The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

A Woman Was Accused...

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Sometimes I'm flicking through the local paper and a line leaps out; a line almost sublime in it's ability to open up an entire story of mood, events and characterisation, and yet reveal nothing further.

I saw such a line in the Dumfries Courier under the Court Files section, which said,
A woman was accused at Dumfries Sheriff court of wiping blood from her nose and flicking it at a policeman..
You could spend years trying to come up with a line like that.
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17 comments

The Brokendown Barman said...

could have been worse. could have blown it straight out her nose at him, footballer stylee

savannah said...

what a world we live in, sugar! ;) xoxo

Charlie said...

It's seldom that you see good news in the newspaper, as well as good writing.

debra said...

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Kanani said...

I guess she was charged with flicking a bloody booger. Which makes her a bloody booger flicker.

Apex Zombie said...

Wow. Blood, thicker than water, not quite thicker than snot?

Annie said...

What a cracking line! Brilliant and it made me laugh LOL

Pat said...

I'm sure there must be a health and safety law against that.
Very difficult to flick liquid - perhaps it was clotted. Ooooh I feel a bit queasy now.

Kim Ayres said...

Barman - yeah, but where's the style in that?

Savannah - the world is as it is - it's the descriptions which are the fun part :)

Charlie - a rare combination indeed :)

Debra - very often...

Kanani - sounds like the start of a Dr Suess rhyme :)

FLG - let me see if I have this right... blood is thicker than water, but snot is thicker than blood, therefore we should support people who have colds before our families...?

Annie - I thought it had to be worth a blog post :)

Pat - there must be a law against it, otherwise she wouldn't be charged with the offence. Besides, you were a nurse - surely it takes more than that to make you feel queasy?

sarah said...

i have to admit.. i'm more than a little grossed out by that.

but more over.. the language of the line is.. well.. i always did like the alledged and accused legal lingo.. makes me think that we think we're more than just meat. in the end.

Mary Witzl said...

That is a great line, but I used to work in a hospital, Kim. A bloody nose flicker was the least of what I saw. Some of the nurses' stories made my eyes pop.

Ché l'écossais said...

I think it's called "grievous bodily harm".
And I'm sure the policeman had reason to complain as well.

And thanks for the blogplug :+D

The Brokendown Barman said...

hey kim, never mind style, being able to blow snot out like that is worth about 7 million in todays market. if only i could have snottered like that i could have been playing in germany right now.
check out beckhams long range goal on one of my posts to see how he celebrates. a big greeny out of his gob. the boy had class. think the spittle these days has nike written on the side of it.

Attila the Mom said...

Oh indeed. LOL!

Kim Ayres said...

Sarah - I just love the way it conjours up such an image :)

Mary - I could never be a nurse - far too squeamish

Ché - it never mentioned whether the bloody nose was caused by the policeman or something else. It's the ambiguity which makes the line so much fun :)

Barman - I'm surprised no one's started a reality show - the Snot Factor or some such thing

Attila - :)

Eryl Shields said...

This is absolutely ripe for a comedy sketch: the prosecution arguing intention; the defense focusing on the flick: 'surely that is not a flick your honour...'

Kim Ayres said...

That's superb Eryl - please develop it into a short story or scene :)

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