Saturday 21 June 2008

Something you see every day

It’s at times like these when I’m very thankful to Sarah for her prompts. Here I am, up even earlier than usual, just having my Ready Brek and thought I'd just check my emails etc. No sooner had I wandered over to Sarah's blog than I had suddenly got the urge to write something. Yay! It’s made me realize how important it is for me to keep writing daily. Let's ignore the fact that I got up early because I need to wash my hair before the children's swimming lessons at 8am and that I will be running through the doors with them at the last second and making them change in reception, I really wanted to write. So, thank you Sarah! The reason why this is such a turning point is that I’ve been preoccupied with my novel and it seems such a huge task at the moment plus I’ve been feeling a little under the weather. The result has been that I have produced nothing of anything for the last few days. Therefore, I’ve decided to have a few days off from the novel and enjoy some random writing. The prompt is ‘something you see every day’ and I’m going to describe an object in great detail. In true Rolf Harris fashion (just realised he’s got the same surname as me but with only one ‘s’) fashion, see if you can guess what it is before you get to the end.
Its upper surface is a brilliant grey, depending upon the light thrown in through the patio doors. If you screw up your eyes, it could be a model of a town: rows of detached bungalows, a community centre and a block of neighbourhood shops. And yes, I think there’s a sports arena because I can see the outline of the tiered blocks of seating. Beyond that is another small residential area bordering onto the industrial estate. At the very far end, is one lone building with a massive space in front of it; must be some sort of retail development. Come back to the end from where you’re viewing and you can get a sense of perspective. You can see that the ground immediately at the front of our town is not so brilliantly shiny as it is in the distance. Look closer still at the surface and you can see that it’s not contours in the land but sticky fingerprints. Also, there’s some graffiti in big letters printed across this piece of open space. No, it’s too neat for graffiti. It’s a company’s name, an advertisement.
Now, here’s one last thought. In my novel (told you I’m preoccupied by it), I keep coming back to one thought, a quote I heard from somewhere: ‘You spend your whole life looking for something that isn’t there and then one day you’re not there’. I suppose it’s about focusing on the details and not being able to see the bigger picture which is the overall theme of my writing at the moment. So, there’s a clue for you – if your house is anything like ours – it’s something that you frequently lose sight of.

6 comments:

pierre l said...

Happy birthday Kathryn! I assume the photo on the top right was taken with your new camera. Many thanks to Monty for the hints.

Kathryn said...

Thank you, Pierre! It's actually tomorrow (Monday) but I'm not known for my patience and seeing as how I helped to choose it and the weather is so nice and we're going to the park to feed the ducks with the children....need I go on?!

Edie P said...

Hey Kathryn

I must say your blog is looking very sharp, like the new additions!

I'm still trying to work out yesterday's conundrum, but am afraid I haven't even been able to come up with an intelligent guess...I'll make an unitelligent one though - the television screen?? Please put me out of my misery! Send the answer to my email if you don't want to give the game away for other people.

Happy Birthday! I didn't know - how did you know that Pierre? Hope you are getting adequately spoilt by all concerned. Does that make you a fellow Gemini then?

Enjoy your day x

pierre l said...

I'm not good at puzzle, and I've also given up on the conundrum.
Sarah, the Birthday was advertised in Monty's blog (Kathryn's dog); the post must have been written in the early hours of Sunday, which is why I got the day wrong. I like reading things from the dog's point of view (I have a slight suspicion that he employs a ghost-writer though).

Kathryn said...

Hey Sarah, I'm glad you like the new bits. I'm becoming a bit obsessed with the map thing and I'm not sure how accurate it really is.

The answer to yesterday's puzzle is the remote control. Don't worry, Andy didn't get it either and I'm not concerned about spoiling it for others because they're few and far between.

Thank you for the birthday wishes - Monty gave the game away. I'm not sure if I completely believe in all that astrology stuff but I'm certainly a typical cancerian - albeit on the cusp - I like to hide and my shell and come out when it suits me! I won't be getting spoilt as there's too much month left at the end of the money (and three children's birthdays coming up within the next month!) but I do have a lovely camera which I think will give me hours of pleasure. Plus, of course, the knowledge that I've made it through another year unscathed! Also, my age this year is symmetrical which is nice and 4's are well, very 4ish plus I'm only half way to being 88 which is better than being all the way there. I know you'll be shocked to hear that I'm 44 not 22 (I wish, that was a whole lifetime ago!) but I'm trying to look on the bright side....mind you, all those things apply to 88 as well and 8's are more ornate than 4's so that's something to look forward to isn't it?

Kathryn said...

Pierre - Monty may have confused the issue because I'm not sure if I set up his blog with the right time. Or maybe I'm just confused - even more so with this Maploco thing.

As far as the idea of Monty having a ghost writer, I'm not so sure. He plays his cards very close to his chest.