Saturday 14 June 2014

You Couldn't Make It Up!

It can be very frustrating as a writer to have a story turned down because it’s too unrealistic or unbelievable when you have written about something that really happened.

But they say truth is stranger than fiction.

A few weeks ago I wrote a story after an extraordinary and rather magical encounter. I sent it off thinking it didn’t have a chance, but it was accepted very quickly. I can’t wait for that story to come out as it is very special to me.

But in the last week, two more inexplicable things have happened. One of them I may try to turn into a story, but it really was so implausible I don’t have much hope. If I don’t get anywhere with it, I will have to tell it here because it really needs to be told.

The other one is more of a well fancy that sort of thing.

To keep Dusty from charging about on the marshes, I give him a tennis ball to carry. It means he’s not upsetting the birds and I’m not worrying that he’s going to hurt himself or go too far and get lost.



But what he does want is for me to throw it in the water. He jumps in after it and drops it as soon as he's back on dry land, sitting down waiting for me to throw it in again. He's got the fetch and drop thing; he just hasn't got the bringing it back part just yet.

You can see the ball in the first picture; in the other two, it is just out of shot, but that is what he's staring so intently at.





A couple of weeks ago, another dog pinched Dusty’s Wilson tennis ball and ran off with it, so the lady insisted on giving Dusty her dog’s Slazenger ball in exchange.

Then yesterday we were out quite a way along the beach when a friendly border collie came over to say hello. Beautiful dog which put me in mind of Black Bob. Long story short, Dusty did his usual rolling about on his back waving his legs in the air and the collie ended up taking the Slazenger ball. Luckily I carry a spare! 

On our way back along the beach, we met a friendly little dog proudly carrying a tennis ball he'd found. I hadn't the heart to say it was Dusty's, besides he was now happily carrying his spare.

Last night we went for a walk round the field, but didn’t go down onto the beach.

After a ball game and a mooch round, I put his two tennis balls away and we returned to the car where Dusty picked up a tennis ball. I looked around. No one about that it might belong to and I had both tennis balls we’d brought along. It’s a Wilson tennis ball. I know there are a lot of Wilson tennis balls about, but I like to think it’s the one he swapped a couple of weeks ago.

It’s been a lovely week hasn’t it. I took this photo of Walton-on-the-Naze on a particularly calm day (one of my grandchildren says it looks like a crocodile). You can see the Naze (Hanoverian) Tower. Interesting place is Walton with a pier, nature reserve and abundance of fossils. I used to cycle over there when I was a teenager to go on the pier!



Between here and there is Hamford Water where Arthur Ransome’s Secret Water is set. There is a seal colony where some of the seals are rusty coloured from the iron oxide in the mud - you can see a photo here.

And Walton-on-the-Naze was mentioned in an episode of Blackadder Goes Forth we watched last night.


Life is one long series of coincidences isn’t it?


36 comments:

  1. Love the tale of the tennis balls, Teresa!
    Can't get over how quickly Dusty is growing.
    Tim 'n' Ted send woofs and tail wags to all
    xxPat

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    1. He weighs ten kilos now, Pat. Thank you lovely Tim 'n' Ted - Dusty sends woofs and a big wag of his tail back x

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  2. What a lovely post and Dusty has you well trained I see.

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    1. Yes indeed, he has trained me far better than I've trained him :-) x

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  3. Coincidentally I just found a chewed looking tennis ball on my allotment. I spotted it and then forgot about it as I got on with picking strawberries. I'll leave it by the path for the next passing dog to pick up if he likes.

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    1. That's lovely, Patsy - you will make some lucky dog's day. Ahh fresh strawberries x

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  4. Dusty looks enchanting (and I'm not really a dog person)! Are you putting that in a story??

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    1. It probably will end up in a story, Frances. Would you believe he's lost his found ball already x

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  5. Lovely post Teresa and fabulous photos. Dusty is growing so fast isn't he. He's gorgeous. Oh bless, lost his found ball already. But the way things are going ..........(spooky theme plays quietly in background ..... :o) xx

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    1. My goodness, Sue, but he looked like a tiny thing this evening next to an ENORMOUS Labradoodle. Gorgeous dog, very friendly - all 60 kilos of him :-) x

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  6. That's funny, and I'm sure it was his ball. Enjoyed your story about the auntie in WW special the one who didn't want to go to school. What a lovely auntie she was. Looking forward to reading the others as well. xxx Great pictures of Dusty, he's a smasher. xx

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    1. Thank you, Susan! I hated school and I used to get so fed up with everyone telling me they were the best days of my life, I never told my children that and I won't say it to my grandchildren either - it was after a conversation with one of them that the idea came to me :-) x

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    2. I agree with you Teresa. They had to drag me into school on the first day, kicking and screaming. From then on, I counted down the years, months and days until I could leave.......

