Ye Olde Ship Inn
Crossing over the bridge, the storm was growing in volume, the harbour lights shrouding the dark shadows of fishing trawlers, beginning to heave in the turbulent water, lights swaying to and fro from high in the riggings. I was in Whitby to run a full day of training for Health and Safety, First Aid at Work. The group, all advanced First Aiders included four fishermen, three police officers, two council staff and two managers of a packing factory, all to update and renew their certificates.
I had stayed in a local hotel overnight, due to the inclement weather, distance and early start of the Training Day. The venue was a small community hall which I had used before, situated below the 199 steps leading up to St Mary’s Church which, this morning, was shrouded in a dark cold mist. The gloomy hall matched the weather outside, freezing cold, even the electric heaters did not seem to take the chill off the room. The morning was to start at 9.00am, however, at 9.15am all the group had not turned up. As yet, two police officers were missing. The police officer who had arrived stated that his two colleagues were on their way but had been detained by an incident on the moor road. Two of the trawlermen had also not turned up.
The above is from Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 8 (the famous “No Dragons” issue). You can read the rest of Muriel “iPad” Blytheman’s Ye Olde Ship Inn along with several other amazing stories between its captivating covers (and we both hope you do!)
Have you been Harveyed?
The kind, wise, and wonderful folks at Sixth Element Publishing included four of my flash pieces in Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 8 and I’m repaying that kindness by showcasing the opening from each author’s work for the next few weeks.
Read
- Day 1’s Adrian Bagley’s “The Beast at Bay”.
- Day 2’s 15 Days of Harveys Day 2 – Alex Minns’s “Sides of the Mirror”
- Day 3’s Alexandrina Brant’s “Cartography, Creatures, & Craquelin (A Melina Short)”
- Day 4’s Bruce Connelly’s “Hare Today, Gone…?”
- Day 5’s Christine King’s “The Child, The Witch, and The Werewolf”
- Day 6’s Crysta Coburn’s “Smoke”
- Day 7’s Davia Sack’s “The Curse of Beauty”
Next up, a taste of Jack Pentire’s Time will say Nothing.
Enjoy!
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