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Transmission Breakdown
I revved my engine, letting out a holler that was quickly echoed by the men around me. ‘Hell yeah, Scooter!’ Skeeter yelled. ‘Radical!’ Skater contributed. Skylar just gave an approving nod next to my window. ‘I kitted her out,’ I chuckled, tapping my foot against the pedal. ‘Whole new engine mount, fuel injectors knuckled to the max – and check this out!’ I kicked down the clutch and threw her out of first and into second, dropping the handbrake in a smooth, practised motion, the engine revving and raring to— It cut out with a choked groan. An empty silence settled over the parking…
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Electric car thoughts
As I’m getting older, I am becoming a lot more aware of the impact I have on the environment. I am starting to rethink and question the way I currently do things. I’ve started to make an active effort to recycle, and to find new ways to minimise waste. My next goal is to really start thinking about how I use my car. Up until a month ago, I was driving one to two hours each day. I hate to think of how all this driving impacted the environment. To start minimising my greenhouse gas emissions, I decided to start…
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Bird Watching Orthotics
I went for a walk in the park today and it was lovely. So many birds, so few people! I’ve always liked birds more than people, I’m beginning to realise: they’re so colourful and beautiful, with singing voices that gently bounce around the sky. Plus, they disappear before you can get too attached. I’ve become a bit of a birder since Francis died. He did so love to take a quiet stroll amongst them in the park, making no noise except for when he quietly pointed out a particularly vibrant specimen and murmured its name to me. As much…
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For my health
I went to the doctor recently and unfortunately received some bad news. After numerous tests, we have discovered that I am at severe risk of muscle degeneration. What this means is the muscle that is on my body is breaking down a lot quicker than normal for someone of my age. This is usually what someone twenty years older than me experiences. Good muscle health is so important as it helps the rest of your body stay strong. I remember when I used to work as a cashier at a supermarket, my legs would tire out extremely…
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Solar Hallway Confrontation
‘I just don’t see it, Diane,’ I sighed, walking back to my office. I’d been forced to sit through an intra-company seminar on sustainability in the workplace, and the number of crazy, whack-a-doodle ideas that my best and brightest had cobbled together was truly surprising. I didn’t even know I had that many eco-hippies on my payroll. ‘Sir?’ Diane frowned, walking slightly behind me with her tablet and diary. ‘I thought you liked those presentations, sir?’ ‘Liked them?’ I scoffed. ‘Which one, the ridiculous carbon-offsetting scam or the guy who thought he could run the mill…
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Stream of Feet
I don’t even know why I’m writing this blog post. Something about needing to express myself, my doctor told me? What does she know? I bet most of her diplomas are fake anyway. Who ever heard of a university in Cheltenham, anyway? She told me I need to write down everything I think. Just a stream of… something. Concussions? No. Consciousness, that’s right. Stream of consciousness. Just, whatever I want to write down. Like this. Or this. Or this. This sucks. Should I describe my room? No, that’s boring, even for me and I’m the only one…
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Office Design Hunt
I ducked into a cubicle, panting as I pressed myself against the itchy felt walls, praying that they hadn’t seen me go in here – I needed to escape, and it needed to be now. I poked my head out of the stall and into the deserted corridor, quickly checking my surroundings and leapfrogging into the cubicle up and across from me. It was as empty as the first – everyone was at lunch, no doubt. I did this again, and once more after that, slowly inching my way towards the bank of elevators that governed our floor. ‘Where…
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Glass Staircase Homecoming
Grunting with the effort, I lifted the heavy suitcase out of the back of the taxi and waved at the driver (standing to the side, not helping with any of the bags). He nodded at me and walked forward to slam down the boot, hopping back into the front seat and quickly peeling out of the driveway. ‘Charming,’ I muttered to myself. I leant down and grabbed the handle of the suitcase, dragging it to where my wife was standing in front of the door, tapping her foot impatiently. ‘Hurry up,’ she said, almost jumping up and down. ‘It’s…
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Disability Service Grumbling
I coughed lightly, and was immediately surrounded by a duo of nurses, anxiously checking my stats and calling out obscure numbers to one another. ‘Oh, I’m fine, you idiots,’ I grumbled. ‘It was just a cough! I used to be allowed to cough!’ ‘You also used to be able to breathe properly,’ one of them gently chided me. She said it with the slightest of grins, cruelly keeping me from being upset with her. ‘Bah,’ I waved her away. ‘Who needs breathing, anyway.’ ‘You do!’ laughed the second nurse, fussing away at my right…
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Plastering the Competition
I closed the video call and slumped back in my desk chair with a sigh. The soft leather protested slightly, then gave in and stopped complaining. Taking off my glasses, I pinched the bridge of my nose, frowning at the beginnings of a headache (even though I knew it was just going to make the eventual migraine worse). I briefly considered hitting the intercom button on my desk and summoning Debbie in to bring me a tablet, but the thought of that door bursting open and flooding nice, quiet office with the light and the noise of the cubicle-ridden…