Ditchling Down

Ditchling Down
the path so steep
and us all slippy-sliding
In squelchy mud
unbalanced from
the frigid winds all hiding

Ditchling Down
with Weald below
the distant view confiding
as we struggle
down the gradient
quite often all colliding

Ditching Down
the village there
sheltered and presiding
Each of us
a respite from
our finished walk providing

©Jemverse

Photo – Ditchling Down, Sussex – Jempics

Owning the cone

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
was feeling a bit glum
He had to wear the ‘cone of shame’
for stitches in his bum
It wasn’t very comfortable
and he wasn’t all that sure
why he was made to wear it
and what it all was for

So Wolfgang he decided
that he would own the cone
and wear it proudly everywhere
behaviour to condone
So he proudly posed for pictures
this memory to regale
in the continuing adventures
of a Sussex Patterdale

©Jemverse

Photo – Bezann Productions (aka Bezza Croucher)

Of pizzas and pubs

And so it is to Bradford
on another winter night
I find myself at Noble Comb
with time to sit and write
It’s fairly packed this evening
with families eating out
and workers sharing pints of beer
their voices raised to shout

The music on the stereo
is not my choice but still
the pizza that I ordered
will satisfy and fill
And the ginger beer was lovely
did its job and reached the spot
whilst I struggled there to finish
the food whilst it was hot

The noise it dissipated
by and by as people went
And me full and defeated
realised I was quite spent
So I finished off my beer
and headed back next door
to the hotel I was staying at
to fall asleep and snore

©Jemverse

Photo – the Noble Comb pub, Shipley (near Bradford), UK – Jempics

Raining

In was raining down in Shoreham
and in Sussex as we passed
with rain up into Surrey
by its leave but never asked

It was pouring down in London
with umbrellas everywhere
and as we headed northward
there was no let up there

There was rain in the Home Counties
and very wet outside
and rain into Northamptonshire
as if the world had cried

It was torrential through the Midlands
and still quite wet in Crewe
but heaving down in Manchester
almost as if it knew

So I was really soggy
when to my hotel door I got
But just as I arrived there
it decided it would stop!

©Jemverse

Photo – a very wet Manchester Piccadilly station – Jempics

They must be laughing

They must be laughing up in Norway
or in Canada you know
at the fuss we make in England
when we have a little snow

Sides they must be splitting
Out in Russia, Moscow way
as our headlines speak of chaos
caused by snow that fell today

And the mirth that must be flowing
Out in Switzerland as we
get all up tight and flustered
with the white stuff that we see

For though yesterday the snow
covered England for a bit
the sunshine here this morning
has melted most of it!

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

Aintree

It’s raining up on Merseyside
Aintree in the rain
Where I’ve come up from Liverpool
on an early train

There’s not much going on here
unless you are a horse
For here’s when the Grand National
is run on this racecourse

©Jemverse

Photo – original entrance to Aintree racecourse, Merseyside, UK

Converse

I’ve been partial to ‘Chuck Connors’
since I was a lad
And mostly you will find me
with my feet in Converse clad

I have many different colours
Yellow, blue and pink
The oldest ones I had for years
Forty plus I think

I have ones I got on eBay
which I know are very rare
And some which are so vibrant
that folk will stop and stare

I have ones which are so full of holes
I scarce can wear them now
But I’m not about to throw them out
as they’re part of me somehow

I wear Converse in the summer
and in the winter too
And to be honest I prefer them
to a sandle or a shoe

And yes, I have my favourites
Several pairs I’d say
which you will find me wearing
almost every single day

©Jemverse