'Straight I will dream of the Curragh of Kildare'
I dreamt I was on The Curragh of Kildare, that flat Irish plain,
where equine athletes train, and not far from where, in 1914,
Anglo-Irish officers staged a mutiny,
in protest against a British Parliament trying to establish home rule.
But the Angelus Bells, that daily national radio broadcast reminder of Catholic piety,
disturbed my day dreaming, and I made the sign of the cross,
but fell...
Friday 11th April 2025 1:44 pm
A fishy tale
Percy Plaice was a sage old fish, who loved to admire Blackpool’s scantily-clad women,
from a rock in The Irish Sea, until a plastic bag obscured his vision.
Alas, it contained several bottles of cider, and I’m afraid to say he became quite pissed.
Flapping his tail, he sang about his lost love, Mary the Dolphin,
who had left him, tired of his love of alcohol.
He remembered Mary as a sh...
Saturday 5th April 2025 5:24 pm
A country constable arrests his decline
Have you heard of a TV show called Country Constable,
that popular TV crime drama, derided by some?
The villages of Sussex were favourite places, in which to set the series,
and I often watched them catch fictional villains, from my cottage in Pottle-Picklington.
My hit, Last train to Tangiers, a rare success during my singing career,
had enabled me to buy this bucolic retreat, hoping its...
Wednesday 26th March 2025 3:28 pm
Animal magic and a mysterious monster
She was known as the Cat Lady, or to those with a wicked tongue,
‘Mad’ Mabel, for everyone knew about her love of the genus cuddly feline.
She’d christened her pet cat Flunnel, after Viktor,
a Bulgarian ship’s waiter,
who had trouble with English pronunciation.
They’d met on a cruise while she was looking for a husband,
but Mabel, being a bit of a snob, opted for a smooth-talking Moroc...
Friday 28th February 2025 6:35 pm
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Jasus, it’s Christmas time, when the Saviour cometh, the reindeer sparkle, and Prince Harry appears with a photo of our late Queen,
who glares at his bride, Miss Markle.
Meanwhile millionaire footballers warm up for their match at Chelsea, looking down on their near neighbour, Fulham FC,
while just along the Thames, a busker sings, ‘Buddy, can you spare a dime?’
A football fan walks by and...
Tuesday 25th February 2025 1:57 pm
Park run people
Brent was hoping for a personal best in that morning’s park run,
in the beautiful city of Bath.
He was trying to ignore his partner Nimicent’s mindless chatter,
as she held onto Sophie, the all-seeing dog, who looked at them both,
and thought, ‘Every morning she gets me up, to watch him run, or is it jog?
‘Oh what a bore this is, in my day I’d watch my owner,
Niall Neverstops, run cross ...
Monday 24th February 2025 5:43 pm
A Roman tale
Major General Glutus Maximus rode his horse into a circus, to impress his fiancée, Aurelius Gentilitius.
Part of the Roman military elite, he went where his fancy took him,
and being particularly fond of theatrical performances, would often annoy impresarios and their audiences.
But on this occasion, alarmed by clowns and roaring lions, the nervous animal threw him onto the sawdust, where h...
Monday 17th February 2025 7:16 pm
A Lancashire lad
When I was a lad, I ran around the hills and fields of my native county,
now when I think about it, I feel sick, ’cos they were full of manure.
It has many beauty spots, does Lancashire.
Rivington Pike, guarding the Lancastrian Plain, Stonyhurst College,
that public school at Hurst Green, which produced Sherlock Holmes’
creator Conan Doyle, and my favourite, the Bowland fells.
But none ...
Friday 24th January 2025 6:19 pm
The balloon's gone up
Tenerife is calling, I can see Mount Teidie,
its mighty peak steeped in volcanic ash.
Can I land there, astride a balloon,
fuelled by my ego’s hot air?
I look down to where I used to parade myself, among my old flames on that volcanic beach, in flip flops and Armani shorts, wondering why I’d consigned myself to the bachelor shelf,
trying to look cool, then crying ‘Ouch!’
when the sand bu...
Monday 20th January 2025 6:24 pm
Beetle mania
He was the ‘comical’ artiste formerly known as Bill Bottom,
who was politely applauded at the ‘open mic’ night at Blackpool’s Dirty Blondes bar.
However, the reviews were savage, for crude jokes can only get one so far,
and he had chosen a silly pseudonym.
After critic Eric Leopard-White described Bill's act as ‘puerile,’
he set off for the English Lake District, to revive his creative spir...
Monday 20th January 2025 1:12 pm
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