WordPress Daily Post: Bittersweet Memories

You receive a gift that is bittersweet and makes you nostalgic. What is it? Photographers: show us gift.

This photo was a gift from my father. It shows a group of people, probably around the late nineteenth century. They were farm workers at Sissinghurst in the county of Sussex/Kent and it looks like they were busy picking hops Hops are an important item for the production of beer, and the county of Kent in England is famous for its oast buildings where the hops were stored.

Why bitter sweet – for many reasons. My father has no real idea who and what is on the photo, but thinks it might be his mother (my grandmother) at the front on the left, and perhaps a few of a her brothers dotted around. Birth control did not really exist in those days and so my grandmother grew up with 11 brothers. There were a few more siblings around, but they died as babies, or by accident. So was life in those days, it was the luck of the draw. Her elder brothers had already left the fold and had married. They had moved on, a few still working as farm hands, a couple climbing the ladder to farming success and becoming foremen on the farms where they lived.

My father knew a couple of his uncles. Now and again he spent a holiday in the country with their families, again having numerous children.

Back to the photo: this was taken by a photographer of the time. No-one had a camera, it was all done by professional photographers. Everyone is wearing a hat and the Levi Strauss invention known as blue jeans had not yet reached the English countryside. Women were wearing skirts and aprons of course. One gentleman is even wearing his bowler hat, but perhaps that was because his wife told him to, for the photo.

How I would have loved to have been there. Heard what they were talking about. These memories have been lost over so much time and space. It seems my grandmother worked in the dairy eventually. She actually grew up in the priest’s house at Sissinghurst castle. The priest was no longer living in the house, and it was probably large enough to accommodate the family. Many years later the castle was taken over by Victoria Sackville-West, who redesigned the gardens, which are still today an attraction for visitrs.

One day the relation of another family in the village of Sissinghurst spent a few days in the country, visiting his family in the area. He lived in the East End of London and was probably glad to get away from the smoke and grime of the factories in his area. Whether it was love at first sight I do not know, but his eyes fell on the diary worker and one thing lead to another. My grandmother, with the numerous brothers, married this man from London.

I often thought it must have been a civilisation shock to her when she arrived in a working class London, which was already bursting at the seams with its rows of attached houses, but she seemed to take it all in her stride. Grandad liked his drink, as most working class men of the time. He also liked participating in bets on horse racing and dog racing, but Gran having so many brothers, she probably found it normal.

One thing I do remember about her, she was a good cook and her pastries were fantastic. They are the tastes and smells that have remained in my mind. She would make her own pastry always. She had a recipe for lemon tarts. The filling just melted in your mouth: a sort of lemon creamy consistency. I have tried often to bake them myself, but alas her secret recipe, probably taken from the farmlands of Sissinghurst castle and her own mother, died with her.

I just love this photo and all the memories it contains. 

WordPress Daily Prompt: This is Your Life

If you could read a book containing all that has happened and will ever happen in your life, would you? If you choose to read it, you must read it cover to cover.

Nick Niemand was a law abiding citizen. Never wanted to cause trouble and lived his life quietly and calmly. He was not a sportsman, just enjoyed watching football on the television and now and again might place a bet on a horse, but within range of his income. On Friday evening he would go to the local pub and meet up with a few friends. He had not yet met the right woman, but was in no hurry. His work at the local museum looking after the archives fulfilled him completely. It was interesting and he would often read books over the ancient civilisations if there was a special exhibition where he worked.

There was perhaps just one pasttime that he really enjoyed. Nick had a computer and had discovered blogging. What is blogging? It basically depends on how you approach a blog. Some like to show everyone what they have, who they are and generally spread their own opinions. Some may just enjoy writing and hope one day to be discovered as the writer of the year. Others may like to show their photographs. There are various reasons for blogging. Nick just liked to right down his thoughts, his daily events. He just liked to organise his life on his blogging platform.

