Sole Trader.

The Mermaid Part 2 T he lack of sleep and the relief of having shared the burden, must have knocked Jon out, for he fell asleep in his Deck Chair. Rose covered him with a blanket and went to the cab to check the bearings. They were less than a day from Los Cristianos. All she had to do was to make sure that no more extraordinary events stop them from docking there. Rose had stayed awake all night and there had been no sign of the Mermaid. Dawn came shrouded in Mist, joining the sea and sky invisibly together in a pearly white Veil. It was warm and there had been no stars or wind all night. Rose had calculated that it would be safe for Jan to turn on the engine at five hundred hours. Luckily, the Current had pulled them slowly all-night in a southeasterly direction. Rose had relied on the Sonar to check their position, glancing regularly at Jon sleeping. As the sun invisibly rose, the mist seemed to get thicker and She could barely see Jon anymore. It was get

                           First Instalment of a chilling tale..  CHAPTER 1 'OSLO' People who Sail, like solitude. Some find in the unrelenting Horizon, a tranquility impossible to obtain on Land. Rose was one of those. She and her Sister, grew up Sailing with their Parents and like a lot of Mariners, Rose, was looking forward to the 'O4' Regatta. The O4 or ‘Four Oceans’ Competition, happened every five years and was the largest Prize in the Nautical World. The completion time was open. The Record was held by the Crew of “The Spinnaker’. They took five months, two Days and eleven hours. Entry for the Race was strict. Vessels required to be AIS* & GPS, have at least one Main Sail, be a minimum of 80 foot in length, as well as a qualified Engineer amongst the minimum Crew of Five. Fuel is restricted, as Engines are only for use in an emergency. Many Sailors and Boat Owners enter, hoping their latest equipment will assure them a place. However, a well

70’s Saturday Girl MICHELLE SINNOTT· SATURDAY, 18 MARCH 2017 Part 2  Barry our Manager, was attractive for an old Man in his ‘Thirties’. He was married with two small Girls. He is my favourite Manager of all time. He had a sense of fun and got on with everyone. We never saw him wound up and never heard him raise his voice. He spent a lot of time upstairs, in the small sunlit office, on the phone or filling in data in various coloured Ledgers. He would come and help serve when the shop got extra busy or when he wasn’t busy. At the end of a days work, you may have collected thirty Elastic Bands, from serving shoes. The boxes were often held together with one. We’d sometimes play a game in the last quiet moments before closing the Shop, of pinging each other with them. Someone would sneak in one hit and that would be it, we’d all end up volunteers in Rubber Band Warfare. We’d run around hiding behind Racks, with Commando style attacks from behind the Facade. It was such Fun. B

70’s Saturday Girl.   MICHELLE SINNOTT· SATURDAY, 11 MARCH 2017 Part 1  I had a Saturday Job from the Age of Fourteen and that wasn’t unusual. It paid for my Horse Riding lessons and a few other things a Teenage Girl needs. My first job was in ‘Jacks’, a independent precursor of Poundland’. It had a very particular smell, like a Hardware store, mixed with Fag Smoke, Incense, Talcum and Mothballs. My job was to replenish and guard these mostly Plastic and Spelter items and assist any customers when needed. it was like working in a Corridor the way they crammed the place full of stuff. With nowhere to rest, it killed the Feet and Back.You got a Mug of Tea on duty, in the morning and afternoon, ½ hour Dinner Break and £1:25 for a Day’s Work. I looked for a new job every lunch time until I got one in ‘Martins’ the Newsagent. To begin with, I worked as one of the Saturday ‘Penny Sweet’ Dispensers. You needed patience for that one. Some girls just couldn’t stand the routine boredom