Tag: dailyprompt

Why I love September – that late summer sun.

What’s your favourite month of the year? Why?

I will choose late summer

With the chance of stolen sun.

It feels we’re cheating autumn

The way the sun hangs on.

The days are getting shorter

They’re precious every one.

The endless days of June are gone.

We’ll see the setting sun.

The trees have all their leaves still

But may be on the turn.

We sense the change of season.

We feel it in our bones.

The August hols are over.

The kids start back to school.

There’s a sense of new beginnings

And young lives moving on.

But it’s a time of holiday

For people with no kids.

Holidays get cheaper

And they can go away.

There’s still the sounds of cricket

The click of ball on wood

But rugby’s coming back again

And football’s just begun.

Hope in the heart of all the fans.

Perhaps this is the one?

It’s later in the season

That the disappointments come.

It’s a time for picking

We harvest what we’ve grown.

The runner beans are slowing down

At last we’re keeping up.

We’re awash with apples.

We’ve so much fruit and veg.

See the price of Waitrose squash?

We’re veggie millionaires.

The mood is generally wistful

As summer says goodbye

We try to make the most of it

And hope it will be dry.

Autumn’s nearly with us

It’s rituals soon begin

With Halloween and Guy Fawkes night

The nights all drawing in.

But for now September

And stolen Summer sun.

Not yet time for buttoned coats

While Summer lingers on.

You can’t say you saw London unless you’ve been ‘Up West‘.

What is your favorite place to go in your city?

I don’t live in a city.

Though London is quite near

And now we’re on their tube map

So London it will be.

The thing to say bout London

Is it’s huge and such a sprawl

They say that if you’re tired of it

You’re tired of life itself.

So many things to see there

So many things to do

It really isn’t sensible

To even try and choose.

Perhaps you’ll go to Islington

Or stroll on Hampstead Heath.

Many love North London best

Where Arsenal play and Spurs.

Perhaps you’ll like South London

Where Greenwich is in such.

Or maybe you’ll like Bexley

Or Croydon is your place?

Or maybe you’re a Cockney

And love the old East End?

Good place for a knees up

Or a plate of jellied eels.

You know that I love Richmond,

Kingston, Wimbledon too

But if you are a visitor

No doubt what you should do.

You can’t say you saw London

Unless you’ve been ‘Up West’

History, Entertainment,

Restaurants and Shops.

Everything you’d want to see

Is there in the West End.

Come now for the Christmas lights.

They’re great in Regent’s Street.

I think perhaps a place to start

Would be Trafalger Square.

Nelson on his column,

activity below

And there’s the National Gallery

Just across the road.

A short walk to the Palace

You just go down the Mall

And not far from the shopping

in famous Oxford Street.

Then complete your evening

By going to a show

Leicester Square, Theatre Land

It’s not too far to go.

There is so much happening.

You mustn’t mind the crowds!

I wouldn’t want that every day

But go there for the buzz.

Take me as you find me..

What’s the first impression you want to give people?

Take me as you find me

That’s just who I am.

It’ll take you time to know me.

I’m naturally quite quiet.

As for first impressions

It’s hard enough for me

To summon from my bashful brain

Something I can say.

I hope that you will like me

That you won’t find me rude

But sadly conversation

Is something I find hard.

I have a sense of humour

I’d like to make you laugh

But I’ll never be the ‘life and soul‘

My humour is quite dry.

I’m thinking ‘get me through this

And out the other side‘.

Unless I know you very well

I won’t have much to say.

So clearly first impressions

Are not much on my mind.

I’m thinking, ‘Do the business

And just get on your way.’

The Poisonwood Bible

What book are you reading right now?

Just read the Poisonwood Bible

It’s a terrific book.

Highly recommend it

You should take a look.

Missionaries in the Congo

When independence came.

An awful U.S. Baptist, totally arrogant

Who has no feel for Africa

To his eternal shame.

It’s narrated by four daughters

And his long suffering wife.

How they come to terms with things

Or mostly how they don’t.

The book has funny moments

Though mostly we’re appalled.

The minister says the children

Have to be baptised.

He wants them in the river

That’s full of crocodiles.

It’s very cleverly handled

Five different points of view.

The Women’s Prize for fiction

A really excellent read.

Richmond on the Thames

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I’ve been to many places

I’ve often lived abroad

But if I could choose

a special place

I’d live on Richmond Hill.

Property‘s expensive

Which makes it just a dream

But I have lived quite near to here

And know it very well.

Richmond can be stunning

It’s got some splendid views.

Yet it’s near to London

And all you can find there.

If you’ve seen Ted Lasso

Perhaps you’ll know the place?

It’s really nice on Richmond Green

Where you can take a stroll.

Or walk along the river

For yet more pleasant views

Or head back to the High Street

Where there are decent shops.

If you tire of townscape

Then head for Richmond Park

It’s eight miles round

Green rolling hills

And herds of roaming deer.

Just across the river

If you‘re into sport

The national rugby stadium

And Harlequins as well.

