Sunday, August 21, 2005
AN AYLESBURY DUCK- MEMOIR
A recent poetry CONTEST asked
WHO AM I AT MY CORE
perhaps best answered in this quatrain-
His workmanship,a poiema,His work of art
bearing his signature mark,evidence of His image,
remembered,written on His palm
& elaborated further in this short blog memoir under these headings
CONTENT
1.AYLESBURY
2.HAMBURG
3.TEENS
4.WORK
5.PLAY
6.ART/POETRY
7.MUSIC
8.CHRISTIANITY
9.MISCELLANIA
10.LINKS/REFERENCES
1.AYLESBURY
I was born (in this English market town(famous for breeding ducks,hence the title of this memoir) just before WW2,my mother was a local girl,& my father then a corporal in the RAF.
Growing up as ' forties child's in an Engish 'council estate' that was the last of the pre-Tv- society when entertainment was home-made ,with imagination needed for the 'wireless' was to the fore,and walking & buses for the majority , the 'chosen' method of transport transport.
This era also saw the of two key political enactments of the 20th century the 1944(free) Seconday Education Act & the National Health Service 1948('free' at point of use) consequent &both as a result of the round breaking full enfranchisement in 1928 (when all women became eligible to vote,)which gave (for the first time in the UK) enactments to the expression 'power to the people' instead of their monied overlords & thereby began the end of the ' inequitable 'class system in England, based thereon.Full 'liberty'& 'equality' if not fraternity had reached this fair 'food rationed' island nation.
My father in 1951 was posted to ' post-war Germany,which became for me a watershed in my education,both by attending a 'Comprehesive' streamed day- school for service families children based in Hamburg & exposing a twelve year old to another European country ,language & culture .Notwithstanding this 'watershed' helped to forge my interest in geography&history this did not after prevent my support for 'Brexit' in 2016... for two reasons,one the change of the EU from a commercial trading collaboration into a undemocratic- politicians appointed law making entity AND ..secondly it was made here without consulting 'we' the people, thus transgressing the UK's ' people power' so recently achieved in 1928 (as a cultural European I can see why history makes ( even an undemocratic EU appeal to countries such as Germany&France.)
3.TEENS
on returning to England we spent 18 months in Lancashire& then completing my secondary education in Aylesbury.This was the era of birth of the 'generational ' word 'teenage' & rock 'n roll with 'home-made- skiffle' creating the pop-group as a genre (& all that that implies) the dance floor being the place to meet & court girls.This is the manner in which I met my beloved wife,later,became engaged& then married in the early 6O's.
4.WORK
•FIVE YEAR ARTICLES saw me become a Chartered Accountant ,via a correspondence/ sandwich type course(significantly better imho than later university type arrangement) ,because the acquisition of people skills is balanced with theoretical study...
an open poem about that era..
the class
of summer fifty five
left to ply
their business lives
the office partners just two
pens pencils nearly-new
clerking the lowest
of the low
daily drudgery
reality soon shone thru'
down the cellar
my steps did wend
scuttle filled fires to tend
the 'old man ' yelling
'ere lad chop chop
get me baccy
from t'corner shop
wait-on
tea-break brews'
in a stew
bellow the back-office crew
one more task
to get done
for the partner's son
another errand no time to chat
he'd forgotten the fish
for his wife's cat
then
the switchboard clicked
the doorbell chimed
skills to learn juggle prioritise
which to choose to attend
mail in the tray
still to send
whew!
nearly five knock-off time
in view
just one task still to do
fetch the 'boss's evening news
was this really
the career to choose
• ACCOUNTING CAREER in business management followed ,in a US corporation & subsequently with an English family of engineers.As a Financial Director ,thereof confirming to me the free-market profit motive opportunity is the best incentive for efficiency in both production &service to (we) their consumers.
•EMPERICAL ETHOS Subsidy coupled with excessive 'social benefits ' encourages (& has resulted in) the 'duty ' side of the societal coin' of 'rights'/'duty's is largely ignored in the loud-hailer clamour of for 'right's in our 'me' 'me' society of the past six decades.