One day there was a loud knock on Nick’s front door. Not just a tap, but a determined rap. As Nick was not really expecting a visitor, he rarely had visitors, he wondered who it could be. The postman had already delivered a few bills and he only came in the morning. It was now afternoon, but Nick opened the door. There was a tall man standing there holding a book in his arm. Nick was quite taken aback by his appearance. He was wearing a long black Winter coat with the collar turned up, and a black hat with a large rim. The face of the visitor was somewhat hidden in the shadow of the hat and collar, but Nick was drawn to the eyes of the visitor, like two black pin pricks surrounded by a very white and pasty complexion.

“Mr. Niemand personally?” said the stranger

“Yes” said Nick “can I help you?”

“No, but I am sure I can help you. You are the Nick Niemand who writes daily Blogs on our web platform, WordPress?”

“Yes that is correct. You work for WordPress?”

“You could say that, yes. I am one of the owners.”

Nick Niemand was impressed. An owner of WordPress was standing at his doorstep and talking about his blog.

“Mr. Niemand I believe you partake regularly in our Daily Prompt. From our observations it seems you have a very high participation and a high rate of Likes on your contributions. I am here for a reason. You have now been nominated as Blogger of the Year.”

Nick was quite taken aback, but he was no stupid.

“I think you are talking to the wrong man. I have often been nominated by various bloggers for various awards on your site, but I have to renominate ten other bloggers and write a few facts about myself and post the special icon on my site. Then the ten bloggers also have to nominate. It is a snowball scheme. We are all nominating. Eventually there are thousands of us nominating and no-one gets the award. I have never taken part in this meaningless competition.”

“That is part of our public relations Mr. Niemand. I am here with our unique annual reward and prize. You have won a book. Not just a book, but in this book you can read what has happened in your life up to now and what will happen. The complete truth is in this book.”

“You are making a joke Mr…….. I do not believe you have mentioned your name.”

“Judge is my name, Mr. William Judge.”

“What is the trick Mr. Judge.”

“There will be more to come Mr. Niemand. There is no trick, but you have to read the book from cover to cover to obtain full value from the prize.”

Nick Niemand thought it over and decided “Yes”. He had never won anything, even his horses lost in the races. Now he had won a book, and a very stately large book it was. Bound in black leather with large red letters proclaiming “Nick Niemand, the Story of your Life”

“I must now go Mr. Niemand. I have a Daily Prompt to organise for tomorrow. Here is your book, may you find all you expect in the book, but do not forget you must read it from cover to cover. Only then will you discover the real truth about your Life and what it holds for you.”

It was then that Mr. Judge handed the book to Nick and disappeared. Not really disappeared, but it was a very misty Autumn day and a cloud of mist seemed to suddenly engulf Mr. Judge.

That evening Nick started reading the book, thinking not all at once, but when he had time. Mr. Judge could not know how he was reading the book, he had gone.

It soon happened that Nick got very much engulfed in the book. It was about his life and then came a chapter “The Future”. Time was passing. He had been reading for many hours, the clock struck twelve, midnight and Nick closed the book. He had finished reading. He made his way to his bedroom. He approached his cupboard and took out a leather case at the bottom of the cupboard, opened it and took its contents in his hand. It was a revolver fully loaded.

He released the catch, placed the gun to the side of his head and pulled the trigger.

WordPress: Daily Prompt: Use it or Lose it

Write about anything you like, but make sure the post includes this sentence:

"I thought we'd never come back from that one."

“Look mum, what’s that machine for?”

“That’s that new system they have in the shops to save time. After shopping you don’t have to wait for the lady to ring it up on the till. You just run that thing over the bar code on the wrapping and it does all the work.”

“You mean you won’t have to pay any more. That’s a good idea, everything for free.”

“Not quite Sara, you put your credit card in the slot at the end and it takes the money from your account. Just makes things a lot quicker.”

“Aha, but what about the lady who does the work on the till?”

“What do you mean Sara, the lady is still working on the till, but she does the work for the people that do not want to use the new machine.”

