Another week of crawling internet, even slower than before, so apologies for not replying to all my comments from last week yet. I think the internet is actually dying now and I should probably do the decent thing and put it out of its misery. The new router arrived and made it worse so we’ve plugged the old one back in. There’s an engineer coming tomorrow to fix it or perform last rites.
But let’s not dwell on my crappy broadband, let’s celebrate the good things in life. And you can’t get much better than Friday Fictioneers!
UPDATE: internet fixed! I’m back online and I’ve been celebrating by watching back to back films on Lovefilm. Yay!!!!
For those who don’t know, Friday Fictioneers is a challenge to write a 100 word story from a picture prompt. It’s hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, and anyone can play. Thanks for hosting, Rochelle! Check out the link at the end of my story to see what other fictioneers did with this week’s prompt.
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Fly Me To The Moon
Bob Tambourine leaned against the banister and peered upwards, feeling a little dizzy. He loved being an odd-job man – the odder the job the better – and this one was certainly going to be a challenge.
‘Gonna cost ya,’ he said.
A week later Bob returned. Strapping a home-made contraption to his back, he positioned himself in the stairwell. Fingers crossed, he pressed the ignition, feeling the heat of the twin-jets as they propelled him upwards.
Hovering inches from the ceiling, Bob produced a light-bulb from his pocket.
‘No job too big or small,’ he said as he screwed it in.
(100 words)
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Need more Friday Fiction? Click the blue frog to read more stories from other fictioneers!
EL Appleby: Brain Fragments 
Really liked this. Reminded me of Frank Sinatra’s song “Fly Me to the Moon”. I’d post a YouTube link, but not sure you’d want me to. Anyway, great image here, guy with his jetpack… 🙂
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Ditto. And Scriptor Obscura should post the link.
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One of my favorite songs
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Actually, I meant this song, just got the names confused…Here is Come Fly With Me:
Also, here’s Fly Me to the Moon:
Enjoy.
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Thanks Scriptor – I did steal the title from Sinatra – well spotted! Thanks for the links, nice to have a bit of music on my site 🙂 And thanks for your lovely comments.
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Windsock Tambourine’s husband from the other story? 😉
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Well spotted again – he used the bits left over from making the car to make his jetpack 😀
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I could just imagine this.. particularly the phrase ‘it’s gonna cost ya’. Great take on the prompt. And sympathies with your internet problem, got the same thing myself for the next week – taking five minutes to log from one page to another – and this is advertised (and charged!) as being 3g+. Soooo frustrating.
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HI Sandra – Internet cured!!!! Mr Internet Man came round and fiddled with the router and we’re back up to full speed – and he didn’t say ‘gonna cost ya’ coz it was free! Hope you get your internet sorted soon too 🙂
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It seems we all are experiencing internet issues, I go out, get a drink waiting for pages to load… anywho – this was crazy ( in a good way) an electrician with a Jetpack…if only they were that efficient!! 🙂
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My internet was so bad, I could have a long soak in the tub and it still wouldn’t have loaded. All cured today though – yay! Glad you liked my story, I’d love to see an electrician with a jetpack in real life 🙂
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Love this story – the ending was so unexpected.
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thanks – glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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I love the idea of the Jetpacks! Very nice.
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thanks – i haven’t read any of the other stories yet, but I’m curious to see what everyone else has come up with!
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Very simple and very neat. 🙂
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Thank you very much 🙂
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I I think a big light bulb went off in your head for this story.
This was great. This was a light bulb changing tale.
Thanks, Randy
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Thanks Randy. A big light bulb did indeed go off in my head – although I saw the picture on my mobile first so I didn’t see the big pole attached to the light fitting which was probably put in to make it easy to change the bulb? Luckily, Bob Tambourine didn’t see it either, otherwise there’d be no story 🙂
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A perfect story. My favourite so far this week.
Claire
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Wow! Thanks Claire. What a lovely comment. Glad you enjoyed it.
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So funny that you looked at this and thought “how the H do you change that light bulb?!”
I’m glad you figured it out.
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Might be something to do with spending the last two weeks spring cleaning. I see a beautiful staircase and get all practical about the light fitting- very sad!
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You need some R&R..go for it!
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El, another deftly done post and an enjoyable start to my morning. As for the internet issues, once you get connected, the frustrations of not being connected or having a slow connection are excruciating and completely frustrating. All the best with that!
janet
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HI Janet
thanks – glad I cheered up your morning. As for the internet – it’s all fixed! I can watch Lovefilm again!!! I can surf and post and answer comments – the possibilities are endless!
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Nice mystery at the end. I was so certain he was going to propel downward. Great writing.
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Damn, I didn’t even think of propelling downwards -that would have been hilarious!
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another delightful story. I need a jet pack to change the light bulb in my ceiling fan 🙂 Really original.
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Hi Jackie
I’ll send you Bob Tambourine’s number, I’m sure he’d be happy to oblige 🙂
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Really funny – like in the old joke Q: How many men does it take to change a light bulb? A: One. If he has a jet pack!
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thanks Trudy. I did think about incorporating a lightbulb joke but 100 words doesn’t go far these days 🙂
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Cackling laughter! I LOVE IT! Oh, man, that one was funny! (keep in mind I’m going on hour 50 without sleep.)
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50 hours without sleep? seriously? Ouch!
Glad my story got you cackling, though 🙂
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Great character name: Bob Tambourine. I was actually picturing something like the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory scene, floating to high. Nice humor at the end!
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Thank you. If you like Bob, you should meet his wife Windsock and his daughter Cinnamon Sky – they appeared in last week’s story 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the story.
