(no subject)
Jun. 11th, 2008 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
essayelInteresting times ahead in our little museum world.
Basically the church has started their own museum in opposition and has so much more to offer than we do.
Okay we have a castle and a fantastic collection of archaeological and social history artefacts and we offer an 'bought in' educational service to local schools.
But they have a church [with a roof on it] filled with amazing carvings, the new heritage centre which is offering a free educational service taking twice as many kids as we charge for without any of them having to be out in the rain AND they have a very nice restaurant and tea room all on the same site. Also they are only a hop and a skip from the Tourist Information Centre.
And to that the pretty damn near certainty that the Marquis's man of business is going to up the rent on the castle by a whopping amount since we no longer maintain the grounds [sacked the stone masons didn't we!] and I could be looking at either a forced transfer or, if I'm lucky, redundancy in a year or two's time.
Actually it might be fun seeing how little housekeeping I can manage on. I used to be an expert.
In other news J K Rowling has contributed a story card to Waterstones "What's your story?" competition. It's a prequel to the Harry Potter series and should be available to read online sometime tomorrow. I'll post either a transcription or a screen shot if possible.
ETA: You need the right sort of flash player for the Rowling piece. It's already available by following the Authors link from here but I can't get at the damn thing *grumbles*
Basically the church has started their own museum in opposition and has so much more to offer than we do.
Okay we have a castle and a fantastic collection of archaeological and social history artefacts and we offer an 'bought in' educational service to local schools.
But they have a church [with a roof on it] filled with amazing carvings, the new heritage centre which is offering a free educational service taking twice as many kids as we charge for without any of them having to be out in the rain AND they have a very nice restaurant and tea room all on the same site. Also they are only a hop and a skip from the Tourist Information Centre.
And to that the pretty damn near certainty that the Marquis's man of business is going to up the rent on the castle by a whopping amount since we no longer maintain the grounds [sacked the stone masons didn't we!] and I could be looking at either a forced transfer or, if I'm lucky, redundancy in a year or two's time.
Actually it might be fun seeing how little housekeeping I can manage on. I used to be an expert.
In other news J K Rowling has contributed a story card to Waterstones "What's your story?" competition. It's a prequel to the Harry Potter series and should be available to read online sometime tomorrow. I'll post either a transcription or a screen shot if possible.
ETA: You need the right sort of flash player for the Rowling piece. It's already available by following the Authors link from here but I can't get at the damn thing *grumbles*
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 01:19 pm (UTC):D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 01:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 02:06 pm (UTC)Thanks for the link though. I'll edit the post.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 02:11 pm (UTC)I pasted the images into files, if you want I can upload them.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 02:13 pm (UTC)How are you and your good lady? *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 02:20 pm (UTC)We're not too bad. A bit tired and cranky today, as the puppy didn't let us get a wink of sleep last night, ugh. What about you? All job madness aside, of course. *squishes*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 02:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 03:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-11 07:53 pm (UTC)hmm. what if ijust scrol ldow nthe commetns tosee if someone has typed this thing up? seriousl ythogu the origina lnews made me giggle. nervously. adn i kept sayign 'jrk is writign fic in ehr own universe. wheeee!!' adn of course one needs the right flas hplayer. who woudla thunk theyd' be as eas as stickign ascanned jpeg o ntheir page? nah... but wmaahahahaha there wil lbe someone who gets to it and he will have ways to cap it liek no-oneelse caps.
sorry. it's jsut you tapepdi nthis and i got all excited and happy over it and i hoep this nonsense distracts yo ufro mteh museum kerfuffle which ...amases me so muc hthat i have no proper words. except ehr haps afew times of 'huh?"
Part one
Date: 2008-06-11 11:38 pm (UTC)The speeding motorcycle took the corner so fast in the darkness that both policement in the pursuing car shouted "Whoa!"
Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however the motorbike made the turn without unseating either of its riders, and with a wink of it's red tail light, vanished up the narrow side street.
"We've got 'em now," cried PC Anderson excitiedly. "that's a dead end!"
Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.
There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour's chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was now crawling towards them like some growling luminous-eyed predator.
There was so little space between the car walls and the walls of the alley that Fisher and anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like, towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall, tearing buttons off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside.
"Get off the bike!" he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.
They did as they were told. Finally pulling free from the broken wing mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving and long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter's guitar-playing layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were
dressed in tee-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem no doubt of some deafening tunless rock band.
"No helmets," Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. "Exceeding the seed limit by - by a considerable amount!" [In fact the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel]. "Failing to stop for the police!"
Part 2
Date: 2008-06-11 11:41 pm (UTC)glasses, "only we were trying ..."
"Don't get smart - you two are in a heap of trouble!" snarled
Anderson. "Names!"
"Names?" repeated the long haired driver. "Er - well, let's see. There's Wilberforce ... Bathsheba ... Elvendork ..."
"And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy
or a girl," said the boy in glasses.
"Oh, our names, did you mean?" askd the first, as
Anderson spluttered with rage. "You should've said! This
here's James Potter and I'm Sirius Black!"
"Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky
little ..."
But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. they were
suddenly as alert as gundogs, staring past Fisher and
Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth
of the alley. then, with identical fluid gestures, they reached into their back pockets.
For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns
gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the
motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than ...
"Drumsticks?" jeered Anderson. "Right pair of jokers, aren't
you? Right, we're arresting you and a charge of ..."
But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius
had shouted something incomprehensible and the beams from
the headlights had moved.
The policemen wheeled round, then staggered backwards.
Three men were flying - actually flying - up the alley on broomsticks - and at the same moment the policecar was rearing up on its back wheels.
Fisher's knees buckled; he sat down hard. Anderson tripped over Fisher's legs and fell on top of him as flump - bong - crunch they heard the men on brooms slam into the upended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.
The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers.
"Thanks very much," called Sirius over the throb of the engine. "We owe you one!"
"Yeah, nice meeting you!" said James. And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex!"
There was an earth-shaking crash and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground.
Now it was the motorcycle's turn to rear. Before the policemen's disbelieving eyes, it took off into thin air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.
~~~
From the prequel I am not working on - but that was
fun!
J K Rowling 2008
Re: Part 2
Date: 2008-06-12 05:09 am (UTC)