“But mum, if everyone uses that new machine, then she won’t have any work any more. I don’t think it is such a good thing.”

“The lady will still have work with the people that will not be using the machine.”

“But mum….”

“It’s modern Sara, think it comes from America. Don’t ask questions, you can even help mummy by doing it for her. I will collect the shopping and you can scan it with the machine.”

“What’s scan mum?”

“Don’t be complicated, just run it over those black stripy lines on the packing and it will register on the list. OK?”

In the meanwhile Sara and her mother were being watched by Chug and Flig on their screens on planet Floggle. They were quite excited.

“What do you think Flig, will it succeed?”

“I am sure Chug, we beamed our workers into the supermarket during the last earth night when the shop was empty. They planted the Floggle made chip into the device at the bottom left and that is exactly the one that Sarah’s mother took” said Flig.

“We only have to hope that they buy the right food. I am so looking forward to my Floggle food with mayonnaise. Earth mayonnaise tastes so much fresher than Floggle mayonnaise. I am sure it is because earth chickens lay round white eggs. Our eggs are so complicated being square and green” answered Chug.

“Probably has something to do with earth chickens looking special, although I could never understand that chickens have feathers and a beak. Ours are much sweeter covered in scales with nice pointed teeth. Look Chug, the smaller earthling is walking around with our beamer, looks like we will have success.” Flig was happy, now the miniature earthling just had to choose the right article.

Sarah was quite pleased with her new toy. Now she could do the shopping for mum.

“What do we need mum?”.

“Coffee, there is a jar, just hold the machine over the bar code. See it has now registered so now to the next one.”

“That’s easy mum.” And so Sara and her mother made their was through the supermarket scanning this and that until they arrived at the shelf where the mayonnaise was.”

“How many mayonnaise do we need mum.”

“Just one.”

“But mum, something is wrong. Everytime I press mayonnaise, it turns into a hundred.”

“Perhaps you are pressing too hard.”

“Silly machine” said Sara and there was a puff of blue smoke and Sara was gone, accompanied by one hundred tubes of mayonnaise. She had quite a soft landing on planet Floggle.

“Chug, I think our technical people have made a mistake.”

“I think so as well Flig.”

“Who are you, where am I and I want my mum.” Shouted Sara.

Chug and Flig had to do some quick thinking, they could hardly keep up with the words being uttered by this minature earthling. The simultaneous translating chip in their brains was working as fast as it could.

“Don’t worry little earthling, we seem to have had a small mistake in our beamer.”

“What beamer, and who are you. I have never seen anyone with three eyes before. You both have three arms as well, and just one leg with three feet attached in a sort of triangle.”

“We are just normal Floggles, you humans look funny with your two eyes, two arms and two legs. We only wanted the mayonnaise, not a human into the bargain. Seems there was something wrong with the beamer.”

“All I was doing was shopping with my mum and using this new thingy for buying the stuff. I want to go home” and Sara started to cry.

“What shall we do Chug?”

“Looks like we will have to return this extra terrestial to her planet earth, back in the supermarket” answered Chug.

“You mean beam her back” said Flig

“It is the only solution, but we will have to go with her. Let’s put her to a forgetful sleep. We don’t want this miniature earth specimen telling her fellow creatures about us, now do we?”

So Flig and Chug beamed themselves to earth with Sara. Sara was happy to be back on her planet once again.

Flig and Chug were not so happy. When the people in the supermarket saw two three eyed, three armed, one legged Floggles with three feet arranged in a triangular way, they were not treated in a friendly way.

“Sara, thank goodness, I wondered where you were” said her mother.

“I just sort of fell asleep” said Sara “don’t now why”.

“Did you find those two specimens. Look like they are in a fancy dress.” Everyone in the supermarket was staring at the two Floggles and then the chase started. Flig and Chug started running as fast as their three footed one leg could carry them.

“Where’s the beamer Chug? Beam us up.”