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Very clever – and what a monicker! But an interesting problem solved; no job to small!
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Hi Laura – glad you liked it. I think there were probably easier ways to tackle the light bulb – but then again, there’d be no story if he’d taken the easy route!
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Absolute delight of a wee story – well done!
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Thanks Michele – glad you liked my wee story!
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I liked all of it. With the exception of, after reading the title, thinking to myself, “Oh great, now I’ll have that song stuck in my head all day…” =)
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I have had that song stuck in my head all day myself – sorry! And I’ve been humming it, so my entire family are now infected. It’s one of those catchy ones that you can’t get rid of.
Glad you liked the story though 🙂
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These Tambourines are an interesting sort. Enjoying their creativity, and yours as well!
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Thanks! I can’t wait to see what they get up to next 😀
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This made me laugh out loud…not an easy thing to do! You have made me smile more than once today, lucky me.
Tom
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thanks Tom, enjoy the smiles 🙂
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Dear El,
Let me echo Tom, because it is true. i’m still chuckling. loved this story. Thanks.
Aloha,
Doug
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Thanks Doug. I’m glad I made you chuckle 😀
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Dear El,
Once more you’ve provided me with a weekly giggle. Very well put together story with a great pay off at the end. BTW, how much does Mr. Tambourine Man charge? We have 18 foot ceilings so it’s always fun to replace a light bulb. Happy to hear your internet woes have come to an end.
shalom,
Rochelle
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HI Rochelle
We watched films on the internet last night for the first time in weeks and wallowed in the glory of it all – we will never take it for granted again! Glad you enjoyed my story – I’d send you Bob’s number but he had a little mishap with the jet packs – if you like out the window you might be able to wave him down as he flies past 😀
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Now that sounds like the kind of job I’d never get tired of. Takes light bulb changing to a whole new, exciting level.
Denmother
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Hi Denmother – just goes to show that if you think outside the box (or if you’re off your head) you can make even the dullest job enjoyable 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
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Thanks for stopping by my story. My hubby says the only reason I keep him around is to change the light bulb. I really enjoyed your piece.
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Best not show hubby this story, he might head off to the garage to make himself a jet pack – maybe I should have put a disclaimer at the end!
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🙂
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Loved this story and the images of Bob with his jet-pack zooming up the stairwell made me laugh out loud
Well done, changing a light bulb will never be the same again!
Dee
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Thanks Dee, glad you enjoyed it – and if I’ve transformed light bulb changing for you then so much the better!
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Oh this is fantastic. ‘No job too big or small,’ – classic. I could just imagine Bob shooting up the centre of the staircase. Loved it.
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Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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Very funny. I loved your unique take on this one, and I certainly never saw the jet pack coming! As an electrician myself I could certainly do with one of those! I look forward to reading next week’s.
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Glad you liked it. You should definitely get yourself a jet pack! See you next week 😀
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you’ve created a very fascinating character!really enjoyable read
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Thanks kz. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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I loved this… especially the name. And, I’ll tell you why I love it. My son-in-law is Bob Tambourine… with no jet-pack yet… the name of his business is ‘Friday Harbor Odder Jobs’.
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p.s. that light bulb would be a bitch.
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Seriously – you’re son in law is odd jobbing Bob Tambourine? That’s spooky! Does he have a jet pack? I may have to be careful what I write about him in the future – it could be like that film: Stranger Than Fiction. I promise not to kill him off, just in case!!!
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Cool, jetpacks! Bob is a superhero and one that likes Frank Sinatra. Okay, I made that last part up! I like your take! Good question, just how would they change that?
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Hi Amy
Glad you liked my story. I think Bob probably does like a bit of Sinatra – not sure that I do though, I’ve had that song stuck in my head since Wednesday!
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Great story.. It seems like Bob Tambourine is the menace of all lightbulb jokes 🙂
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Absolutely – how many odd job men does it take to change a light bulb? One, if he’s got a jet pack!
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“In other words, hold my hand. In other words, baby, kiss me!”
No, you don’t have to do that. Fun story, but you don’t have to do that …
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The song title was a big mistake – I’ve had that song stuck in my head since Wednesday
x
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You should send Bob over to Maggie Duncan’s post–her lighthouse keeper desperately needs a jet-pack man.
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Yes, good idea! I’ll give him a call 🙂
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It’s like the old joke – how many crazy inventors does it tkae to change a light bulb? I enjoyed your story this week, el, it had an interesting “voice” through the main character
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Thank you – glad you liked it. Maybe this’ll kick start a revival of all the old lightbulb jokes (hope not though) 😀
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i am sure the “cost ya” comes from the price of the fuel. I was talking to the guy who replaced some worn out tires for me on Saturday and he recently bought racing fuel at $7.50 per gallon. The jet fuel has to cost even more. I just wonder if he tied a rope to the bottom to keep him from blasting through the ceiling.
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By the way, congrats on being Freshly Pressed.
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Hi Joe
Over here in Britain we pay almost nine of your US dollars for a gallon of fuel. That’s ordinary petrol (gasoline), slightly more for diesel. Good thing we can’t drive very far before we fall off the edge otherwise we’d all be broke 🙂
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Delightful that would have been handy for my cathedral ceiling
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Bob and Windsock Tambourine (from the other story)–can’t wait to see how (or if) these two develop and/or cross paths in other flash pieces of yours. Or perhaps they already have? If so, where do I find?
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Only two stories so far, I couldn’t use them this week because they’re hanging out at an African drumming festival in Wales, but I’m sure they’ll be back soon 😀
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Bob is good – you can’t beat the Tambourine.
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I think we’ll see Bob again very soon 🙂 thanks for commenting!
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