Thursday, July 17, 2008

Y at Burton Joyce - Me = messing about

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Y insisted on making her own way to BJ today so I could have a rest. Thoughtful girl. And I've taken advantage of it. My new PC is ready and Jack installs it tomorrow around 11.15am.

I'm really looking forward to the better monitor and all the other improved features.

And then at 4pm, I need to go to the City Hospital Clinic for my ultra-sound scan.

I've not heard how John fared with his clinic. But, via e-mail from Reg, Maureen has had the 'scaffolding' removed and all is well.

Picture 1 is Bungus's "fancy grass". A lovely picture and I particularly like the silhouetted shadows on the ground. We have some similar grasses and the sparrows have been feasting on the ears of wheat near the bird-feeders.

I had a clean up, bird-feeder-wise and took longer than I had anticipated. But I enjoyed the fresh air and didn't have to rush to lie flat half an hour after starting.

Picture 2 is one of our juvenile thrushes. We know they are around because of the tap tap as they prepare their breakfast of snails. The shells are always within a square foot of the paving slab leading to the front lawn. This thrush however, was on the rear lawn. The quality isn't good but hand-held through the kitchen window?

Picture 3 is a polaroid by Daniel Boudinet in 1979 and it is published here because someone - I can't find the comment - was discussing early morning light creeping round the curtains.

I also remembered Larkin's poem "Audabe" where he writes :

"Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare/
In time the curtain-edges will grow light"

and I thought the snap went well with the words.

.............. I've had a temporary computer glitch involving a gorilla which took up residence on screen while I was doing something else, and he proved immovable (seriously ! - It was a 'clip art' image I was trying to be clever with - serves me right).

System Restore was necessary in the end, but thankfully he's gone now.

Comments

Roy ..... Thanks for the material about Sleetmoor Lane and I think that will be it ! My step-father's name was Sam Taylor and maybe you or Ann will know the name or the family, his brother was Owen. As I said, they had farmed there since time immemorial.

Maybe our 'yaffle' is the same family as the one you saw near Jacksdale. I've no idea of the size of a Woodpecker's normal territory. But we had a similar visit last year too.

You are certainly doing well with your new hip and I'm sure Peter will read your comments and draw them to Joan's attention. It will be reassuring for her to read a 'success story'.

Bungus ...... I think the Youth Hostel in Derbyshire that you hasve in mind is probably Ilam Hall - a beatiful setting and a 'well thought of ' place.

I don't know enough about Clematis to argue, so probably Jackmanii is right.

The 'Betty's' in Ilkley is no doubt the sister ship to the one in Harrogate, which we thought was the famous one. We have 'afternoon tea-ed' there and been slightly disappointed.

I'm sure Jill will sort out the families. It seems to me they are complicated as often as not.

Jill .... I did spend half a hour messing about in Photoshop, with the 'lava flow' picture but the result was awful. So I decided against inflicting my pictorial peccadillo on you all. The one I published was un-interfered with.

Glad that you too are a Matt fan ! He is always 'up to the minute' and even non-Telegraph readers admire his stance and his prodigious output. The stress of producing such work day after day must be enormous. Due to his topicality, he can't even stockpile a few in readiness.

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Quotation time ... seldom does your blogmeister find it necessary to flatly disagree with a quote. But this time I do..............

"A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits"

Robert Heinlein

Bungus and I and also Rob, and Mike to mention just a few, know some performance poets who are super people. In fact Bungus is no mean performer of his own stuff. And just think of Auden, Betjeman, Pam Ayres, Wendy Cope, Dylan Thomas, Carol Ann Duffy, John Hegley, Henry Normal ............... I could just go on and on. They may be eccentric - thank God - but 'nasty habits' is just gratuitously rude. I shan't be quoting him again.

Sleep tight and I hope to catch you tomorrow...........

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This is me listening to a good performance poet ................

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Graham

Owen Taylor is a local butcher and farmer who has been in business longer than I can remember. His shop premises in Leabrooks (just down the road) also had it’s own slaughterhouse. My in-laws bungalow was on the other side of the school playing field and you could often hear the cattle/sheep come into the premises and the noise gradually diminish over a period of fifteen minutes or so. As far as I know the shop is still there but will check next time I am up that way.
I will not be on WOW now until September (St Davids beckons) but perhaps we do a bit of research up that way if you wish.

