Wednesday 31 December 2014

Walking upon East Hill ...




This morning we climbed up East Hill - we walked for a while upon the wind blown grass - the old year was drawing to a close - tonight, zombie nurses, pirates and top gun pilots would carouse in Swanage - 

I lagged behind the others - there they were, small precious figures under the sky, each one with their own thoughts, tender birds flying inside their heads - 


11.30
December 31 2014

East Hill
Corfe


Tuesday 30 December 2014

Cappuccinos in Harry's Sports Bar ...

 

I've just put down my cappuccino - Harry's Sports Bar is almost empty - Sophie, Anne and Tessa have been playing badminton - I'm lolling in a leather armchair - the blank flat screen TVs are like late Rothkos - 

In the gym, one of the Darrens reassured a paunchy dad - you'll be alright when  you get some sugar he said - perhaps a banana -

I'd gazed at myself in a mirror - why, I thought, was my hair so startingly white?

Richard told me that he was now going to the gym - late last night he sent me WhatsApp pictures from The Golden Eagle - there was the blazing fire - there was the pump badge of Rosey Nosey - I sent in return a picture of Harry Palmer being iconic in The Ipcress File

I thought of all the dark places we sometimes walk in - 

There'd been talk of such things whilst we walked along the beach at Studland - the pale sun was low in the sky - the calm sea was like the pelt of some vast animal - 

Sophie asked when Richard and I first met - I remembered him opening the boot of his MG Magnette, lifting out a crate of Gales Ales - 

Later, in the party, he would very slowly dance -   


12.00
December 30 2914

Harry's Spirts Bar
Purbeck Spirts Centre
Warehsm





Monday 29 December 2014

Richard puts a monkey on a nag ...







I'm now sitting in Earthlights, with the shards of a breakfast roll on the plate before me - Richard is placing bets, whispering quirky names into his mobile - 

The screen of Richard's opened notebook is showing a race - it's a long one he says - I could be staring into a palantir - I can see tiny remote beautiful horses, jumping fences, fragile dolls perched upon their saddles - one of Richard's horses comes in second - 

The glass windows of Earthlights are all steamed up - a dainty girl quivers behind the counter - across the road, an anoraked dad pushes a buggy past The Mulberry Gallery - 

Richard challenges me to have breakfast with him in the Salvation Army Cafe on Albert Road - 


12.55
December 27 2014

Earthlights Cafe 
Swanage 




Sunday 28 December 2014

Playing bar billiards ...



We walked under an icy blue black sky to The Henty Arms - each side of the 
dark road were silent bungalows - TVs shone in warm lounges - our long shadows danced before us - a freezing wind chilled my ears - remote stars cast their ancient light - 

I felt tipsy after the bumpers of Freixenet - Matthew and Joe sported splendid beards - 

We'd driven to Ferring to see Sally and Richard - the drive from Havant had taken just over half an hour - 

A hot tub steamed on the patio - whilst we were playing bar billiards, Anne, Sally, Sophie and Tessa lolled in the scalding water - 

Do you know bar billiards? Richard had asked me - 

I'd played bar billiards very badly years before - I'd called my team The Crocs - once again I toppled pegs, wiping out my score - Joe and Matthew scored over six hundred before the bar went down - 

Rugby was being screened on the pub TV - a sinewy woman asked me not to impede her view - a man sat with his dog by his side watching us play - 

We're no good Richard grinned - 


18.00
December 27 2014

The Henty Arms
Ferring


Saturday 27 December 2014

My mum listens to The Moody Blues ...



I bought my dad a CD by The Moody Blues - I thought the music would remind him of his younger summers - 

After lunch today, I put the CD on - my dad came in with his milky coffee - my mum was resting on the sofa - listening to the opening track, I remembered being seventeen, reading Steppenwolf in the sixth form common room, dancing at a party to I heard it on the grape vine

Now my mum was listening to Tuesday Afternoon - she smiled, moving her hands to the music - 

Earlier, she'd held my hands - my hands are like my mum's now she said - 


14.00
December 27 2014

Staunton Road
Havant 


Friday 26 December 2014

Watching Casablanca at my mum and dad's ...





We watched Casablanca at my mum and dad's this afternoon - Sam played As Time Goes By - a searchlight beam swept over the doorway of Rick's Cafe Americain - Captain Renault smiled his foxy smile - Rick smoked a bitter cigarette - Ilsa's words were washed away by rain - 

My dad glanced up from the letters page of The Portsmouth Evening News - the silver plane was taking off for Lisbon - Ilsa had gazed sorrowfully into Rick's eyes - we'll always have Paris Rick said - 

My dad had seen the film soon after it was made, queueing up with his friends outside a Babylonian temple of a cinema in North End - they all wore jackets with wide lapels and ties like emerald lizards curled around their necks -  

Earlier, we'd had a Boxing Day Lunch at The Rusty Cutter

The waitress asked me if I wanted ultimate chips


17.45
December 26 2014

Staunton Road 
Havant 





Thursday 25 December 2014

Christmas Morning at Studland ...







