Anne's rewound the clocks ...

I'm sitting in Beth's garden - 

Bright sunshine warms the emptied house - 

Anne's on the phone to Tessa - 

We're waiting for the men from the charity shop she says - 

Cardboard boxes are heaped up in the lounge - 

We've packed away a life - 

A few moments ago, I found the itinerary of Beth's jaunt to India and Nepal - 

My spirits lifted - 

I imagined Beth, in the dancing aircraft, peering out the window at Mount Everest -  

There she was, sipping chai in Kathmandu, getting ready to go on a sunset tour to Kakani - 

There would always be those golden days, I thought - the pilgrimage to Lourdes - time ashore in Suva - 

Anne's rewound the clocks - 

Their chimes evoke memories like a soft wind stirring fallen leaves - 

12.55

Friday 7 August 2015

Beth's house 

Wincanton 

Forgetting the sadness of emptied rooms ...

I'm warming myself in the sun after swimming - 

Anne's smoothing the fine sand with her long fingers - 

My legs are still beaded with seawater - there's salt in my hair - 

I can hear the sound of small waves - 

Summer yachts are anchored off Old Harry - 

A fallen tree casts a twisted shadow - 

Sunburnt tribes mark their territories with yellow windbreaks - 

Dads play wild beach cricket - 

Girls whoop like bacchantes - 

I forget the sadness of emptied rooms - 

16.52

Thursday 6 August 2015

Middle Beach 

Studland

Clearing the house ...

I'm reading The Wasteland in the emptied  house - I've put down the history of Westminster Hospital - 

A toy kangeroo sleeps in an icy bedroom - sad china hides in a chiffonier - 

Dominic seeks out Chuck, the gardener - 

Anne folds up sweet smelling linen - 

Margot says my mother said she'd make a hundred - 

The gentle clock chimes the wrong hour - 

A life is marked by tender memorabilia -  

There are no clothes in the wardrobes - 

Father Louis says Beth ironed the vestments - 

Dominic smiles a gentle wounded smile - 

Safe journey we say - safe journey - take care -

Beth's house

Wincanton

15.30

Wednesday 5 2015

 

Breakfast in Dunfermline House ...

I left The Old Grocery for Dunfermline House revived by a cafetière of Quinchia - 

I'd slept deeply after nightcaps of Rioja, cocooned in dreams, waking once to hear thunder - the bed had moved beneath me, like a raft under a dazed mariner - 

I threw off my duvet around seven in the morning - I remembered dreadful dawns in bedsits, times of penury and wonder - 

I showered in the elegant bathroom, washing my shock of white hair - 

I was sorry to say goodbye to Malcolm and Angie - I hoped we would meet again -

In Dunfermline House, I ate a full Scottish - 

There was no sign of the silent daughter - 

Outside the house, before we started our journey, I took a photograph of my companions - 

Martin had decided to grow a beard - later he would say - call me Martin Martinson - 

Alyson and Penelope smiled their gentle smiles - 

The way lay before us, pilgrim's step by pilgrim's step - 

09.00

Thursday 2 July 2015

Outside Dunfermline House

Melrose 

Malcolm tells a story about the Duke of Buccleuch ...

After Dark Horses in Marmion's Brasserie, I was ready for midnight bumpers of fiery red - 

I sat on the balcony with Malcolm and Angie - 

Angie wore a green dress - 

Below us, the wynd was filled with shadow - 

Pale stars sashayed across the sky - 

An amiable labrador nuzzled my knees -

The warm night wind carried dreams across the rooftops - 

Malcolm and I shared memories of Stellenbosch - 

Angie told me how she'd met Malcolm at the Melrose Ball - 

I held a heel tap to my lips - 

The duke sat in the back of the Land Rover Malcolm said - with a Rembrandt between his knees -  

01.00

Thursday 2 July 2015

The Old Grocery

Melrose 

Far from the Madding Crowd ...

Nellecke steered the sleek landship down the twisting driveway - 

On her wrist, Nellecke had written in biro - M3, M25 and M20 - 

Peter sat in the front passenger seat like the navigator in a superfortress - 

Soon they would be overtaking flimsy Skodas - 

I would miss our evenings, sipping Spitfires whilst we watched a movie - 

Last night, we watched Schlesinger's Far from the Madding Crowd -  

We'd visited Max Gate that morning - 

Everything always goes wrong in Thomas Hardy's books Anne said - 

Girls go to the wrong churches - letters aren't read - 

She glared at Sergeant Troy - 

Why Bathsheeba, why? she sighed - 

12.00

Sunday 2 July 2015

Corfe Mullen

Fantastic universes ...

Whilst Nellecke toyed with a frayed boater, I skimmed a bizarre story in Fantastic Universe - 

The foxed pulp skulked between an Agatha Christie and a Sax Rohmer - 

The front cover of the mag depicted a 1950s cyborg smoking a Lucky Strike - 

I remembered reading copies of New Worlds Science Fiction when I was fourteen years old - 

I looked out for domed cities on the moon - rockets flew across the sky - 

Each page I read filled my soul with unease and wonder - 

My dad might drive his Vauxhall Viva into a parallel world - 

Jerry Cornelius might board the Gosport Ferry - 

12,00

Saturday 1 August 2015

Dorset Curiosity Centre 

Dorchester