Anonymous said...

I like Benjamin Zephaniah. I remember reading a very short piece of verse by him that has stuck with me for years:
I used to think nurses were women
I used to think the police were men
I used to think poets were boring
Until I became one of them


I really like the Daniel Boudinet picture, maybe because I've done a few that are similar. I've never seen or heard of Boudinet's work (shame on me) so I didn't copy him. Obviously, though, I'm not at all original in the photos I produce. I'll e-mail one to the blogmeister for reference.

I hope everybody's hospital trips went well.

This morning I was in Ollerton talking to a man who lives on Tuxford Road in Boughton. As it was to do with work I cannot say more for reasons of confidentiality. He was a really nice bloke, so obviously not Bungus's neighbour.

Tonight we are going to Huthwaite Tandoori for a curry and I'm really looking forward to it. We haven't been for a few weeks and it's always good.

Who's the When I am old I shall wear purple poet? I love that one.

Rob

Anonymous said...

Didn’t see you at the City Hospital.
But I arrived home at 2.00 after an uneventful visit except that the driver who brought me home was the son of a late pub landlord friend from the 60s (Old Eclipse, Mansfield; most generous man I have ever met; he would rather buy your beer than let you go home).
I hadn’t seen Paul (the driver) for about 40 years when he was in his teens and only used to eat Yorkshire pudding and bacon. He also played electric bass guitar and connected to a metal carpet rod in their living room above the public bar which acted as an aerial to pick up the juke box which he accompanied. He also rode side car for a Mansfield motorbike shop owner and racer. We had a great remininiscent chat. He has just acquired his bus pass. Amazing!

Pleased to hear your new PC is ready again. Hope all goes well.

Envious of your baby thrush.

I am part way through a painting featuring light through curtains. Will send a copy when completed. It is mixed media and I had a bit of a wobble after using pastel. Instead of fixative I sprayed it with varnish! I shall complete it, probably in acrylic.

You really shouldn’t mess with gorillas; they can become very affectionate.

I think woodpeckers have a quite small territory. There was one on the Old Pit Tip a few years ago and it always seemed to be in or around the same tree.

It probably was Ilam Hall - the accommodation and food sounded very good.

In the 70s I was a regular visitor, on business, to the builders/developers, Shepherds of York, and invariably went to the Betty’s there for lunch. Very opulent and good food (on expenses of course). I usually had a Wiener Schnitzel, occasionally plaice.

Thanks for the plug.
I once ‘topped the bill’ in the foyer of Nottingham Playhouse (reading prose not poetry) where I was very strongly supported by Pete Carroll (Henry Normal). As I have mentioned before, he was unstinting in his encouragement of novices, always leading the audience when they were uncertain whether or not to laugh.
I also recall a Shirebrook & District Writers’ Club performance at Wentworth Castle (Northern College) where we could not get a smile, never mind a laugh, out of the audience. I offended some by asking “Have you ever been in a morgue? It’s a bit warmer than this.” But the highlight was when Graham whispered to a couple of his fellow performers, “Even those in wheelchairs are getting up and walking out.”

Jill:
Seems we are all as bad as the Royal Family when it comes to ‘till death do us part’. But four wives is going some – like others I am only on my third (the first stayed just 14 months in the house I had built for her after a long engagement. I was married and divorced in the same suit),
So far, of ours, only Steph has returned to mother (Simon did offer but we had to turn him down).

Rob;
There are several nice people who live on Tuxford Road.
I like the Zepheniah.
Jenny Joseph.

Roy:
With the exception of my army number, my wartime Registration Card number, and Brigitte/Marilyn, I am hopeless at remembering figures (I don’t know my present car number or any previous ones). The only telephone number I have ever remembered, from when I was 16, is ‘Leabrooks 301’. It was Evans Concrete, whom I never rang.
My uncle supported a bookie called Billy Riddings who had a static caravan somewhere near his nameplace.
He was renowned for being ‘careful’ and had a sign up in his shop saying ‘Maximum £50 single bet’, ‘Maximum £1 Yankee’ and the like. Someone chalked up beside it ‘No tanner doubles’.

Chic Murray:
"I admit to spending a fortune on women, booze and gambling. The rest I spend foolishly."
"The police stopped me when I was out in my car. They told me it was a spot check. I admitted to two pimples and a boil."