May 2017

Jackie's story:

I’m not feeling too good today I had another eruption just last night and it has upset my left side so that I am feeling off balance.
My name is “Earth” and my atmosphere is all clogged up with particles of waste, dust and diesel fumes which is causing me to produce earthquakes, flood storms and volcanoes.    
  I went to the doctor and he saw the dirty brown spots on me where it should have been lush and green.  He found whole areas that were dry and scaly - where trees had been cut down and land left barren.  
 I told him I felt warm but then kept going cold all over and then warm again in patches.   Also, it’s  embarrassing as noxious gasses escape me from time to time.
The doctor took my temperature and said he detected a little global warming.   I didn’t like the sound of that at all.  Then he told me what my condition was.   It turns out I have a hole, yes, a large hole that is growing by the minute in my ozone layer.  He explained that the ozone layer serves as a shield from the harmful ultraviolet rays emitted by the sun.  So I asked him to stitch me up but he said it wasn’t that easy - at the rate that it  is growing in other words, very fast,  there was a race against time for things to get better.   
He took some samples and came back with the results.  My sea is full of pollution and there are traces of industrial chemicals and oil.    ‘ Oil’ I thought that sounds ominous as I could imagine it sloshing around in my inner self causing suffocation and preventing wildlife and vegetation from multiplying.    Apparently also there are traces of waste matter too.   The doctor found a bug and so I said doctor that must be the Millienium bug and he replied that no the Millenium bug was just a hoax to make us all buy new laptops and DVD players at the turn of the century.  He added, this one that I have is more of a “litter” bug.    
    When the doctor read out the analysis of my sea he found  surprisingly low levels of life  as plastic bags, bottles and rubbish were clogging up my system which was the cause of my extreme constipation and stomach spasms causing volcanic venting and there was a serious lack of bacteria that would normally clean me up and enable sea life to reproduce.   He also found traces of a new phenonomen called nuclear debris which emits  dangerous levels of radiation.   At my earth poles, ice is melting fast which is affecting my balance causing me to tilt to an alarming degree;  my gravity is affected causing the moon to look at me sideways producing tornadoes, tidal waves and upsets growth of the creatures that live within me.
   All in all my visit to the doctor wasn’t at all reassuring in fact quite alarming and when I asked the doctor  what he thought was causing this,  he replied it was something called the human race and the real winner of this race will be of course future mankind.





Angie's Story

Mary never ever entered competitions. Her view of herself was such that she excelled at nothing, had no special skills, looked very average and was singularly unlucky.

She had always known successful people in her life. Her sister for example, confident and attractive would sometimes enter a competition with an expectation of winning and was usually successful. The trophies on her mantelpiece attested to this.
Gymnastics and swimming as a child, riding in teenage years and golf in adult life.
At work there were colleagues who regularly won office quiz nights or premium bonds or raffle prizes.
Mary just knew that somehow the fates had conspired against her and her lot in life was to be mediocre in every way.
She sometimes looked in the mirror and closing her eyes longed to see a different reflection. Regular features, good bone structure, flawless skin, large eyes, and full lips. Glossy luxuriant hair falling gracefully to her shoulders.
When she opened her eyes that image had faded and Mary's small eyes and mouth, a nose on the large side, fine unmanageable mousy hair and slightly double chin stared back at her.

Thankfully her great aunt Dolly, who herself had been no beauty, always said vanity was a sin and one should be grateful for what was one was given. At least everything worked!

Mary busied herself instead with her work and her passion for gardening and all things outdoors.
So it was, that when an email went round the office, inviting people to join up for a competitive walk in the Derbyshire  Peaks, staying overnight at a youth hostel, Mary scarcely glanced at it. She did actually enjoy walking very much and had quite good stamina, but she did it for pleasure, not to excel in any way. However, a colleague with whom she was quite friendly and like herself was single, approached her one lunchtime and asked if she would go with her. Unlike Mary, she liked a competition.
After several attempts to decline Mary finally acquiesced and agreed to accompany her friend.

