Nina is sorting through laundry on the kitchen table. Streaks of rainwater darken the stiff fabric of the clothes and bedlinen and towels cr...
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
I am walking home from work. Fat raindrops spot the pavement and I put my collar up and pull my coat close against the night. I feel alert a...
Monday, October 8, 2007
The kettle shakes as it comes to a boil, steam billowing from its spout. I pour water from the kettle onto the teabag in my mug. The staff r...
Denis, Freddie and I put the finishing touches to the orange pyramid. This one is 3.5 metres tall and each side of the base measures 5 metre...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The tree ferns grow thinly on the edge of the forest, fronds uncoiling over the tops of the narrow trunks. Placing my triceratops head again...
There is another tower of oranges in the storeroom. Next to it are slightly smaller towers of clementines, mandarins and satsumas. The tower...
Friday, October 5, 2007
Dear Carmella, Thank you for your letter. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you on the day you left. I hope you got home okay and your family ar...
Thursday, October 4, 2007
There is a tower of oranges in the storeroom. Denis lifts crates down from the tower. I stand beside him like a foothill at the base of an A...
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Now I am smoking a cigarette in the garden. Stars gleam dully in the night sky. Ian and Nina cuddle on the sofa, her head resting on his che...
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Nina sits at the kitchen table, chopping potatoes for dinner. She is wearing a loose woollen jumper, the sleeves rolled back to her elbows, ...
Monday, October 1, 2007
I tell Ian about Carmella, that she has gone home and probably won’t come back. Ian watches me as I speak, occasionally rubbing at a rash on...
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Ian is watching television. He oohs and ahs as thirty men chase a ball around a field, running into each other with thudding regularity. Ian...
Friday, September 28, 2007
Carmella sits in the staff room, writing a letter. She writes carefully and quickly. Her eyes are wet by the time she has finished. Slipping...
Thursday, September 27, 2007
I couldn’t find you at work today, so I wrote this letter instead. I have to leave sooner than expected. My father is ill and I need to be n...
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
My coat hangs on its peg in the staff room. Next to it is a grey three-quarter length coat that I have not seen before. The arm of the grey ...
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The supermarket is busy: everyone wants bananas today. Bananas, bananas, bananas from clocking in to morning break. The apples are getting l...
Monday, September 24, 2007
I am having sex with Carmella. We are at the crest of a white sand dune, the sun is hot in the sky and the breeze laps at our skin. We tumbl...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
27 chapters in and another 100 to go: it's proving a challenge so far and I hope it will all come together in the new year. 6,600 words ...
Cold water jets into the glass, shooting in and out, soaking my hand and sleeve. I fumble with the kitchen tap until the glass is full. Lean...
Saturday, September 22, 2007
The bus is late. We stand in the shelter, our breath visible for the first night this year. Carmella watches the road, waiting for her bus t...
Friday, September 21, 2007
The pub is busy. Carmella buys me a beer and an orange juice for herself. We sit at a table near the back of the saloon. I ask Carmella a se...
Thursday, September 20, 2007
My boss comes into the staff room. He walks straight over to me. The low evening sun reflects off his head giving him a blinding, lopsided h...
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
My application form. My rota for the rest of this year: every day of every week is marked with ‘early shift’. A 6”x4” photograph of bananas....
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I jump out of the chair, jolting the desk in the process. The correcting fluid falls over and spills across the surface. The footsteps are l...
Monday, September 17, 2007
After afternoon tea break I hide the cudgel in the storeroom. I don’t want it anymore. I don’t like the questions. Or the hitting. I return ...
Sunday, September 16, 2007
On the shop floor, Emily meets all the requirements of the checklist. Even if she hadn’t, I would have ticked 94% of the boxes by now anyway...
Saturday, September 15, 2007
After lunch I return to the shop floor. There are a lot of customers: the bananas and peaches and apples are selling quickly. I worry that t...
Friday, September 14, 2007
On the shop floor, a few shoppers mill around selecting bananas and apples and lychees for their shopping baskets. I hang around by the avoc...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
There are four names at the top of the clipboard: Supervisor: _____ Trainees: Denis Emily Freddie Start time: 9.15 am The listed activities ...
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
I am taking requests or suggestions for 12 chapter names (approximately 10% of the total) that you would like to see as part of the story. T...
I wake up at 4 am. Rain batters against the window. I lie awake in the darkness until the rhythmic thrum of the rainfall begins to lull me b...
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Hey, how r u? Bingo was fun, tita won £100, lucky bitch. I won £20, want 2 go out tmoro? Pub or something? Cxx I am sitting at the kitchen t...
Monday, September 10, 2007
I am walking home. The sun is setting behind the old warehouses in a welter of orange and pink. I feel numb and alone. I feel like a rubber ...
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Carmella is smoking a cigarette at the bus stop. I am standing with her, also smoking. We are waiting for her bus. I am glad that I have sta...
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Carol’s knee lies quiescent and unattended in my memory. It is housed with other remnants from my past, covered in dust and dustsheets, lock...
Friday, September 7, 2007
Carmella is already at the café when I arrive. She is sitting by the window, illuminated by the weak sunshine. I buy a cup of tea for myself...
Thursday, September 6, 2007
I wake up to the smell of cooked potato. I can hear Ian moving around in the kitchen. Ian loves potatoes. He keeps talking about the versati...
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
I am standing on a road in the middle of a rolling plain. Dark green cycads and tussocky ferns poke up through the red-brown earth. My head ...
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
I go back to work. I feel excited about my holiday: my stomach feels warm and frothy. Carmella is on the checkouts. I wave to her and smile....
Monday, September 3, 2007
The Turtle turns off the overhead projector. The white square on the wall fades away to a blue imprint on my retinas. The room is dark. I ca...
Sunday, September 2, 2007
I knock on the Turtle’s door. It is 12.07 pm. I am 23 minutes late. I enter her office. It is dark inside. The light from an overhead projec...
Saturday, September 1, 2007
I go to the Turtle’s office. I am 7 minutes late. Carmella is leaving the staff room as I pass. Hello, she says. Hello, I say. Where are you...
Friday, August 31, 2007
What did Linda do? I ask. Linda used the system to her advantage, says ‘Cock legs’. She didn’t fight against it, or let it grind her down; s...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The footsteps draw closer and ‘Cock legs’, who works on the deli counter, appears. ‘Cock legs’, I say, taking a drag on my cigarette. “_____...
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
I empty my trolley and return it to the storeroom. I go outside to the designated smoking area. It is around the side of the building, hidde...
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
I work all morning. I go to the storeroom. The storeroom door has given way due to the weight of produce behind it, which spills out into th...
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.