Chug searched in his head box (all Floggles had a box set into their head for important objects). He found the beamer and switched it on. They fell into their office again on planet Floggle, squashing a few mayonnaise tubes as they landed.

“I thought we’d never come back from that one.”Said Chug as he licked the mayonnaise from his three feet.

Of course Sara’s mother did have an argument with the saleslady at the supermarket when she found that she had been charged for one hundred tubes of mayonnaise that she did not buy. She only wanted one tube.

Daily Prompt: It's Alive

Write a Q&A style interview with an inanimate object

"Good morning, and how are you feeling on your high pinnacle above civilisation?"

"Civilisation? Well it is a bit confined to say the least. For the past few hundred years all I see is the main street. The only purpose I seem to serve is a photo subject for the tourists and inquisitive types like yourself, that think holding an interview with me will be interesting."

"But I noticed you were covered over for the past weeks. Now they have removed your covers and you look like new."

"i would hope so, all that slime and grime from the continuous water spashes, I was really turning green in certain places. Now I have been cleansed, although being showered with chemicals and hard jets of water was really very uncomfotable. It was not really done for my benefit, just for the general public that stare at me when they do not have anything more worthwhile to do. Now look at that, there is a man down there in the crowd in the street, just dipped his hand into the open handbag of a lady standing next to him and she did not even notice. Took her purse out."

"Is there nothing you can do about that?"

"Am I supposed to shout, point my fist, throw a stone at the thief? Hardly, they constructed my body to be strong, but forgot the inside parts. Even my brain is carved out of stone.  You would be surprised what I see up here. Do you remember the house roof that was destroyed by fire?"

"That was last year, it was in the newspaper."

"I can tell you that was uncomfortably close. One of the hottest days of my life. Even had a few black sooty marks to prove it. No-one seemed to bother about cooling me down, the firemen were only interested in the building that was burning. No consideration. I did not ask to be put here, listening to the endless noise from a stupid fountain. Typical human - just thinking of theirselves and a boost for the town. Not that people visit because of me, mainly because of the cathedral standing behind me."

"But you are a vey nice statue. Are they horns on your head?"

"On my head? How am I supposed to know what I have on my head, when I cannot turn it or look into a mirror. Now and again I do have a few negative thoughts. I would love to move around and look at what is behind me. A cathedral? I must admit it is not my sort of thing. Would prefer a night club, or a bar. Bring a bit of spice into the surroundings."

"I think I will have to end this interview. The sky is darkening and I felt a few drops of rain. I heard some thunder in the background."

"Lucky you, no go along and hide in a nice warm dry place. Don't bother about me standing here in the pouring rain with lightning flashes all around me. I am used to it. Just a few more green streaks on my body from the rain. And do not forget, there is many a monster which has been brought to life through a touch with a bolt of lightening."

Multiply is dead, so long live something else

You discover something new every day and today was a discovery day for me. Many of us lost our domicil when Multiply decided to throw us all out. There were many alternatives and we all made our own choice. I decided for Blogger and Wordpress, double sewing seams are always stronger.

Anyhow today I discovered something in Wordpress. It has always been there I suppose. I have been starving for new challenges in the writing world. Multiply had writing groups and Blogger has none. At least I have not found one up to now.

Today I discovered something Word Press calls The Daily Post with tons of challenges to participate in or not. They are all listed on the righthand side under the heading Recent Posts. You can insert your e-mail address to follow them and you get posted in your e-mail box when a new one appears.

I was thirsty for a challenge, and the first one arrived today. I competed and it is like the old days in Multiply where everyone in Wordpress that partakes has a look at what you have written. Of course, I also look. It seems that the blogging world is not so dead as I thought.

Of course I remain in Blogger and Google+ as No. 1 and will be putting my writing efforts on the WordPress challenges here as well, but really I am so happy to have found a new place where writing is appreciated. There is no have to, but just want to. There is even a photo challenge available.

For those like me that might be missing this sort of thing, have a look.