A Festive Falling Out And Other Christmas Short Stories
By Ian Ashley
()
About this ebook
It's Christmas in Biddermouth on Sea and the inhabitants of this small English seaside town are getting ready for the BIG DAY only as usual the lives of Maureen, Beattie and their friends and neighbours never run as smooth as they would like. This collection of short stories follows them through the run up to the climax of the festive season.including a breast-feeding riot, the traditional Mince Pie Eating Competition and a burst pipe that threatens to ruin the Biddermouth On Sea nativity scene.
Ian Ashley
Born and raised in United Kingdom and living in the historic English market town of Newbury in Berkshire, England and author of 'BELL, BOOK & HANDBAG' and a collection of 30 short stories 'TOURIST TROUBLE'. Both soon to be available on SMASHWORDS. (http://ianashley.co.uk/books.html )Ian is also the creator of the 'BIDDERMOUTH GAZETTE' a highly readable weekly blog about the life of the inhabitants of a small English seaside town. http://biddermouthgazette.ianashley.co.uk
Read more from Ian Ashley
Bell, Book & Handbag Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurkey And All The Trimmings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Festive Falling Out And Other Christmas Short Stories
Related ebooks
Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #28 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fluttering of Angels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBum Steer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dante's Gift: A Chicago Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings12 Days under the Mistletoe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Once a Week: “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Daughter of Anderson Crow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alington Inheritance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLady Chatterley's Lover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInheritance Tracks Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Red House Mystery (Thriller Classic) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hand That Feeds You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTomorrow the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pirate Island: A Story of the South Pacific Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The King's Bishop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Claverings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsContrary Mary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPirate Legacy Blessings and Curses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Beckoning Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Harlequin Opal, Vol. 2 (of 3) A Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Expressman and the Detective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarchester Towers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Innocent Woman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Adventures of Martin Hewitt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTraitor's Blood Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Reluctant Detective Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nobody’s Darling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunt for the North Star Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Red House Mystery and Other Novels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Humor & Satire For You
101 Fun Personality Quizzes: Who Are You . . . Really?! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best F*cking Activity Book Ever: Irreverent (and Slightly Vulgar) Activities for Adults Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Sex Hacks: Over 100 Tricks, Shortcuts, and Secrets to Set Your Sex Life on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 2,320 Funniest Quotes: The Most Hilarious Quips and One-Liners from allgreatquotes.com Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Book of Riddles: 250 Magnificent Riddles, Puzzles and Brain Teasers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindful As F*ck: 100 Simple Exercises to Let That Sh*t Go! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51,001 Facts that Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go the F**k to Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tidy the F*ck Up: The American Art of Organizing Your Sh*t Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 2,548 Wittiest Things Anybody Ever Said Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Solutions and Other Problems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and Other Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dating You / Hating You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Swiss: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Favorite Half-Night Stand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Soulmate Equation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swamp Story: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Festive Falling Out And Other Christmas Short Stories
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Festive Falling Out And Other Christmas Short Stories - Ian Ashley
A Festive Falling Out
&
other short
Christmas Stories
By
Ian Ashley
Copyright 2015 Ian Ashley
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edtion
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or givem away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only then please return it Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Introduction from the author
These short stories began life as a weekly blog for my friends who had enjoyed the exploits of Maureen and Beattie in my novel ‘Bell, Book & Handbag. Then something exciting happened. Strangers started reading them, leaving comments and talking about The Biddermouth Gazette on social media. Now Beattie and Maureen plus their friends enjoy a world-wide following of regular readers from as far away as Japan.
Biddermouth on Sea may not exist (and some readers have tried to look it up without success) but the trials and tribulations of everyday life the stories reflect are real enough. The humour is warm, the gossip is biting and the retribution for anybody getting above their station is usually swift. It’s a small world and if you’ve ever lived in a quiet English town you’ll recognise many of the situations – if you haven’t then in this collection you can still enjoy a slice of English life viewed sideways.
Bell, Book & Handbag is available on http://ianashley.co.uk/books.html
Tourist Trouble is available on http://ianashley.co.uk/books.html
More short stories from the Biddermouth Gazette are available at http://ianashley.co.uk/blog.html
More details are available at http://www.ianashley.co.uk
Table of Contents
A Festive Falling Out
Dial 999 For Christmas
Big Money Bingo
Black Friday Madness
It’s The Thought That Counts
Breast Feeding Ruins Mince Pie Eating Contest
Dark Forces Ruin Christmas
Panto Dilemma t
Biddermouth Christmas Legends
The Biddermouth Tree
Dowsing the Virgin
A Grave Mistake
The Trouble With New Year
A Festive Falling Out
Christmas is a funny time of year isn’t it? For something that started out as a message of peace and goodwill to all men it doesn’t half seem to bring out the worst in people. I mean we’re only in the middle of November and already two of our friends are not on speaking terms over the casting of the nativity play at St Matthews and All Angels. Thankfully not having grandchildren means that neither Beattie nor I have to take sides but that doesn’t stop Vera and Hilary trying to pull us into one camp or the other.
Now traditionally that Sunday night before Christmas provides an ideal opportunity for hatchets to be buried, a rousing rendition of ‘Hark the herald angels sing,’ and in the case of Stella Wheatley the chance to spread a bit more goodwill to all men, especially the ones sat at the back who have had a drop too much to drink and managed to escape from their wives for a couple of hours. It also gives the local play group a chance to dress up as angels whilst the older children who aren’t subject to ASBO’s get the speaking parts. Of course over the years even that has been radically altered since none of the proud parents are allowed to take photographs lest one of them turns out to have a thing about toddlers dressed as beasts of the field.
However not only did Vera’s three year old granddaughter fail to make it through to the final round of the heavenly host but to make matters worse Hilary’s eldest