This is the end, I promise, the very end of the Essex Book Festival 2021. Today was the big reveal on the Story Hunters project, the invitation to visit one of twenty nominated sites in Essex, take a photo of yourself to prove you were there and write a story of between 50 and 250Continue reading “Festival Finale”
Author Archives: juliachalkley
The Green Man
I had a strange encounter last Saturday, and it’s taken me until now to decide whether to write about it. I doubt the man involved will ever read this blog, but I do worry about upsetting people by what I make public. I went to our community wood on Saturday to help plant the bulbsContinue reading “The Green Man”
Welcome a Board
Preparing the front room for the builders’ return with the new floorboards is a bigger task than we’d bargained for. The cement base for the tiled plinth around the fireplace seemed to have been built in several small chunks, and the old floorboards ran through the middle of one side, like an oak sandwich withContinue reading “Welcome a Board”
Cutting Edge
It was an odd weekend. We’d been so focussed on arriving on time for my aunt’s funeral that I’d put to one side the fact that I’d volunteered for the committee for my local woodland trust, with the first meeting due for this Sunday. While I was on holiday, the call for all hands wentContinue reading “Cutting Edge”
Saying goodbye to my aunt
We returned from our holiday in Northumberland and Scotland and prepared for my aunt’s funeral. She’d reached the age of 100 and had her sons and their families close by for the last forty years, ending her life with a fall and a brief illness. Not the worst way to die. Her sons, daughters inContinue reading “Saying goodbye to my aunt”
A Tale of Two Breakdowns
After a quiet year, chaos. I was due to meet friends in Scotland in mid-November, and we decided to drive up together with a stop in Northumberland for stargazing and a visit to Hadrian’s Wall. We took his Landrover and my very elderly car, so that he could return home before the friends’ reunion toContinue reading “A Tale of Two Breakdowns”
Six foot under
The night-time half of our holiday in Northumberland has been spent at Battlesteads Observatory, seeing the light emitted from stars and nebulae thousands or millions of years in the past. The days have been spent looking for the more recent past along Hadrian’s Wall, and it’s been just as amazing. We went to Housesteads FortContinue reading “Six foot under”
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
I should start by admitting that the photo above is not taken by me, but is from one of the contributors to Pixabay – which is where I get so many appropriate images while I hunt down the camera download equipment to download and display my own photos. But it is almost identical to theContinue reading “Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”
Spaghetti Western
We visited friends in Gloucestershire when lockdown eased enough to make it legal, and descended on the local plant nurseries like locusts. I’d had poor success raising seedlings for the polytunnel – well, I’d had the usual success rate, but as the weather in April was more like February, I wasn’t able to plant themContinue reading “Spaghetti Western”
The Real Golden Rule
I read a story earlier this year. Well, I’ve read a lot, but this one was my usual, science fiction. A man who grew up in America in the 21st century was talking to a woman who grew up in a different time and place. He said that he tried to treat people as he’dContinue reading “The Real Golden Rule”
Julia Chalkley 