Some work from our Creative Writing group..........

 I Love My House

I love my house

It's so nice and clean

Thanks to my tin of Mr Sheen

 My Washing Machine

My washing machine leaks on the floor

And soon it will be coming out the door

Gliding down the stairwell floor

My things sailing off never to be seen no more

With mop in hand, I'll take my stand

Clearing the flood from upon my land

And buy another, second hand

Then my kitchen will look so grand

Round table story

It was a bright shining summer day

She came out to play

In the bright sparkling sunshine

The football team, The Saints

Walking is good for your health

Exercise keeps you fit

It took me quite a while before I could start to walk

I am a good girl today

I helped an old lady across the road

But she hadn’t wanted to, turned angrily and hit me across the face with a wet fish

The fish had a small grin on its face when it slapped her in the mouth

The fish got away and dropped into the sea

I was not disappointed because I was sure there were plenty more

More cakes, more, more yum

By the whole group, each writing a line after seeing only the previous line

My house is actually a flat. It is on the ground floor, with another three storeys above me. It has one bedroom, lobby, kitchen, bathroom, and a fairly large living room. My living room is painted Salmon Pink and the carpet is a rusty red. I have a computer, cable television, three cabinets and two smaller ones for DVDs. My larger ones, I use to store all my books and my phone.

From my living room you go into the lobby, which is long but quite narrow, the carpet in my lobby is blue, and I have a built in cupboard in which I keep all my towels, blankets etc. I have several pictures on the wall in the lobby one of which is a copy of the “Haymaking”.

Just off the lobby is the bathroom, the walls of which are painted Peach and the carpet is a bit that was left over from the living room. I’m hoping that some time in the future the council will refurbish it, so that I can have a shower put in. I also have a fairly large kitchen, which is painted leaf green. In the kitchen I have a cooker, washing machine, fridge, freezer, two built in cupboards, a sink with storage space underneath for keeping my pots and pans. I also am hoping to have my kitchen refurbished when the council get around to doing it.

My bedroom is not quite as large as I would like, but it has two large built in wardrobes, my king size bed, an ottoman, and three storage boxes which hold some of the things that John left me.

We have a communal garden where we can hang our washing, and the grass is cut by the council.

I Hate My Flat

I hate my flat

It's only big enough for a rat

You certainly couldn't swing a cat

Or do much more than sit on the mat

At least it's somewhere to hang my hat

But when my friends come round for a chat

They want to hit me with a bat

For dwelling in such a scubby flat

My Bedroom is not the Cleanest

My name is Brian

Often in my bed I am lying

I want to sleep

But can't for trying

Because I spend my nights weeping and crying

The terrible mess gives me distress

My jeans & shirts I never press

But dump them on the floor in a heap of a mess

To tidy up I'll try my best

It might exhaust me so I better have a rest

 My Big Bath

My name is Christine & I'm always pristine

My big bath keeps me nice & clean

But my bathroom is too small

Maybe I should have it in the hall

Trouble is, I would be seen by all

So everyone else might have a ball

Especially that bloke Mr Perfect Paul

So I'll shut the door

Stay squashed up tight

And scrub my back with all my might

My Cul-de-sac 

I have lived I my cul-de-sac for 18 years. The children from the other four houses played together for years, the younger ones would have been about five when we all moved in.
I have been looking at old photographs albums I have of them. There were the birthday parties. All the children would go to the home of whoever was having a birthday. It was fun seeing pictures of the birthday cake,the food, balloons and presents.
Once, when all the children were at my house, our guinea pig accidentally nipped Susan’s finger. She would be about 10 at the time, she fainted. I telephoned her mum, and she came down. She reassured me that Susan often
fainted at the sight of blood.
I can remember when all the children had big water pistols, I would watch them through the window getting each other soaking wet. They would then come in happy with themselves.
All the children are in their 20’s now and some of them no longer live in Perth.
Us parents are still in the cul-de-sac, so we still keep up with how the children are getting along.

They came to get me one sunny day

I didn’t know why they took me away

They said I’d been acting weird and strange

They made me feel as though I was deranged

Your friends are worried – worried they say

So now we have to take you away

The hospital ward so clean and bright

15 min checks day and night

Sedatives so heavy can’t get out of bed

Lying there wishing I were dead

Counselling, Pills and ECT

After 6 months worked for me.

Released in to Community Care

But just until the next scare

In and out for 10 years

A life full of worst fears

Voices that wont go away

The TV talks to me each day

People reading thoughts from my brain

Then putting more in there again

After 8 years they call me schizoaffective

They say my brain is a bit defective

They gave me a pill I hadn’t had before

And I get a taste of life once more

I hope for people just like me

They find a way to set them free.

Oh Mother, you never told me that growing up would be so hard.

Oh mother, you never told me about the bullying  at school, all the scraps and scrapes.

Oh mother, you never told me that boys would break my heart and I would lay there crying until it was too late.

Oh mother, you never told me about my wedding night (oh, what a fright!).

Oh mother, you never told me what married life was like, not being able to run to mum whenever we had a fight.

Oh mother, you never told me about the pain of giving birth.  Laying there and screaming out in pain.

