“It was a mistake when, in 1962
Jamaica became independent from you”,
She said.
I moved not my head
But sat thinking on the wise
Who tell
And dispel
Lies.
The Wise
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Tag Archives: britain
What The Neighbours See
What the neighbours see
Need not concern you and me,
For our lives are so boring
We will have them snoring.
So lets continue ignoring
The twitching curtain
For it is certain
They can only perceive
The milkman leave
The milk,
As we wave him goodbye in our dressinggown of silk …
What the neighbours spy
Need not concern you and I
For walls are thin
And we can not help but hear the din
Of the squeaking bed
When Mrs Ed
Is away.
So we say
“Hi”
As we pass by
But do not catch our neighbour’s eye …
“Dane-Geld” By Rudyard Kipling
IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: –
“We invaded you last night – we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: –
“Though we know we should defeat you,
we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: —
“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”
—
Oh To Be In England But Which England?
Many thanks to Cupitonians (http://cupitonians.wordpress.com/) for drawing this amusing post to my attention, http://intrepidmisadventurer.com/the-department-of-tweed-and-trilbies/#.UrIAaOIXKrh. Now I’m off to my gentleman’s club, in Pal Mal where I will sit, in tweed jacket, drinking whisky while being served by my man, Jeeves, (after having read the above post you will understand what I mean)!
Ramblings
Something intangible is passing, perhaps it is long since gone. Walking among these trees, I feel sadness carried on the breeze. Something great and profound has vanished, forever lost in the mists of time. Soon the leaves will fall to the ground, rich golden brown. Something is gone, impossible to express or define, that which is destroyed by time.
I can not express what I want to say, words fly erratically away. Trees representing permanence stand but something is lost, I only dimly understand.
Mind the Gap
Every working day (in my case Monday-Friday) I take both the train and London underground to get into the office. During my travels I hear a number of anouncements advising travellers to mind the gap between the platform and other important matters. Having a quirky sense of humour I can not help but think up alternatives to these anouncements some of which I have given below. First is the correct announcement followed by my alternative rendering:
Original Anouncement – mind the gap.
My version – mind the gap for the gap can not mind you.
Original announcement – Smoking is prohibited Anywhere on this station
My version – smoking is positively encouraged anywhere on this station
Original announcement – Please do not leave unattended articles on this station. Unattended items will be removed and may be destroyed.
My version – Please leave unattended articles on this station. Unattended items may be removed and distributed to random strangers.
K Morris - Poet 