Thursday 3 July 2008

errances

I spend a lot of time driving Katie to and from the Midlands, where she spends the time that she doesn't spend with me. Inevitably, sometimes we get held up by incidents on the motorway. On Monday we were delayed a short way out of Bristol by a Landrover Discovery which had inconsiderately burst into flames. And then I heard on the radio that there was static traffic ahead from Worcester all the way to Tewkesbury, so we left the motorway at Gloucester and drove across the Cotswolds. We passed through Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, which are all nice sounding counties in my book. We got slightly lost a couple of times. We passed the Rollrights, but didn't see the stones. And we passed Adlestrop, but didn't stop to admire the old railway sign in the bus shelter. Not this time.

We got there late, but then we may have got there even later if we'd stayed on the motorway. And it was a lovely drive.

Poetry of place: Here's Edward Thomas, when he was at Adlestrop. It was late June for us too; the following day, July 1st, was the anniversary of the opening of the Battle of the Somme.

Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

4 comments:

  1. I'm ashamed to say I didn't know the dates of the battle of the Somme, just the hundreds of postcards which have passed through our hands. Some of which I won't forget. The 1st of July should be remembered.

    I agree with the sounds of the names of the counties. The corn is ripe here and the harvest has started and I have been wondering how far along it is in the Midlands

    All of those tiny stations and halts which were closed, no one stops to hear the birds singing there now....
    (Now I must find out more about Edward Thomas)

    The poppies are an excellent choice for your post

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  2. Dear Dru

    What lovely images you paint with words, your art, and your photos. Only the day before yesterday I too was captivated by the sight of swathes of red poppies in the Oxfordshire countryside... It always evokes for me too the words of the great War poets and images of the Flanders fields... but your photo is far better than mine.

    May your journey continue to be a wonderful, colourful and interesting one, Dru, and thank you to yourself and Richard for sharing it with us. I am at a not too dissimilar stage in my life, with many discoveries yet to be made as to where my path will lead...

    I will follow your blog with continued interest...

    Jaye (Jules)

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  3. The hay's been made, Anji, but the other harvests haven't begun yet.

    It was heartening to see so much open space an the drive up to the Midlands. It reminded me a little of riding across that big almost-empty quarter down to Poitiers, which seemed to take for ever and had me anxiously wondering if I'd ever find a petrol station before running out...

    Thank you, Jaye. (Or Jules :-) ). I hope your journey is a happy one. It's almost certain to be interesting, of course.

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  4. A real case of 'the road goes on and ever on'. The last few times we took the ferry we followed the coast roads, i don't think it was quicker just more interesting.

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