Thursday, May 05, 2005
Election Day
There was an interesting turn of events after I went to bed last night. When I got home from snooker the house was quiet with everyone in bed, so I checked my email and had a cup of tea. I went to bed and lay in the dark waiting for sleep to take a hold.
Then I heard it. A tapping noise, as if something was bouncing or being bounced off of a wall or floor of the house. The noise would occur every 20 seconds or so - I know because I timed it. It wasn't loud, but it had made its presence known to me and it was now impossible to ignore it.
I sat up and listened. It sounded again. What could it be, I thought to myself. I stood up and opened the window. The sound stopped. I closed the window. It returned.
I went to the bedroom door and partially opened it. I could hear the noise tapping away at regular intervals. I moved into the upstairs hall and down the stairs in the pitch dark; still with the odd bouncing sound in the distance. I opened the front door ever so slightly and I heard the noise against the wall to my left.
I moved through to the kitchen and stopped to listen. The sound was further away so I went into the conservatory butit was barely audible. I unlocked the back door and walked slowly into the chill of the night, round the back of the building and stopped between the house and the garage. The noise was unmistakable - it was coming from the other side of the gate from the front of the house.
I unlocked the gate and saw that it was a cupboard door that had been removed from Laura's bedroom while benig renovated. It had been left against the wall and when the wind took up, it caused it to lift slightly from the wall and drop against it, bouncing as it did.
I lifted the wooden door and moved it inside the garden away from where it could be heard should it decide to bounce again. Then I realised I was standing in full view of all our new neighbours houses in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.
At least I slept well when I got back into bed.
The day dragged. I had a team meeting in the afternoon, which ran on and on. I was glad when it finished because I had run out of doodling space on my notepa. I tried hard to disguise my delight at being able to leave but probably failed.
After work I made my weary way home, passing the illuminated Labour Party constituency office on Leith Walk. It reminded more of a bookies on Grand National day.
A letter was waiting for me when I got home; a rejection from Take A Break for Heart of a Child. I resubmitted it to another paying market, Outercast Magazine in Sweden.
I got changed and headed back out again with Gail and Laura. We went out to Toys r Us at Fort Kinnaird to get my nephew, Kyle, his 2nd birthday present. I popped in to Borders and got the latest issue of Writing Magazine and couldn’t resist a wee nosey at the Robert Louis Stevenson collection. I ended up parting with some cash and leaving with The Strange Case of of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Treasure Island and Kidnapped. The first of the three also contains a full biography and other short stories so it was a good buy.
On the way home we stopped in to the polling station to register our votes. I had previously noticed the house next door to us displaying Labour Party posters in its windows. Sad I thought, and then on the way in to the station I noticed the Labour representative standing at the door of the polling station chatting the Liberal Deomcrat WAS our next door neighbour! I cracked a joke - he laughed - but whether his lot got my vote is something he'll still never know despite him aching to know.
I checked my e-mail before I went to bed and a rejection was waiting from Outercast Magazine already! I only sent it a matter of hours ago. Efficient editors or is the piece now cursed since I pulled it from WCP?
I read some pages of Jekyll & Hyde and watched the General Election results coming in but finally gave in to tiredness at around half past midnight. When I left it, things were looking like a Labour win but with a reduced majority; the Lib Dems and Tories having picked up the marginals as predicted.
Then I heard it. A tapping noise, as if something was bouncing or being bounced off of a wall or floor of the house. The noise would occur every 20 seconds or so - I know because I timed it. It wasn't loud, but it had made its presence known to me and it was now impossible to ignore it.
I sat up and listened. It sounded again. What could it be, I thought to myself. I stood up and opened the window. The sound stopped. I closed the window. It returned.
I went to the bedroom door and partially opened it. I could hear the noise tapping away at regular intervals. I moved into the upstairs hall and down the stairs in the pitch dark; still with the odd bouncing sound in the distance. I opened the front door ever so slightly and I heard the noise against the wall to my left.
I moved through to the kitchen and stopped to listen. The sound was further away so I went into the conservatory butit was barely audible. I unlocked the back door and walked slowly into the chill of the night, round the back of the building and stopped between the house and the garage. The noise was unmistakable - it was coming from the other side of the gate from the front of the house.
I unlocked the gate and saw that it was a cupboard door that had been removed from Laura's bedroom while benig renovated. It had been left against the wall and when the wind took up, it caused it to lift slightly from the wall and drop against it, bouncing as it did.
I lifted the wooden door and moved it inside the garden away from where it could be heard should it decide to bounce again. Then I realised I was standing in full view of all our new neighbours houses in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.
At least I slept well when I got back into bed.
The day dragged. I had a team meeting in the afternoon, which ran on and on. I was glad when it finished because I had run out of doodling space on my notepa. I tried hard to disguise my delight at being able to leave but probably failed.
After work I made my weary way home, passing the illuminated Labour Party constituency office on Leith Walk. It reminded more of a bookies on Grand National day.
A letter was waiting for me when I got home; a rejection from Take A Break for Heart of a Child. I resubmitted it to another paying market, Outercast Magazine in Sweden.
I got changed and headed back out again with Gail and Laura. We went out to Toys r Us at Fort Kinnaird to get my nephew, Kyle, his 2nd birthday present. I popped in to Borders and got the latest issue of Writing Magazine and couldn’t resist a wee nosey at the Robert Louis Stevenson collection. I ended up parting with some cash and leaving with The Strange Case of of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Treasure Island and Kidnapped. The first of the three also contains a full biography and other short stories so it was a good buy.
On the way home we stopped in to the polling station to register our votes. I had previously noticed the house next door to us displaying Labour Party posters in its windows. Sad I thought, and then on the way in to the station I noticed the Labour representative standing at the door of the polling station chatting the Liberal Deomcrat WAS our next door neighbour! I cracked a joke - he laughed - but whether his lot got my vote is something he'll still never know despite him aching to know.
I checked my e-mail before I went to bed and a rejection was waiting from Outercast Magazine already! I only sent it a matter of hours ago. Efficient editors or is the piece now cursed since I pulled it from WCP?
I read some pages of Jekyll & Hyde and watched the General Election results coming in but finally gave in to tiredness at around half past midnight. When I left it, things were looking like a Labour win but with a reduced majority; the Lib Dems and Tories having picked up the marginals as predicted.
Colin 10:43 am