Oh mother, you never told me what losing a baby was like, how you are not able to sleep at night.

Oh mother, you never told me what growing old was like, the pain of arthritis and insominia at night.

Oh mother, you never told me that one day that you would die and now I have no mother to say to,

Oh mother, why?

On 7th May 2006 I went to the Eyam half marathon in Derbyshire for the Caladh Centre for Mental Health to raise as much as I could get in donations to help my Centre help other people with mental health problems in Perthshire and Kinross.  My number was 139 in the Eyam half marathon and I was staying in the village of Eyam until Monday morning, when I returned across the border to Perth, Scotland.

I took a few photos of my day at the half marathon.

This was my Spring race for my Centre and in Autumn I will go somewhere else to do a race to collect donations for PAMH  when I am able to choose a race to go to in late August 2006.  I help the Caladh Centre by collecting donations to help their work at the Caladh Centre, 6 Milne Street, Perth, twice a year every year and go to their sessions through the week which gives me something to do instead of being bored with nothing to do, and also meeting with my friends who also go to PAMH.

When I next help PAMH it will be near to my 50th birthday on 29 August 2006, and I thought I might celebrate at getting to half way if I can before I keep on helping PAMH and lots of other charities in the next few decades.

I need to get sick notes every six months, not just to be able to get my benefit money, but also to keep the Job Centre Plus people in the High Street of Perth happy.  I usually get my sick note from my own doctor, but sometimes I can't get an appointment with him so I have to see another doctor. 

I get a sick note so that I can claim benefit money, so the Job Centre know that I am getting the money honestly and am not getting the money illegally.  I am an epileptic person, so it has been very hard whenever I tried to get a job because whenever I mentioned that I was an epileptic person I was always refused.  So in the end I grew tired of being turned down from a job, so I settled down to doing marathons, half/full distance or 9/10 mile races, or inbetween 14 to 20 mile races for different charities, from March to November since 22/9/85 yearly.

This weekend on 21/5/06 I shall be doing the Dunfermline half marathon for the charity called Dreams Come True.  My running number is 1051 for that half marathon - one which I have done before, so I should do alright when I do it on Sunday morning at Pittencrieff Park, where the race starts.

Going back to my needing a sick note, I still need to receive last Tuesdays benefit money, but I cannot get it from the Job Centre Plus people until I get a sick note for the fortnight dated 6/5/06 to 17/5/06 - then they will be happy.

WHAT WE USE BUS AND RAIL CARDS FOR AND WHY  (John Hector Murray)

I use a bus and rail card for getting places, not just because I have epilepsy (in the Perth & Kinross Council's books I have been entered as disabled because of my recurrent epileptic seizures), but also so that I can use train and bus transport to my races without breaking the bank.  I get a third off the price of my train tickets which are usually return tickets and I hope to be getting the new Scotland-wide free bus pass so that I can go anywhere in Scotland to visit, or for going to a race in Scotland free.

My rail card helps me to go to many bits of Great Britain that I would not be able to see if I didn't have my rail and bus cards, because I am unemployed so never have much to spend.  People have bus and rail cards because they are either an old age pensioner, or have a certain illness that stops them from being able to get a job such as being blind, can't walk because of being physically disabled, have mental health problems, asthma, epilepsy and many more diseases that you can catch or are born with.

I use a concession bus pass for getting a bus in Perth & Kinross area just now and a disability saver rail card for train journeys.  I get a new rail card every year and my bus pass whatever date and year the Council have printed on it when it expires.  The doctor says that I, or someone else, is unfit for work and pronounces us disabled or medically unfit for work (maybe through an accident or illness in the family).  I am allowed to use a bus or rail card pass because of my illness and I have just received my new Epilepsy Scotland membership card for this year.  When I manage to get a passport photo I will send my claim away and hope to get my new bus pass in time before my old one expires.

HOW AND WHY TRAINS ARE DELAYED  (John Hector Murray)

Trains can be delayed by so many different things such as wet leaves on the track, or children on the railway, or the track being set on fire, or vehicles crossing junctions when they shouldn't, or other late trains or signal failure, or points failure, or flooding, or even people taking a long time to board or catch the train.

Other reasons can be rail work which makes the train go a longer route (ie, from Edinburgh Waverley to Newcastle via Carlisle instead of going via Berwick upon Tweed).  Then there can be cows or sheep on the track or broken branches that take a long time to clear up, or litter, or even things that dumb dumpers have thrown away.  Then fog could slow the train, or accidents on the railway lines, or people becoming ill on the train and the train having to wait for an ambulance, or the train might break down and have to wait for help from another train that could be hours in arriving.  Thankfully when it happened to a Virgin train that I was on coming back from the Oldham half marathon in April 2005, I got my whole train fare back.

Then there is sometimes when a driver might hit a bridge that is over the railway and the train has to wait until the line is clear before it can move on to the next station.  Then the train could be stopped at a station to let the Transport Police on to take a drunkard or someone who is pestering the other people off and that can take a while.  Of course, at stations where the train starts or finishes its journey the train can be delayed by it being cleaned of any litter or mess in the coaches to get it ready for its return journey to either London Kings Cross or to Inverness, Cornwall or Aberdeen.