Mr ‘ansel? Bad news I’m afraid.’
‘Again? Do you builders ever bring good news?’
‘In Fairyland? You’ll want a happy ending next. It’s the gingerbread cladding…’
‘Yes? Has the cost gone up?’
‘I can’t get any, even with a sack of giant’s beans. You’ll have to make do with carrot or pumpkin.’
‘No way. You heard what happened with that Ella woman?’
‘Cinders?’
‘That’s the one. Her godmother turned the town’s allotment into transport. No one’s changing my house into a veggie vehicle. Where’s the gingerbread gone?’
‘It’s that caterpillar, gone for partially peckish to very hungry and…’ *shrugs
This little piece secured a HM in the ‘Fractured fairy tales’ competition at the Carrot Ranch. #mostpleased
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About TanGental
My name is Geoff Le Pard. Once I was a lawyer; now I am a writer. I've published several books: a four book series following Harry Spittle as he grows from hapless student to hapless partner in a London law firm; four others in different genres; a book of poetry; four anthologies of short fiction; and a memoir of my mother. I have several more in the pipeline.
I have been blogging regularly since 2014, on topic as diverse as: poetry based on famous poems; memories from my life; my garden; my dog; a whole variety of short fiction; my attempts at baking and food; travel and the consequent disasters; theatre, film and book reviews; and the occasional thought piece. Mostly it is whatever takes my fancy.
I avoid politics, mostly, and religion, always. I don't mean to upset anyone but if I do, well, sorry and I suggest you go elsewhere.
These are my thoughts and no one else is to blame. If you want to nab anything I post, please acknowledge where it came from.
TanGental 
Congratulations and well done, Geoffle. I’m sitting here in the middle of the night winding down with my cup of decaf tea before going to bed and thought I’d catch up on a few of your posts. We’ve had a big weekend with my daughter’s dance concert yesterday and I played Danny Boy on my violin at the music concert today. The concerts took up most of the weekend, which was great in terms of entertainment but also much behind the scenes for all of this and it’s a relief that its done and dusted as well. The weather is heating up here, rather like an oven. How is it going over there? Hope you’ve had a great weekend.
Best wishes,
Ro
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Loved the pics of your daughter in that email. She’s going to be quite a stunner. And does she do tap, too. We have a family friend who belongs to a professional tap troupe (she’s also an Astro physicist as a day job I kid you not). It’s a fun old world this dancing lark
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Thanks, Geoff. I wanted to share those photos with you, as you’ve been such a part of my online world and yet we’ve never met in person and that helps to bridge the gap.
I am quite intrigued by your family friend who is a tapper and an astrophysicist. Miss has wanted to be an astrophysicist quite seriously for the last three years and has a strong mind with a maths and science bend. However, as time goes by, this dancing side and her immersion in the performing arts seems so strong and I never see any interest in space, although she tells me it’s still there.
There are probably a lot of people out there who combine these seeming incongruities and it’s helpful to extend our social network to hear about them. Does your friend have a Facebook page I could pass onto Miss? She’d be stoked.
By the way, our first Christmas beetle just flew into my office like an alien spaceship crashing by the window. It’s sounding like a sickly electric razor. Don’t know whether you get them in the UK but you certainly wouldn’t be getting them this time of year.
Don’t know whether you’re reading your way through Solveig’s calendar. I made a contribution re Silent Night and yesterday’s by Gary Wilson dealt with a Winter Christmas problem and I responded with our Summer Christmas holiday crisis from a few years back.
Hope you have a great week.
A friend and I are off to see our school friend with Motor Neurone Disease tomorrow. She’s in hospital and had extensive surgery a few weeks ago to prolong her life, which included removing her voice box.
Even though I am quite accustomed to spending time with profound physical disabilities and on all sorts of equipment to stay alive through my involvement with Muscular Dystrophy Association, it’s quite a different thing to see your childhood friend go through something like this. She is a fabulous advocate…a an associate professor of Sociology at Sydney Uni, she’s turned her attentions onto finding a cure and support for the disease. Here’s a link to something she wrote about her decision to keep living with MND. I think you’ll appreciate it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d72mp4t289wv1v5/On%20Deciding%20to%20Keep%20Living%20with%20MND.pdf?dl=0
Best wishes,
Ro
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Goodness, doesn’t it hit when these things happen to school friends… Sarah and her troop are on FB the Satin Dollz. She’s dance captain, Satin Kiti And is the redhead. She’s the girlfriend of one of the Vets best buddies and a close family friend. She works for the UK Atomic Energy Authority when not tapping. https://www.instagram.com/p/BrOU7Lhg5so/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=10jf3xpaka3lo this is from her instagram page if you stretch that far
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great Geoff.
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A very cute story indeed. Well deserving of an HM.
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Thank you. V kind Darlene
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Very funny! And congrats!
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Congratulations! I got a good laugh from this one. That caterpillar…
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Excellent. Those grubs are rapacious indeed
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A most interesting piece, Geoff. Well done.
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I see you know your fairy tales and the very hungry caterpillar too 😀
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Ah I’m widely read!
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😀
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Enjoyed the story, Geoff. Had to laugh out loud at the “Cinders,” nickname. Would be something a workman would say.
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Precisely. You can just imagine it
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🙂
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Veggie vehicle indeed! I love Fracture Fairytales!
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Thanks Jan. not sure mine is exactly a fairytale but was fun to do
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Congratulations on your Hon Men, Geoff!
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Congratulations on your HM, Geoff. Good story.
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Thank you for choosing it!!
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I didn’t know it was yours at the time! We had fun reading them all. 🙂
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Imaginative and funny, Geoff. Congratulations! Well done indeed.
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Thank you Molly
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