Posted in Uncategorized on August 31, 2022 by uppyalf
Shape It
I don’t believe in reincarnation But this boy This Sir Hector Made me think on it He arrived with a tribe They made a rocket boat That they rowed through The seas of space They cast their sticks with wool Fishing for intergalactic stars Ideas spilled from the children Sea monsters Lighthouses Golden paper turned into Dresses Cloaks A throne Daisy and Fred helped Clear away the giant Rolls of cardboard High fives all the way Meanwhile Sir Hector and Joseph Sailed past Mars Singing songs
Posted in Uncategorized on August 29, 2022 by uppyalf
The Cake
Life can be like a cake That you have to eat You take a piece day after day Each piece hurts as you live it Each day the pain can grow worse Then comes the night Here the restless soul Will devour the cake In handfuls Every last crumb They tear apart your thoughts Throw them in your face For the next day may just come Sadness is a cake you have to eat You take it slice by slice Each slice hurts as you swallow it Each time the pain grows worse And if you decide You cannot digest it When you vomit it out It will hurt even more
Posted in Uncategorized on August 28, 2022 by uppyalf
Four Crosses – Cannock, Staffordshire
This creepy old building began life as a 17th Century Coaching Inn which has survived a terrifying history Ghost hunts at The Four Crosses in Cannock are most definitely for those who possess nerves of steel. This creepy old building began life as a 17th Century Coaching Inn which has survived a turbulent and terrifying history. It stands in an area that is infamously known as The Chase, one of the most paranormally active areas of the Country. Some of the more sinister discoveries that have been made here over the years have left owners feeling very anxious, particularly when the ghostly activity they have encountered has been so relentless. The Four Crosses is one of those locations where you dread going into it but feel compelled to do so. “mysterious happenings”, including “unexplained footsteps, glasses smashing without warning and the reported apparition of a young girl”, according to website Caterer and Hotel Keeper. Other reported ghostly sightings have included a girl walking through a wall and candlesticks being moved from the fireplace to block toilet doors. The pub was built in 1636 as a coaching inn from shipping timbers almost 1,000 years old, according to Haunted Rooms, and several secret passages have been discovered within the building during the twentieth century. It’s reputation for supernatural activity led to it being featured on Yesterday Channel’s Great British Ghosts in 2012 and it remains a regular stopping point for ghost hunts. Name Origins: Possibly relates to the arms of the Bishop of Lichfield. History: Well known coaching inn on Watling St. Owned by the Hatherton Family up until the 1950s when it was sold to Bank’s Brewery. Managed by members of the Lovatt Family for around two hundred years until the death of Miss Lovatt, who died in 1940 at the age of 91 and was said to be the country’s oldest licensee at the time. On her death, great-nephew Harry Roland Tomlinson, took over but no longer brewed beer on the premises. Timber framed section built in 1636 – the date is carved into one of the wooden beams on the exterior. Red brick extension dates to around 1700, with further extension at the rear in mid eighteenth century. Currently on the market with an asking price of £400,000 plus VAT. Features: A verse attributed to Sir Thomas More, which according to old books is supposed to read,’Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem, Rides cum non sit forsitan una dies’, is carved on one of the external beams above a ground floor window. However, the first word now reads as ‘N eres’ rather than ‘Fleres’. Perhaps this was a mistake made during restoration work carried out in 1925? A selection of photographs of past punters and publicans hang on the walls, along with several items of interest including handmade nails that once held together the wooden beams and a page from Lord Hatherton’s account book. Stories and Legends: Another inscription related story at the Four Crosses is that Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, stayed here en-route to Ireland and scratched a verse insulting the landlord’s wife into one of the window panes. The exact wording is unknown as the pane of glass is long disappeared. It’s thought to have said something along these lines, “Fool to put up four crosses at your door, Put up your wife, she’s crosser than all four!”. However, some sources suggest that Swift did not clash with the landlady of the Four Crosses in Cannock, but the Four Crosses in Willoughby near Rugby. During Harry Tomlinson’s time at the inn, an old coachman’s uniform, consisting of a velvet top and a pair of buck skin trousers was discovered. According to local folklore the uniform was found up a chimney, but records held at the County Museum, Shugborough, show the uniform was actually found in a trunk in an attic by Mr Tomlinson’s daughter Mary. The uniform is believed to date from around the late 1820s and a letter held in the museum’s archive suggests that it may have belonged to someone working on the mail coaches in the Birmingham area between about 1815 and 1827.