This morning we opened our presents listening to salsa - Sophie told me that the dress code for George the Poet would be urban - I looked at a map of the Moscow Metro - 

We'd watched Skyfall last night - Bond and M spoke tersely to each other - a crazed former agent sought vengeance - I dreamily watched a crippled helicopter plunge earthwards - I'd grown old with Bond, I thought - I remembered the thrill I'd felt watching Goldfinger, how I'd treasured my dreams of Honey Ryder

During an ad break, I went outside - I looked at the crescent moon, white as bone in the night sky - I looked for angels amongst the stars - 

After breakfast, we drove to Studland - Christmas families were walking along the beach - a glowing girl emerged from the silky sea - labradors chased tennis balls - the sky was a pale blue - gentle waves washed shells onto the sand -  


12.00
25 December 2014

Middle Beach 
Studland 


Wednesday 24 December 2014

Christmas Eve Morning in Wareham ...












I woke this morning to a flawless sky - for a few moments I recalled my sultry dreams - then joy filled my soul - I felt like Scrooge, opening his bedroom window - on such days, withered souls became young and green - I felt as I felt when waking to the voice of the muezzin - 

I parked the red Peugeot before the Walls  - I walked through gentle Wareham as though I were Damiel - I found the keffiyeh I thought I had lost - each house in West Street was filled with forgiving ghosts - I was dazzled by poignant sunlight - 

The church tower rose to heaven - the bright river ran to the sea - Paul was cutting hair with his shining scissors - there was the Black Bear, where the Camera Club meet - Golden Glory brimmed in pint glasses - the bearded men in Ponds were warmed by their venerable stove - 

Inside The Salt Pig, the voices of Christmas visitors reminded me of Shoreditch - smoked hams hung from the low ceiling - I gave up my seat for a friend of the Crossword Gang - I sipped my cappuccino standing up - 

I saw that the Wareham Whalers would be singing in The Anglebury - I resolved to have a toasted teacake there, to sit where Lawrence had sat, casting his blue eyed shadow upon the lime washed walls - 

This afternoon, Sophie would be coming down to see us - she and Tessa would shine like angels - 


11.00
December 24 2014

Outside The Salt Pig 
North Street
Wareham





Tuesday 23 December 2014

Remembering when I read The Hobbit for the first time ...



Last night I saw The Battle of The Five Armies at The Rex - I went with Tessa and Aaron - Aaron wore a long black coat with many zips - walking down West Street, I imagined that I was a character in a Ray Bradbury short story - a slender witch might be casting spells in the attic of number 37 - a life might be foretold in a beautiful tattoo - 

Queuing for our tickets in the foyer of the cinema, I remembered when I first read The Hobbit - I found it by chance in Miles Bookshop - I was thirteen years old, skinny and aching for wonders - 

I read the book from cover to cover - I treasured every word - in my dreams I heard the voice of the dragon - I wore a mithril shirt - I was on a quest in a beautiful terrifying world - waking, I longed to dream again - 


19.30
December 22 2014

The foyer of The Rex
Wareham


Monday 22 December 2014

Wrapping Christmas presents, Marianne Faithfull sings Callooh callay ...



Yesterday evening, we finished wrapping the Christmas presents - 

Earlier, whilst making the fire, I'd listened to some spare jazz - I'd placed lichened apple logs upon a nest of pine cones - white ash powdered my finger tips - the wind sighed in the chimney - 

We drank a bumper each of Hopping Hare

Anne said even a shirt looks interesting and special when you've wrapped it up

I remembered then all my boyhood awakenings on Christmas Day - I'd reach out with slender arms for my pillow case of stocking presents - 

My new watch would say five thirty in the morning - Gosport would still be a dark mysterious kingdom - 

I'd tear off the gaudy paper covering a Letts Diary or a yellow Arrow paperback - I'd savour the anticipation of going downstairs

The joy of a present for me was that second of wonderful hesitation before I removed its wrapping - 

Presents, I thought, were just like bright promises - 

Callooh callay! sang Marianne Faithfull - 

I sat before the hissing flames, taking comfort in that golden voice - 


21.00
December 21 2014

The Old School House
Isle of Purbeck
Dorset



Sunday 21 December 2014

At the hand car wash ...




I'm sitting in the waiting room of the Sandford Hand Car Wash - perky Christmas pop is playing on the radio - there's a small Christmas tree placed upon a table of magazines - 

Outside, amiable Serbs are jet washing white vans - the red Peugeot is next in line - 

This is the first time I've ever made use of a hand car wash - 

Sophie had told me that in Lewisham, dreadlocked dudes would wax Mikey's customized Golf - 

In Boscombe, I'd seen shaven headed bravos cleaning windscreens - 

I'd felt nervous, watching the scouring jets of water, hearing new words, dodging mud filigreed Isuzu Troopers - 

But now, here I am, watching the Serbs - 

Noddy Holder is singing Well here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody's having fun

One of the Serbs turns down the radio - 

It is good he says - at Christmas, everyone wants a clean car

I accept the gift of an air freshener for the Peugeot -


12.30
December 21 2014

Sandford
near Wareham