The Writing Group - another lively session

The letter prompt we were given as a sort of mental jogging and cardio work out was "D".

David, Debbie, debit, deviate, deviant, decide, decider, Declan desist, decease, direction, Douglas, Dutch, Deutschland, Denmark, devious, denominator, denomination, defile, defibrillator, destiny, destination, de Hann, desert, Desert Orchid, Derby, Derbyshire, defeated, dissent, disaster, disastrous, Dorset, Devon, Dingwall, Dee, D, down and downside

There were nine of in the group and listening to all the other lists there were very few duplications which to me is a good indication of how diverse a group we are.

The prompt for the homework for this week was "Extreme Weather".

EXTREME WEATHER

Yes, I do like to be near the ocean any time but especially when it is venting the full majesty of its anger.

   To feel the wind trying to push me over. To hear the rocks on the shoreline tumble and roll at the mercy of the tormenting surf. To be unable to hear anything else but the sounds of the storm echoing back and forth along the beach. To feel the ground grumble when a particularly big wave crashes on the beach and ends its life. That is not salt spray in the air. It is the tears that waves weep when they realise their journey is over. They no longer have a reason to live and after so many oceanic miles, what was it all about anyway?

   I stayed with my Aunt Rachel in Florida near the Gulf of Mexico. We went for a drive to her favourite beach, not too far away. When we got there we were the only two people and we were surrounded by a flock of pelicans. It looked idyllic in its sparseness. Rachel explained that this beach was her sanctuary. It was where she could find peace and paradoxically finding that peace during the ocean’s most turbulent moods. I told her that I would also find peace in the same way.

   Whenever I am near the ocean be it in a relaxed mood or throwing its weight around in a majestic tantrum I think of Rachel and how we shared the same feelings through a familial bond?

   Those shared feelings weren’t just unique to us because of a transient family connection. They go much deeper, much deeper.

   “All of us have, in our veins the exact same per centage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean…in our sweat and in our tears…and when we go back to the sea…we are going back from whence we came”.

John F Kennedy

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We then ad to write about a fear or a phobia in such a way that those listening had to work out what they were.

The helicopter took off but not going forward like a plane. Basically it went upwards, backwards and tipped forward. I could clearly see every blade of grass through the Perspex canopy. We then shot forwards and upwards. Soon we were at a thousand feet and I felt just a little bit anxious. I concentrated on the horizon and relaxed. I relaxed even more when I ran through some logic and concluded that the pilot had no desire to commit suicide. I settled even more by continuing my concentration on the horizon.

"You bastard!" I thought to myself.

There we were flying straight and level and hat do you go and do? You make a sharp bank to the right so the horizon, my comfort, was almost vertical and it felt like we would start sliding sideways downwards.

The most difficult part for me on any plane, whatever the size, is the take-off. I expect to hear the sound of a gear change on the way to straight and level cruising height. It might one day stall and fall straight down or worse, slide backwards on to the runway. So far in life it hasn't happened. I am here aren't I if you hav any doubts.

At this point I stopped reading and asked if people had worked out what my fear or phobia was. Most of them said flying.

Good God no.

The cliff path is only three feet wide. There is some grass sloping away from it towards the sheer drop. Thankfully, if anyone is walking towards me there is another grassy slope on the other side so they can have the whole path to themselves without a right of way shuffle,

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To finish the evening we then had to write a list of three items that we would take from the home in an emergency:

Passport, bank card and laptop

I deliberately excluded Heather and the cats as they are not "items".

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The prompt to work on for the next session is "They had absolutely no idea where they were"

Two days after this session and I still don't have any idea about what to write for this one. Oh well, inspiration will come from somewhere sometime.