Transparent

For Three Word Wednesday

Prophets of doom and gloom
Kneel and pray to their god
Transparent hopes and fears

Breakfast

For The American Sandwich

Eggs is eggs, or so they say, but you could eat them boiled or have them fried.
You decide, from poached, scrambled, omelette, even barbecued on skewers.
Perhaps you should try six of one and half a dozen of the other.

The Other Other Half

For NaiSaiKu Challenge?

She’s not his sister
But she’s his sister’s sister
HALF HERS WHO’S HALF HIS
Makes her his sister's sister
But not his sister

Love's Me Not?

Posted to Three Word Wednesday
and The Naisaiku Challenge?

Sweet Nothings whispered
Promise me the love I yearn
BEFORE THE COLLAPSE
Loves yearned for broken promise
Whispers 'Nothing's sweet'

Believe Me

For The American Sandwich

Two incredibly pertinent points you must understand about him.
He's a compulsive liar, therefore you can't believe a word he utters.
He'll never believe a word you say, so your secrets are safe with him.

For NaiSaiKu Challenge?

It's a filling feast
The American Sandwich
A TRIPLE DECKER
The American Sandwich
It's a filling feast

Have you played The American Sandwich?

Once Upon A Time/Happily Ever After

For The American Sandwich

When a thing has no beginning, where's the appropriate starting point?
When that same thing is without end, how is it possible to finish?
Make yourselves as comfortble as possible, this may take some time.

Writers Block

For NaiSaiKu Challenge?

P's And Q's minded
I's and T's dotted and crossed

NOT A WORD WRITTEN

I's and T's dotted and crossed

P's and Q's minded

More American Sandwich

WITH HINDSIGHT

A perfect transmission,uninterrupted by sinister forces.
Everyday telepathy, as practised by amateur clairvoyants.
Unique to young lovers and soulmates alike...the inexperienced.