Harlequins my favourite team

I’d love to be near them

And all the pubs and restaurants

We’d have to visit them.

If you like to travel

Heathrow’s not too far

Be on a plane to anywhere

I couldn’t ask for more.

‘Where London meets the Countryside’

Is how they bill themselves.

I couldn’t ask for too much more

A splendid place to live.

A wedding ring for three days lost.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

Not all we have is ours to keep

Not all we seek is lost.

I had lost my wedding ring

And I was in distress.

The worst place I could lose it

On our allotment plot.

What was worse a bonfire

Burning lots of wood.

Must have pulled the ring right off

With my gardening glove.

The chances of me finding it

Really not a lot!

I poked around on that rough ground

But didn’t seem much hope

I guess it came too easily off

Because my hands were cold.

I did my best to find the thing

But there was not a chance.

Too many places I had been

Gathering up the wood.

So I went home to tell my wife

Who wasn’t pleased with me.

She should have been more angry

But I guess is used to me.

The ring was lost for three full days.

I thought it really gone.

We had given up on it

Were feeling quite forlorn.

But three days later we went back

To tidy up the fire

And raking up the ashes

Were amazed to find it there.

It had changed its character

Tempered in the fire.

But somehow it’s more precious

And I love it better now.

The gold looks slightly pitted

But I don’t mind at all.

For what was lost has now been found

Has character – is cool.

It feels to me a different ring

More special still to me.

Somehow it’s more magical.

A really special thing.

Lucky prompts became routine…..

What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?

A convoluted question

I don’t have much routine.

If I tried to skip a bit

There’d be none left at all.

I sometimes think I’d like to skip

this silly Daily Prompt.

I only really keep it up

because I’m on a streak.

It’s normally stuff you need to do

You make into a habit.

If it’s something you can skip

Then why not simply scrub it?

There’s things I should do that I skip

But then they’re not routine.

I should warm up for exercise

But skip it all the time.

We like prompts to inspire us

And not to put us off.

Its lucky this became routine

Or I’d have had enough.

Routine can be boring

The same stuff all the time.

Luckily my times my own

I skip it all the time.

Our babysitter‘s husband

Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

Here’s a funny story

That happened once to us.

A friend came round to mind the kids

As we were going out.

A baby sitting circle

So we just knew her a bit.

We offered her a video

To watch while we were out.

Four Weddings and a Funeral

We thought a quite good choice.

But she pointed out her husband Ken

Was actually in the cast.

Ken Drury

He played the Scottish vicar.

He gets these Scottish parts.

He was in Fools and Horses

Has been the Tango man.

I think it was his breakthrough

Till then just smaller parts.

We were quite embarrassed

But I think it made her laugh.

The Royal Princes – William and Harry

Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

We had two royal princes

Sandbagging our road.

It happened some eight years ago

In the Datchet floods.

The floods were very bad that year

The Thames had burst its banks.

We were in the news each day

A river through our streets.

Among the worst affected

We had water in the house

There were sandbags by the river

But they weren’t helping us

The water off the golf course

Came up the railway track.

That’s another story

I‘ve told it all at length

But on that day the brothers came

To give our street some help.

This is William and Harry

Up the end our road.

I got to throw them sandbags

Spoke, shook William‘s hand.

They were two different brothers

Though they got on back then.

William quietly on his own

Harry with the men.

Harry with the soldiers

And loved to be with them.

A weight on William‘s shoulders

He‘ll be our future King.

Of course there was an entourage

For soon the press arrived

William was not happy

To see the press gang there.

The snaps are of them resting

But the brothers really worked.

Stood in line with soldiers.

Passed sandbags down the line.

There must be reasons ….

What is good about having a pet?

Reasons I should get a pet?

I’ll have to think of some.

There must be reasons to love pets

Though currently I’ve none.

I mostly like my garden birds

Or wildlife in the woods

I’ve not been keen on having pets

Though people think I should.

You could say for companionship

But I’ve a wife for that.

If I feel affectionate

I’ll just give her a pat.

Love them twirling round your feet?

My grandkids can do that.

And they won’t jump up at me

Or pester to go out.

Pets are pleased to see you

Dogs bark and wag their tail.

But then they will jump up at you

So that for me‘s a fail.

Maybe I should get a cat

To purr sat on my lap.

You soon get used to being scratched

I’m sure I would love that.

I’ll maybe get a hamster

To run round on a wheel

Remind me why I run outside

Abhor the gym treadmill.

Perhaps I’d like a goldfish

Their memories are short.

I’d forget my reservations

Be easier than I thought.

But pets teach you commitment

You have to think of them.

So think before you travel

And stay at home again.

They give you great excuses

For nipping off back home.

Cut short boring visits

Good God is that the time?

You bond with other owners

Each with a plastic bag

Carrying their poo about

A merry little band.

You’ll say you prefer your animals

To people every time

And if we don’t think the same

You’ll claim we‘re inhumane.

Well I’m a people person

I like them better than pets.

There must be reasons to own them

That somehow I don’t get.