Viral Parking

When teaching me to drive, the Wise One made certain that I could safely park my vehicle by making me practise in Tesco's car park on Sundays (this is back in the black and white days when supermarkets closed on Sundays - yes I know, hard to believe now).
He would select a bay for me to reverse into and then sit beside me, quite calmly pointing out that I had just taken out the front wing of the Mercedes on the left, the passenger door of the Porsche on the right, and the bumper of the BMW behind me. The fact that these cars were imaginary did little to diminish the terror, but it did instil a firm understanding that the white lines marking the bays were there for a reason.
Back then, as long as you didn't crash into a wall when you got back to the test centre it was assumed you could park. Nowadays new drivers have to prove they can park as part of their driving test, which perhaps explains why the students who filmed the video featuring a woman having an epic parking adventure were so incredulous. True, she was pretty disastrous, but it's clear from her efforts that she hadn't had a wise one teach her how to do it. Apparently it took her 30 minutes to park her car, and the students were there for every torturous moment, laughing, commenting and filming.
One of them eventually went out to help and seemed quite shocked when the woman refused his offer to park the vehicle for her. Now quite honestly, if a man came along and offered to park my car for me he'd probably get an earful for his trouble. After all, what's to say he'd be any better at parking, or that he wouldn't just promptly drive off in my car? Okay, so it took her 30 minutes, but she parked it in the end, and all credit to her for sticking with it. I'd have given up and found somewhere easier to park elsewhere - like a field perhaps!

In Bits

Mum taught me a great many things as I was growing up. Because of her, I can happily tackle cooking/ baking without (too much) fear, I can probably still shoot a netball through a hoop despite being hopelessly unsporty (she was the volunteer netball teacher at our school), and she instilled in me an unwavering belief in the importance of family.
But she also taught me to be a jigsaw addict. It's desperate. Our spare room groans beneath the weight of puzzles, all of which have been completed more times than I count. She taught me the importance of preserving them by always using zippy bags to store the pieces inside their boxes. The wise one even made me my own jigsaw board (which is used for jigsawing of course, but also for a variety of craft projects and now sports stains from paint and glue splodges and even the odd hint of glitter). I'm totally and irredeemably hooked. I'm a jigsaw junkie. There is no cure. Or is there?
A man from Weymouth had spent 200 hours creating a 40,000 piece puzzle, carefully cutting out the pieces and assembling the 150 sq ft jigsaw. The puzzle was complete, he was just making some final adjustments, when it all slid to the floor and landed in a crumpled heap. The puzzle is due to go on display at Sandringham next week before being auctioned for Help for Heroes, so he's now frantically trying to reassemble it and has appealed for volunteer helpers - I suspect he probably doesn't even want to look at it himself right now!
Me? Well, I'm quite tempted to jump in the car and drive down to Weymouth. Nice place, Weymouth. And if I happened to be passing it would seem churlish not to offer assistance ...

QT One Promotion Ending Soon

Just to remind everyone: the first anthology 'Tales from the Web' is still on free promotion at the moment, though it will end at some point today (Mon 29th Apr) - sorry I can't be specific, Kindle close the promotion at a time of their choosing. So if you haven't already downloaded this introductory collection, hurry over to Kindle to get it now!

QT One Promotion

As promised, the first of the QT Anthologies, 'Tales from the Web' is available free today (Sun 28th Apr) and tomorrow (Mon 29th Apr). This is a short introductory collection of favourite stories from the QT website. If you haven't already downloaded your copy, why not take a look today!
I hope you enjoy it.

Iron Man

I've finally realised what's missing in my life: my very own supersuit! I mean, how's the world ever going to take me seriously in boring old cloth clothes, I need steel, flashing lights, lasers and ... stuff. But help may be at hand. For the paltry sum of $8,500 I could have my very own Iron Man suit, complete with light up eyes, palms, base and arc reactor!
Doubts have been expressed over the suit's ability to render the wearer capable of flight, and there have even been suggestions that it might not actually be a wearable suit but rather a statue, but I don't plan on listening to the nay-sayers! I'm raiding the savings account on Monday morning and putting my order in.
For my first act of superheroness, I plan on flying to Barbados. After all, what sort of hero would I be without a suntan?

QT Anthologies

I have spent the day trying to organise my plans for the third QT anthology. I currently have eleven stories on the go, some are finished, some are almost there, and others still have a long way to go. But I do at least have a plan now! I don't currently have a title for the book - any suggestions will be taken into consideration!

To celebrate my astonishing, and unprecedented, organisation, I have set two promotional days for the first anthology, 'Tales From the Web'. The book will be available to download free from Kindle on Sunday 28th and Monday the 29th April 2013, or this coming Sunday and Monday!

Don't forget, the second anthology, 'Unseen Stories' is also available from Kindle for £1.02 - I have no idea why it's £1.02, I still haven't got to grips with the pricing structure, but it's still a bargain!

New Story

There's a new story on the QT website today, just in time for the weekend (hooray! It's Friday!). 'The Shepherd and the Wolf' tells how one man's long running battle with an old adversary takes a strange turn.
Hope you enjoy it, and have a great weekend.