Sunday 24 February 2013

Language(s)

Never mind brushings of words
Overpainting the canvas
And one thicker coating
(Another daubed on and off
And a few random splashes around the edge):
The ground
The glaze and the varnish
Over each layer
No doubt up to the last -
Marks me:
Thoughts
Ideas
Accent, expressions,
All, ever, better, or worse,
English

Sunday 17 February 2013

People and places

Visited the small but informative Richard III exhibition in Leicester's Guild Hall on Friday. Round the corner is the car park where the bones of the poor guy or brave warrior or despot or child-killer was discovered (delete as felt applicable).
The history was intriguing, but the real pleasure was first having a chat in the obligatory queue outside the Hall, with the father of a small family who'd come from near East Midlands airport to pay a visit to the site of the notable discovery. He and his wife knew their history, and son probably too, as he followed the gruesome descriptions of battle injuries by the costumed soldiers 'guarding' the entrance.
Then of course having time to meet my sister and brother-in-law afterwards (they'd already been, as locals!) over coffee and a visit to a local café
kitchen shop for lunch, and a trip on the bus to their house for a chat again.
Saturday turned out sunny against cloud over the Malverns, North Hill and an early train back in time for a coffee and a chatty spell in the Post Office Vaults pub, where two of the merry pub goers took great interest in my wife's knitting, which seemed to trigger fond memories of their mothers darning socks on various mushroom or egg-shaped objects, though the friends they were drinking with seemed sadly not to share said interest so much. All good fun!
Likewise, prior to seeing and hearing another super Ex Cathedra concert, even better as in tandem with the CBSO, seeing a friend from a local group almost pass us in the café and able to stop for a chat over recent times and a coffee.
On the way back, a local church friend in the bus.
Time for sleep now.
Meeting people seems an incidental to the planned itinerary, but maybe it's the main event after all. Friends, family, people you get chatting to in queues.
People are what matter.

Location:Birmingham, Leicester