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    3. It was every day with me, Susan - my poor mum, what she had to put up with! And I used to leave school in the middle of the day and go home - when I was at infants x

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  7. I love coincidences and I understand we'll the tale it 2 tennis balls. Bonnie never goes anywhere without one and we often come back with a swap (sometimes it's just easier that way, isn't it).

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    1. Yes, definitely, Wendy. It wasn't the first time I'd done a swap - used to happen a lot with Indy x

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  8. What a wonderful tale of what goes around comes around... Yes, I know all balls are round :-) Thank you for sharing your coincidences and pictures with us.

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    1. He's lost two more balls since I posted this, Paula - somehow I don't think we'll be seeing them again x

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  9. A lovely post, Teresa, and photos. Congratulations too on having your story accepted. It sounds as if there's never a dull moment with the dogs and their tennis balls, lots of fun. I enjoyed reading about it :)

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    1. Very true, Sharon, never a dull moment :-) x

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  10. Lovely photos of Dusty and the tale of the tennis balls. :)

    I recognise the intent expression on the ball from memories of our Collie/Springer cross, Bonnie. He saw water he would dive in, and if a ball was involved too, even better. :D

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    1. What a lovely cross, Carol - isn't it funny how some dogs just take to water :-) x

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  11. Isn't Dusty absolutely gorgeous, Teresa? What beautiful pictures - I love his intent expression - and such a lovely story with the tennis balls!
    I'm looking forward to reading your story about the extraordinary encounter too - many congratulations. xxx

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    1. I can't wait for the story to come out, Joanna so I can say "That's what happened" :-) x

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  12. I've had a couple of stories returned in the past for being 'unconvincing' that were based on things that actually happened. Maybe it was the way I told 'em!
    Lovely photos of Dusty. Molly's scared of the sea after being swept out by a wave once, on the Isle of Wight.

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    1. It is an odd feeling when that happens, Karen. My cousin's husband who is a writer (I think I've told this story before) had a story turned down because "Swans don't swim in the sea" - it wasn't by any of the current fiction editors I should add, but by someone long in the past.
      Poor Molly - that must have given her a terrible fright! I don't blame her keeping out of the sea after that x

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  13. O.k. I'll be the one that says it.
    Sounds like a lot of balls to me.

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    1. Well it had to be said, Keith! It was a minefield writing this post I can tell you - had to choose my words and the order I put them in very carefully ;-) x

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  14. Loved the story of the tennis balls - truth is stranger than fiction and I wish you luck with your story and great about the one they accepted! Must tell you that Dave proposed to me in 1977 in Walton On the Naze - we were staying in a caravan there that belonged to a friend. We were in The Albion and coincidentally, the row of cottages in which we bought our first home, was called Albion Terrace. :-)

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    1. Oh what a lovely coincidence - and Albion is quite unusual isn't it? :-) x

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  15. Great story, Teresa, and I hope we get to read the other one, either here or in print! I'd never heard of that area before now.

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    1. Thank you, Rosemary. I believe they filmed some of Sharpe's Regiment on Horsey Island which is in Hamford Water x

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  16. Hi Teresa,

    Dusty and that other dog. Perhaps a doubles team just in time for Wimbledon :)

    Oh, speaking of Blackadder, David Cameron and his gang of deranged lunatics have decided that Blackadder is "unpatriotic." Give me strength.

    Hugs,

    Gary :) x

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    1. Ha ha, doubles! Well why not?!

      Blackadder - unpatriotic - it's a bit rich coming from them isn't it. Bah! Idiots x

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  17. That is SO Dusty's original tennis ball!! Yes it is and I totally hope you get to write the story about its crazy journey!! Yay!

    Lovely Teresa! Huge huge congrats with your story acceptance and many more to come! Wonderful!

    Love Walton on the Naze! Awwww I have such memories of that beautiful place! Take care
    x

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