•AUDITS &ALL THAT Audit imho is a key to 'free enterprise's in a democratic society provided ...the auditor signs the report in 'his own name ' (putting his reputation/assets 'on the line' i e without limited liability protection)...publishing at the same time..the letter of representation signed by the directors(who thereby also put their reputation/ assets 'on the line's ... & but does not also provide tax or consultancy service to the client.
•CAPITAL (others- individual or collective savings) lubricates 'business' & are deserving of reasonable(5%)stable return thereon otherwise inequitable' inflation eventually follows ...as the 'politicised' zero rate era of 2008-2023 has so clearly demonstrated.
5.PLAY-
•CRICKET is my first love ,which I learned to play,(a fast bowler rather than batsman)from a very early age, on the green opposite our house. A sport much like life with its 'ups&downs' especially in the 'longer 'red-ball ' 5 day test & 3 day county versions.The 'commercial 'white-ball 'variations being a complete 'no 'no' made for tv being ,thus contrived,& as memorable as 'eating' candyfloss.My cricket career lasted until my early forties and this poem of mine explains it's fascination.
April and the clocks forward spring,
our cricket practice gets in full swing.
Nets to untangle from their poles,
players to call and enrol.
Gang mowers to grease and oil,
the team kit-bag to disembroil.
Green stained pads to whiten bright,
fixture lists to expedite.
Mend the sight screen's rickety panels,
coax another season from my flannels.
Wash and iron the umpire's coats,
the score-box to creosote.
Tea urns to scour,crockery to rinse and clean..
a team captain's tasks routine,and unseen.
Cricketers good,indifferent,unsung,
across this land in a timeless sport played for fun.
•SOCCER was also a 'fav' to both play & watch ,as an uncle was 'pro ' for Chelsea I became a fan ,following their ' rollercoaster ' results since 1948,There is no greater sacrifice than being a faithful football fan 'thru the thick&thin' seasons of expectation.
•BADMINTON was another sport( learnt when too old 30!) & thus unable to practice in its most energetic 'single's ' version.
•GOLF I played golf for 12 years until I was 42 a sport played in the mind (in reality )so best summed up by this short form verse of mine
Golf is
a 'umbling game
It's all in the mind,just
One swing away from a problem
hiding.
•HORSE RIDING I learned to appreciate the skill of riding(on what is the equivalent in temperament of a 10 year-old) when hacking out for 4 years with a teenage daughter(see my JOURNAL in references below)when I was in my early forties.There is no greater thrill than to being on the back of a horse who in can move from a standing start to a 30 mph gallop,in or step,this perhaps is the reason there is no greater sportsperson courage-wise than a professional jockey imho.Certainly like most sports ,one needs to learn at an early age to explore its intricacies to the full.
Here is a poem to describe a 'Hack's day out
Out of the yard
daughter & me
on a hot summer day
of Eighty-three
Hastoe to Cadsden,
there and back
eight hours in the saddle..
for our first all-day
hack
Onto the canter path
down to Paines End
through Fox Lane
our route did wend
into a copse missing branches low
keeping the pace
to an even flow
Up to Dunsmore
by the Black Horse
via Little Hampden
we followed the course
down to
Chequers &
into Pondswood
up the hill
as ast as we cpuld
At to the Plough pub
tethered the horses
to the garden trees
ordered a ploughmans
with pickle&cheese
feet up awhile
for a long rest
enjoying a pint
of the landlord's best
then
into the saddle
no more time to laze
off at a canter
in the afternoon haze
Back in Hastoe
as the clock struck four
to stack the tack
on the stable door
6.ART
•ART INTRO
I first began to draw in my twenties using charcoal to make portraits but did not proceed further therewith for another 30 years, trying then both oil ,watercolour &the more satisfying to use Acrylics( being quicker to dry).It proved to be a satisfying &educational hobby trying to emulate the style of artists & learn about art in general .
My credo followed Picasso's dictum ' copy others,never yourself' as a way to learn...for in so doing one experiences the difficulties involved ,whereas copying ourselves leads to artistic stagnation.
The majority of the blogs as listed in my blogspot profile here include uploaded copies from art my catalogue.
Now ,I would describe myself as 'an abstract expressionist' as the enigma therein is always a fascinating happening &also I love the tactile aspect of sculpture.
•POETRY INTRO/OBSERVATIONS
I began to study & write poetry in 1995 here is the first poem I wrote ..an alliteration
CONNECTIONS
Confront,clash,collide
COMBAT !