This is one of the Latin epigrams of the Renaissance scholar and Catholic saint, Sir Thomas More. In Mortis Diem Omnibus Incertum Fleres, si scires unum tua tempora mensem; Rides, cum non sit forsitan una dies. The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word in this poem that is not on the DCC list: incertus -a -um – uncertain, unsure, unreliable cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.) diēs diēī m./f.: day fleo flēre flēvī flētum: weep forsitan, fortasse: perhaps, perchance in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc) mēnsis -is m.: month mors mortis f.: death nōn: not omnis -e: all, every, as a whole rīdeo -ēre rīsī rīsum: laugh, laugh at scio -īre -īvī/-iī -ītum: know sī: if sum, esse, fuī: be, exist tempus -oris n.: time tuus -a -um: your ūnus -a -um: one
On the day of the dead You would weep, unknown to all, if you knew one month of your times; You laugh when it is not perhaps one day.
The day of death is unknown to all You would weep if you knew one of your times a month; You laugh when it is not perhaps one day.
Posted in Uncategorized on August 28, 2022 by uppyalf
Living on a Prayer
Friday night at the bitch and revolver I feel the loser can’t hurry the fun With a drink I think maybe But I sit scared in a way Not knowing how to behave or what to say If I had a drink I feel I would lose control Around the table sit six lost souls Wishing or wanting or waiting Bish-Bash-Bosh And star signs flash in the conversation Rounds of drinks and food Big Dave slips out for a cigarette Memories flood in on Debs Hanging from a beam She introduces her past to us Shares tales of one night stands And a flexible leg behind her neck Mel too is open on this subject Phil looks sad but he says he’s fine But really I see behind The free spirit that tries hard To escape his pain The dinner lady looks small Frail and lost to some cause Checking her sparkling phone Which brings a soft glow? To her weary face filled evening She yawns Me I sit like Larry the Lamb “It’s always the quite ones” notes Debs But is that true? And I’m really not sure how she knows Or why she thinks I’m a quite one Its early days for an analysis I’ve been a bad boy at times Is all that I really reveal I’m a poet A fireman And an artist A very bad mix by anybody Who knows what’s what This is a combination that would be Put on the top of a list of people to avoid The band sound checks Then the restless dog In all of us shows us the way Familiar music Hurls from the band After the wine the girls dance And dance and dance More wine More dance Hair gets tossed and flicked If I had joined in with the wine My hair would still be long And I too would have shaken it But mostly we men Big Dave, Phil, and myself Watched the girls and felt the music Debs was hunting around for a splif The time to leave had arrived Before we became the taxi Before we had to mop up the sick on the back seat I enjoyed the night It was a lot of fun But bed calls and the last cup of tea
Posted in Uncategorized on August 23, 2022 by uppyalf
Chairs
A lady in a park had chair tattoos one on each upper arm The one was an ordinary Straight back chair The other was definitely a plastic garden chair I walked behind her For a few steps Then my curiosity got the better of me Politely I enquired As to the meaning for her behind the tattoos She told me that they Were art related to her work I understood this And to feel less uncomfortable I shared my UppyALf tattoo And told her that this too Was a similar reason Quietly we went back to our days Just artists in a park
Posted in Uncategorized on August 22, 2022 by uppyalf
Mist coated ice creams Crystal laden coffee Mrs Wallace’s sweets Crinkle crisps Beer Summers that forever rained The reading books For winters stage Popping corks White cliff chalks Running nose that stained his clothes Past an electric fire that cost a packet The meter turned at his music racket To dream while looking Through cracked and broken windows Looking for flying saucers
Go, gentleman, every man unto his charge Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls: Conscience is but a word that cowards use, Devised at first to keep the strong in awe: Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law. March on, join bravely, let us to’t pell-mell If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.
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