Wearing a mask is annoying. It’s not something you’d choose to do by yourself. Unless you’re, like, Spider-Man or something. It also makes your glasses fog up. Such a drag.
But, it does have a few advantages. It helps protect you from covid, it helps you protect others from covid, in many places there is a legal requirement to wear one (unless you’re exempt), and, when the cold days come, it keeps the lower part of your face warm.
Also, when you’re doing your supermarket shopping, and they play music at the said supermarket, you can lip sync to the song–and nobody can tell.
It was Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen. Come on, it’s a tune!
This is the story about how a writing prompt–or more precisely, a trio of writing prompts–came alive.
One of the blogs I follow is The New, Unofficial, On-Line Writers Guild. It’s relevant to my writing blog, not this one, but anyway, this blog publishes a fictional story every week, plus three prompts. These can be responded to in the usual style of prompts of WordPress. In a post a couple of months ago, the prompts went like this:
1. outside Halifax
2. no god worth worrying about
3. selling truth
I looked at the prompts and instantly, they formed a whole sentence in my mind:
There is no god worth worrying about selling truth outside Halifax.
Okay, it looks like a sentence, you think, but it is a tiny bit nonsensical. And what about it came alive?
Well, not only was it a line in my head, it was a situation I was able to picture quite clearly, and one that I was sure I’d actually seen in real life, with my own eyes. How?
Like this:
Halifax is a town in Yorkshire, or in Nova Scotia, or wherever else, but here in UK it is also a bank. As banks usually do, they have branches in most town centres. So, that is the easily imaginable “outside Halifax” part. As for the god not worth worrying about selling truth, well, street Jesus freaks of all sorts are not an unusual sight here in Manchester. Strictly speaking, they’re probably not selling anything, not in the normal sense, in exchange for money, but they must want something from you, otherwise why would they stand there, shouting their preachings?
I knew I would be able to snap a pic that would encapsulate the three prompts in an ideal form. It was only a matter of time, and luck. And time and luck it was, while out on my lunch break about two weeks ago. Here is the photo:
They’re also standing where the tram lines divide, which, I like to think, adds a dramatic effect. And, of course, in true Manchester fashion, it’s raining.
The lake of fire probably won’t last long around here.
I’m not religious myself, but I showed this to a colleague who is a Christian, and she said the writing on the banner is untrue, because Jesus spreads love, not fear. He is all about forgiveness, not punishment. It certainly seems like the wrong message, even to a heathen like me.
It’s really… not worth worrying about. And I’m pretty sure it’s not the truth. What would some dude with an umbrella standing in the middle of Manchester know about it, anyway?
So that’s it, that is the story about how a trio of writing prompts came alive. Thank you for reading.
Well, technically it was yesterday I watched it. But I wanted to make this post, as I made similar ones in the past – for Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War, and Captain Marvel. Each of those stood out in some way. Black Panther had majority black cast and took place in Africa (and I’d never seen that many black people at a cinema), Infinity War was a culmination of all the previous films, featuring all our beloved heroes, and Captain Marvel was the first female superhero film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe–only took them 11 years.
A Black Widow movie was due a good five or six years ago, but at least they finally made it, only for it to be delayed by the pandemic. But it’s here now, at last, also available on Disney+ for an extra charge (for now). It’s the first time I’ve gone to the cinema since the pandemic (last film I watched at the movies was Knives Out, which incidentally became one of my favourite films of all time). When the lights went out and the Marvel Studios intro started playing on the screen, I felt shivers down my spine. I was surprised by that myself!
As for the movie, 10/10 would recommend. And not just to Marvel fans.
If you have glanced at my blog before, you will know that I’m always into seeing any unusual sign. I spotted this one on my Easter Sunday walk in Prestwich (area of Manchester), at the St Mary’s church graveyard.
Imagine being killed by a falling headstone
It’s not a joke! The graveyard is quite old and there are fallen headstones; you can see a leaning stone cross on the left there, with a background of daffodils. The more recent deceased have their resting places on the right side of that wall, on a little hill under the trees. This leads to Prestwich Clough, a little piece of land of woods, which I have enjoyed having a wander in on previous occasions.
You know what’s genius about this? That is the statue of Sir Robert Peel. Robert Peel (1788-1850) was a Conservative politician; he served as a Prime Minister and a Home Secretary under Queen Victoria, and was also–the founder of the modern police force.
I was walking down a street–Peter Street, to be precise, in this our city of Manchester–coming back from Castlefield (see my previous two posts) when I spotted this:
Impossible is, according to their description on Google “Whimsical nightspot with a theatre and gin bar, serving Asian street food–inspired pub grub”. As all similar places are now, it’s closed, because you know.
Of course, you find hand sanitisers at all sorts of places these days but what’s funny about this one is that it’s installed there temporarily. As you are no doubt able to observe, these are market stalls. Markets in Piccadilly Gardens only open Wednesday to Saturday (maybe Sunday, but I have no idea, I’ve not been to town on a Sunday in years). So when the markets are not there, neither is the hand sanitiser. I just love it so much.
Some Photoblog 