Jo Jenner's Blog, page 2

A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal - 6 degrees of separation

On the first of April I shall once again attempt to complete the April A to Z Challenge. The premise is that you write a blog post every day (except Sundays) and each day it starts with a different letter of the alphabet.
In 2014 I created a novella set around the kidnap of April Summers' parents It was called April Fool.
Last year I was unfortunately unable to compete and so this year I have decided to do something a little different.

My posts will be centred around six degrees of separation. I...

Viva Las Vegas

I knock on the door and wait. It is a thin wooden door that was once green but is now weather marked and dull. Large chunks of the paint have peeled off. The door belongs to a mid-terrace house sitting in a row of identical houses that have stood hear in Eversley since the turn of the last century.

I’m here to interview Elvis Lord. I mean me, interview Elvis Lord. I had absolutely no idea who Elvis Lord was until the editor of the Eversley Gazette rang me last night and asked me to do this i...

New Year - why not to change now

Today is the first day of the new year. A time for resolutions, a time to reflect on last year's failures and a time to promise to be a better person.

But why?

Many studies (I don't know if this is true, but most statistics are made up) have shown you are far more likely to break a resolution made on 1st January than one made in the middle of May. Why? Because those made at random times in the year are made because you want to make a change and not because you think you should. How many of us m...

Documents in the Rain

Charlie was rushing home when he first saw it. If it had been a beautiful sunny day he would have been looking around him, taking in the beauty of the university grounds. Charlie loved the walk through the grounds. From the lecture theatre to his digs took him through the arboretum, around the tennis courts and finally across the end of the lake.  Charlie was always amazed by the different types of flora and fauna he experienced on his walk home. So different from Birmingham city centre...

Help wanted

Jessie walked into the kitchen and her brain knew something was wrong before her eyes saw it. She’d been out late the night before and was still suffering from dehydration and a killer hangover. She opened the fridge and took out the orange juice, placing it on the kitchen table behind her. The orange juice carton wobbled and started to fall. Jessie grabbed the neck of the plastic container just in time. She looked down to see what she had put it on that stopped it from standing up straight....

Full v Partial Laryngectomy - the verdict so far

Four months ago I had a partial laryngectomy. At the time I was debating having a full laryngectomy and two different consultants effectively talked me out of the procedure. Four months on I am struggling with the decision I made. Here's how it went and how I thought it could have gone had my decision been different.
Had I have chosen to have a full laryngectomy I would have been eating within two to four weeks of the operation. I would have been talking within six weeks. In order to talk I wo...

The Strawberry Jam Incident

Pam was sitting at the kitchen table sewing name labels on the inside of Tommy’s school shirts. She wasn’t sure which she hated more, having to buy new clothes every term as he had a growth spurt, or the hours of sitting sewing name labels on everything.
Tommy and Jeanette, the girl from next door had been racing around the house for the last twenty minutes and from the general hullaballoo she thought it was cops and robbers. There had been a lot of noises like shots being fired and what she c...

Childhood hobbies?

Jimmy hadn't been able to believe his luck when he had been sitting waiting for his wife that morning. It had been too hot to sit in the car, so he had been standing by it, absent mindedly looking up at the clouds. The first time he had seen the shape he had to blink and shake his head. Surely not. When he looked again it was gone. He had almost given up hope when it flew over again. The shape, the elegance. There was no mistaking a peregrine falcon when you saw one. He watched it fly out tow...

Changing Baby

Changing Baby

Shirley lift the baby up in front of her, placed her nose next to the nappy and sniffed. Why do people do that? she though to herself, you could smell the nappy from three streets away, there was no need to double check that that was where the stench was coming from.
Shirley grabbed the change mat and carefully laid the baby down. Dragging the bag with all his change things in she whipped off the dirty nappy and quickly fasten it inside a scented disposal bag. She then carefully s...

Where did the first half go?

I can't believe that on Wednesday we will start the second half of the year. Where has the first half gone?
I appreciate I have been a little off the radar as far as writing has been concerned so here's an update of what's been happening and what I hope to achieve in the second half of the year, assuming it doesn't go as  quickly as the first half.
As many of you know I have been having a lot of surgery for my throat and I won't go into that in detail, but needless to say the recuperation...