Payback

It was deadly quiet in the van. The only sound was from the swish of the tires on the wet tarmac. Every so often, the van would hit a pothole, and Josh would jerk in his seat. The other lads in the band, sensing the atmosphere up front, spoke quietly which was unusual for them.

‘Look, I didn’t know that you was interested in her did I?’ Josh was looking at the side view of Jazz, who had barely taken his eye off the road ahead.

‘Whatever.’ Jazz grumbled, and Josh was taken aback by his subdued tone. Was this a good sign? Or should he be worried? It was hard to tell by his profile; the set line of his jaw, the large hairy arms gripping the wheel, or the trickle of sweat running down the corner of his face.

Jazz took his grip off the wheel and wiped his brow with the back of his hand, then turned to look at Josh.

‘No need to look so worried, Josh boy. I want a good lead singer, and your ‘it.’ The ladies love you that’s for sure.’

Suddenly, Jazz pulled the van into the kerbside. Straight ahead lay the road to Edinburgh, and Glasgow beyond that. Jazz turned off the engine and lent over to grab a cigarette. He sat there quietly smoking.

‘We’ll leave you boys to it. I need a pee and some fresh air anyway.’  One of the lads spoke up from behind. Josh heard the van doors being pulled open, and then silence. He watched as his band mates walked over to a gate and disappear behind some bushes. Luke, ever the loyal friend, stood next to the van, a worried look on his face. Josh could see his pained expression through the dusty streaks on the window.

Not speaking a word, Jazz lent into the glove compartment in front of where Josh sat. Josh got a whiff of the rancid smell of cigarettes and beer. He turned away, but not before Jazz grabbed his chin and forced him to look straight in his eyes. He had a torch in his right hand and with a smooth movement that belied his size, he swung it at Josh’s knee.

The pain was sharp and immediate.

‘I won’t touch the pretty boy face; we need that for the fans.’ he growled quietly into his ear. ‘I’m warning you – don’t ever show me up in front of the ladies, or the other lads, is that clear enough for you?’

Josh nodded, sweat pouring down his face. Moments later, the van slid open and the other lads piled in.

Jazz switched on the ignition, and they were on their way.

Copyright Suzanne Bowditch, 2016

 

Sydney Trip

On a recent trip to Sydney, I discovered these Butler steps. The city is very hilly and I can appreciate how fit you must be to walk around. We stayed at Woolloomooloo just at the historic Finger Wharf which is the longest timber-piled wharf in the world. Originally built for the Australian wool industry, it has accommodated war ships from both world wars as well as the influx of migrants to Australia since WW2.

The steps that I am standing on are at Potts Point and were built in the 1870’s as the link between Potts Point and the poorer area of Woolloomooloo. There are several in the area, including this one and Hills stairs (over 100 altogether) and are the reason Sydneysiders keep so fit! 🙂

Leibster Award

Thank you to Sara from Foodez Junction for nominating me for a Leibster Award!

Liebster Award!

The Official Rules Of The Liebster Award 

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1. thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2. display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3. answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5. nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

6. create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7. list these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

Here are 11 Random Facts about myself:

1 I was born in Wales, UK

2 I became an  Australian citizen in 2008

3 I am a chocoholic

4 I have had 4 pets in my lifetime – all named Skippy

5 I have a crazy dog named Billy

6 I am partial to a glass or two of red wine

7 I cannot speak Welsh but can say Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch.

8 I love Doris Day movies

9 My favorite color is a nice duck egg blue

10 I love daffodils and roses

11 My favorite drink is a cup of tea

 

 

 

J.K. Rowling

As a self published writer, I felt that I had to share this post that I have found on social media. JK Rowling, the phenomenal writer of the Harry Potter books, has posted rejection letters from publishers that she has sent manuscripts to under her pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.

How cool is that.

She means to inspire budding writers to accept rejection as part of the nuance of being a writer and to move on from that but always continue writing.

She is an inspiration to us all….

When asked why she continued in her quest to send her manuscripts to publishers, she simply said –

“I had nothing to lose and sometimes that makes you brave enough to try.”