So it was that two weeks later, Mary found herself lying on an uncomfortably lumpy bunk with a skinny pillow and the sounds of intermittent coughing and snoring from other bunks in the dormitory. She was dozing fitfully when the wake up call came and people jostled for the bathrooms and then the breakfast facilities in the large kitchen. She looked around at her fellow walkers and noticed one family in particular, a man, his wife and their young daughter of maybe 12 years old. Obviously friends invited by a colleague.
The office walk organiser Derek was already pulling on his sturdy and expensive looking waterproofs and boots and encouraging everyone to get kitted up and ready for the off.

As the walk got underway, Derek was soon forging ahead with several others staying on his tail and the rest settling into a rhythm and biding their time. It was early October and though not too cold the sky was looking ominous as they headed up towards the plateau, a boggy marshy terrain with little other vegetation.
Mary had let her friend carry on so that she could keep up with the advance walkers and they all took the right hand fork on the winding track up to the top. Mary stopped to loosen her boot laces and then carried on enjoying the effort and the feeling of exertion. As she walked she was aware of someone coming towards her, the mother of the girl she'd noticed at breakfast. She was looking distraught. As she came closer she called to Mary,
'We've lost my daughter! Have you seen a young girl anywhere? My husband told her to go ahead while I changed my trousers but when we caught up she wasn't there.'
It's all so huge and wild - I'm so desperately scared for her.
She's called Louise and she was wearing a red anorak and blue trousers.'

Mary realised that the girl had probably taken the other track back at the fork. She knew speed was of the essence and by great chance she had also put her running shoes in her rucksack as spare footwear.
Trying quickly to reassure the  panicking mother while changing boots for trainers she set off at a good pace.
She soon reached the fork and took the left hand one which was not as steep but wound around trees and bushes before opening again onto a flatter wider expanse still with the occasional stand of trees and on one side dropping sharply to the valley below.  Mary scanned the whole area but could see nothing and no movement. She tried not to think about the drop to her right and carried straight on, pounding the ground as she ran, feeling too the first drops of the threatened rainstorm. She called the girl's name every so often hoping to hear some response but only her own footsteps broke the silence. She tried to think like a child. What would a young girl feeling lost be likely to,do. She thought of herself at that age and remembered she liked to make dens in bushes, feeling safe surrounded by the dark vegetation.
She began to look more closely at each bush as she came to it, still calling the girl's name.  As she ran closer to one thicket she thought she saw a flash of red and as she got closer she thought she heard a voice,
'Louise, are you ok? I'm from the walk, I saw you at breakfast. Your mum asked me to find you. She's very worried. Don't be scared - you're safe now'
Slowly a blonde curly head peered through the bush. Louise crawled out dishevelled, a bit tear stained,but otherwise ok.'

' I got scared when there was no one ahead of me. I couldn't remember the way back so I thought I'd just wait and hope. Thank you so much for finding me'
Then she burst into tears of relief and Mary hugged her shaking young body.

 By the time Mary and Louise finally made it back to the waiting group they had got to know each other quite well. Although young Louise was already very interested in gardening, and Mary was able to give her a few tips.
Louise's mother had become frantic with worry and fell on her daughter, her turn now to cry with relief. Her father, who had remained calm and positive throughout still gave his daughter a big hug and was man enough to admit to having made a bad error in sending her on ahead not knowing of the fork.

Finally back at the hostel where the advance walkers were already changed and on their second drink it was time for the announcement of the winner. There was probably little doubt that it would be Derek but as he received the cup he looked across at Mary, still wet and  bedraggled.
' Mary I'd like you to take this cup - I might have done the fastest time but today you are the real winner! '
The loud cheers and applause all around her, the first she'd ever experienced in her lifetime, made her feel blanketed in warmth. She would probably never win anything but today she had won the thanks and appreciation of her colleagues and perhaps the chance to help Louise create a patch of garden - what more could she ask for.