Cold shoulder,chill,cool
CUT-OFF !
Cry,crave,collect
CALL-ON !
Constant,compassion,consider
CHARITY !
Confer,commune,converse
COMMUNICATE !
Convene,concert,consensus
CONCORD !
COVENANT ! CHRIST ! CHURCH !
For some years in short-forms excelled (as the free ebook Free to read POIEMA isbn 1-903203-562 (demonstrated in my profile listing)
After 25 years experience thereof I would describe myself as an imagist but I also come to the conclusion that recitation is the apex of that form.Reading a poem silently has been compared to reading aloud as the difference between staring at sheet music and playing the music on an instrument..others believe poetry is a vocal art meant to be read aloud. yet some folk can be content with a silent read. Whilst many others see it as the apex of the poetry artform taking to another level equating poetry to the experience of viewing a painting or touching a sculpture
...why so...each time the viewer / reciter brings a uniqueness of the moment to the 'happening' & thus the experience can differ each time .Eventually I became in 2012 a poet of the 'OPEN ' form and so describe myself now.
The majority of the blogs as listed in my blogspot profile are concerned with poetry and the link section below will take you to all my 10,000+ anthology at PoetrySoup.
7.MUSIC
• Being a 'teen's of the fifties, rock music from that era ,(Haley,Holly Elvis&Stones) still can initiate the 'soul' to dance...but we ' learn through our children' and thus through dutiful parental obligations ..I discovered the classical talents of Vivaldi & the rest is history as the saying goes.
(&grade1 piano without understanding the importance of chords!!) notwithstanding
•MUSIC THEORY & love of history expanded my interest & coupled with burgeoning 'imagist' spontaneity led me the reflective piano of both Satie&Cage& classics in general.
7.CHRISTIANITY I was born anew (in Jan 1987 )of the Holy Spirit who convicted me of
falling short of God's mark,turning me back to endeavour to follow Jesus teaching& example with the Holy Spirit to guide,counsel,comfort& empower each day.
An empirical experiential revelation of life in His earthly kingdom here&now since then has confirmed the truth&way Jesus proclaimed.
9.MISCELLANIA
•COVID Excess deaths are indeed the key stat (both during&now) Deaths in England&Wales pre-covid 2019 were 530k,2020 606k:2021 582k:2022 575k and currently to 2023 574k so a continuing icosequenvce of covid is a death rate @ 40k+pa over 2019 levels.Isolation is the lesson to be learned to protect the vulnerable(the over 80's )with Nightingale style hospitals(staffed by WW2 style secondment (called up)of medics/nurses) therto.
•SPOKEN ENGLISH (England's gobal gift ) CONTRI and DISTRI Someone somewhere decided English needed to be changed.As usual with our copy-cat world, so direan unthinking band wagon has spread as a forest fire.An academic,typically verbose, wrote 'why use one when two' could sound more up-to-date and new!Thus the 'double prefix' was conceived and sadly like a Topsy grew. Contri and Distri have wrongly become the norm and vernacular pronunciation overcoming like a desert storm.English does indeed each day live and breathe ... BUT..one thought with you I leave..a double pre-fix cannot be ..ignorance is not bliss..you see?CON & DIS are prefixes to, for example English words like TRIBUTE.
however 'Contri and Distri' are not prefixes to any known English word, they are a 'modern' 'madhatter syllabic nonsense' straight out of Lewis's 'Alice in Wonderland'.
Another 'modern affectation' like the pronunciation of the letter 'H' as 'haitch' instead of 'aitch'.10.LINKS/REFERENCES
•OTHER BLOGSPOT BLOGS https://www.blogger.com/profile/02166493604739619406
•POETRY ANTHOLOGY
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems_poets/poems_by_poet.aspx?ID=8173
•JOURNAL 1981-1984 I was never one keep a diary,but kept a hand-written 'nature- riding - journals over this period (a stepping stone in my awakening to Christ's call upon my life,on reflection ).
•brianstrand youtube channels for art/POETRY recitations -
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC65Z5ebPE24Rl_dYPCR7cRw
ichthyschiro on youtube https://m.youtube.com/@ichthyschiro/videos