Fabulous:)

P.S. I have posted a picture of my daughter Jess and my dog Billy, who are a continual inspiration to me. 🙂

Good Friday: On the beach

 We went down to the beach early this morning, at the best time, in my opinion. We managed to find a nice spot to chill, take some snaps and enjoy the view. We watched a young family who arrived just after us; the younger child ran ahead to pick the best spot for sandcastles, whilst the parents and older child followed behind. Love the alignment of the heads – Father, mother, child, then younger child. Beautiful 🙂

My book

Just before Christmas last year I self published my first book, Elen onto Amazon Kindle. Since then, I have had responses from family and friends about making it a printed version (this was mainly from older relatives), so I decided to spend a few hours one weekend and get it printed myself.

Although that may (or may not!) sound easy – it’s not. I had to learn how to format pages, eradicate page breaks, ensure the pages were numbered correctly, and that the book flowed the way it was meant to. And that ‘s just the interior…

Next, I formatted the front and back covers, and wrote up the story line for Elen (the ‘blurb’).

This is the result – so excited to receive this in the post. Very pleased.

I feel inspired.

http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01911AE8Q

Jazz

Jazz was waiting outside the pub when Josh finally left the dining room. He was just standing there, a cigarette perched on the corner of his mouth, looking for all the world as if he did not have a care.

But Josh knew him better than that. He had known Jazz since their misspent school days at Newtown Comp. He knew his old school friend of old – he certainly held grudges. Josh’s heart gave a leap in his chest as he crunched his way across the car park towards him. Jazz had finished his cigarette and now had his head down in the bonnet of the car. He pulled the oil stick out of its holding, and peered at it as if his life depended on it.

‘Alight?’ was Josh’s greeting.

Jazz stopped what he was doing and slowly replaced the oil meter. ‘Alright? Is that all you can say? After last night’s performance? You need your head read mate.’

Jazz slammed down the bonnet of the van, and climbed into the driver’s side.

‘Get the others will you?’ he growled. ‘We have to get to the next venue; we’re running late as it is.’ Josh swallowed quickly. He felt as nervous as a school boy in his first day at school. He looked down at his hands; they were shaking. How ridiculous! he thought. I have known this guy for years; he’s a mate! What am I scared of?

But he could not get that image out of his head. The one image that had left him feeling a sense of wariness towards Jazz, however much that he had covered it up in the pretense of friendship all these years. Now, the image forced its way to the front of his mind – Jazz standing face to face with another student, pointing at him because the lad had spoken to Annabelle Forster, whom Jazz had had his eye on for quite a while.

They had been at the back of the tennis courts, by the dilapidated shed that was rarely used except as a venue for smokers and lovers. Josh had stood at the back of the small gang gathered around the victim, and had watched as Jazz had thumped the boy, and then kicked him when he was down. The others had walked away, but Josh had never forgotten the mean look in Jazz’s eyes, or the way that he had kicked the boy as if he had been a useless object to use and abuse.

Jazz had never gone out with Annabelle Forster. She had learnt of the incident and had given him a wide berth.They had all left school at the same time, and Josh had heard that she was studying Art at uni.

He turned and went back into the pub. This was not finished by a long chalk.

 

Brisbane Science Festival

It was my birthday last week, so the whole family spent the day in Brisbane. Just a short hour from our home, the city had a positively jam packed amount of activities going on. We arrived early, but the Science Festival was in full swing, arranged on the banks of the Brisbane River. There were heaps of families picnicking on the grass and enjoying the warmth of the day. Lots of youngsters were excitedly walking from one exhibit to another, trying out experiments with water, light and sound. An electric car took pride of place at the center of the Festival – I hope this will catch on, as there would be no need to purchase petrol! Save the planet from pollution and your purse too…

We strolled past the science delights and made our way to the QLD Museum and the Art Gallery. Along with writing, art is my delight and its a treat for me to see the range of paintings displayed at the gallery, from Australian and European artists and Aboriginal artwork.

A exhibit of Medieval artifacts was on display at the Museum. As a history geek, I was in my element. There was pottery, shields and swords, medieval tile flooring and even a display of a famous Norse chess piece, called the Lewis chessmen. Heaven….

After lunch, we took a leisurely stroll around the market at Southbank. We browsed the arty and crafty stuff (which I love), and then ended the day with a Caramel Salted ice cream concoction from a new place on the banks of the river.

Bliss 🙂