Latest Blog Posts

Time to Move On

Friday, 3rd February 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
How quickly the years pass, May thought, gazing at her John in the hospital bed. If she didn’t know, he could be back at their home, sleeping off an extra Sunday pint; the pint Ted Lake at The Rose would’ve ‘insisted’ on.

Justin Burns

Paper Castle

Friday, 3rd February 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
From her peripheral vision Irena saw the boys stop playing and stare at her as she walked past. Not today, please not today. She focussed on the footpath, bag clutched against her chest, and kept walking. Only a few more steps until she was in the safety of her home….her castle.

Justin Burns

Neighbourhood Watch 1998

Thursday, 2nd February 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
Gary moved in six months ago, January sixth to be precise. I remember the date because that’s when George passed away. Elaine was beside herself of course, she‘d always loved that dog, but I’d persuaded her to go to work as usual. Easier to have her out of the way when I dug a grave for the little fellow in the front garden.

Justin Burns

Martin's Holly

Thursday, 2nd February 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
My name is Martin Kelly. I'm nine years old, and I don’t want to move house. At all. Of course, being nine, my opinion doesn’t actually count for much when these things are decided.

Justin Burns

Lifelines

Wednesday, 1st February 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
Three items, all ticked off. My bag’s packed and I took the spare keys up the lane to Jenny’s this morning. It’s a proper spring morning and everything’s looking brand new and shiny. Except me. I look particularly grey, but Jenny, bless her, said she thought I was looking a bit better. She wished me luck, like I was going into an exam or something.

Justin Burns

Goodbye

Wednesday, 1st February 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
I beg my feet to just get on with it but instead I resemble a granite carved statue. I will them to move up the stairs yet they disobey me. I inhale sharply; my cold hand clutches the wooden banister, steadying the nauseating butterflies that crash against my empty stomach.

Justin Burns

Help us to Help you Sell

Wednesday, 1st February 2012

Categories: Sales Selling Tips
When you instruct an estate agent to sell your property, you might assume that you can switch off and wait for the offers to flood in. With a sought-after property in a very buoyant market, this might well be the case but, generally, you’ll need to do your bit to help your property hit all the right notes with the right prospective buyers.

Sue Bradford

Do you Make these Mistakes when Choosing Tenants?

Tuesday, 31st January 2012

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Choosing the right tenants will make all the difference to the success of your property business. Choose well and you could let the same property to the same tenants for years without any hassle; choose badly and you could end up with rental arrears, costly repairs to the property and irate neighbours.

Kris White

Good Intentions

Monday, 30th January 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
My daughter, Elspeth, has just finished adjusting the drapes for me, and I’m stepping back to admire the subtle combination of dove grey and pink when my new neighbour appears on the doorstep, bearing gifts.

Justin Burns

Driven

Monday, 30th January 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
The keychain—the one he’d given her months ago when they’d picked up that package at the Fort Pierce truck stop—hung from the ignition, vibrating with the idling engine. F-L-O-R-I-D-A, each letter a different color, arched over a pair of tiny crossed palm trees.

Justin Burns

The Secrets of Dealing with Difficult Tenants

Monday, 30th January 2012

Categories: Lettings Property Management
If you’ve been a landlord for a while, chances are you’ve come across difficult tenants in the past. You will no doubt have learnt from your mistakes but there’s no real way of knowing how someone is going to treat your property, or deal with rental payments, until they have actually moved in.

Kris White

Peter Barry Short Story Competition: by the Numbers

Saturday, 28th January 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
217 Submissions 58 Submissions on the final day 18 Submissions during the final hour 1406 Average word count 206 Lowest word count

Justin Burns

Behind the Flock

Friday, 27th January 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
“Mum, I’ve got some details of houses that you might be interested in.” I waved a clutch of brochures from the local Estate Agent. “One looks just perfect. It’s only round the corner from us. Nice and handy for babysitting!”

Justin Burns

A Room for Freya

Friday, 27th January 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
“We should paint this room. Yellow. Freya always liked yellow.” “When she was little, yes.” “She still does. I’m sure of it. Besides, it will brighten the place up a bit.”

Justin Burns

Peter Barry Short Story Competition - Shortlist

Thursday, 26th January 2012

Categories: Moving Stories
We had a fantastic response to our short story competition, there were in excess of 200 submissions, so it took a little bit longer than expected to read them all.

Justin Burns

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