Michael Rosen born 1946 As if in a dream I hear the radio playing Ukranian patriotic songs and lovingly produced discussions about the history of Ukraine and admiration pouring out of my radio and TV for the brave people of Ukraine daring to stand up to this terrible invasion and I felt warm and sadContinue reading “As if in a dream I hear the radio playing Ukranian patriotic songs”
Author Archives: Robin
Television
by Roald Dahl 1916-1990 The most important thing we’ve learned, So far as children are concerned, Is never, NEVER, NEVER let Them near your television set – Or better still, just don’t install The idiotic thing at all. In almost every house we’ve been, We’ve watched them gaping at the screen. They loll and slopContinue reading “Television”
Farewell to a comfortable office life and it’s hey ho for the open road
Having made my decision to move on it was not just a simple case of finish work as a journalist at 5pm on a Friday and start working as a roadie for a puppet show at 9am on the following Monday morning. Giving up the flat would be a bit of wrench. It was theContinue reading “Farewell to a comfortable office life and it’s hey ho for the open road”
The Sun
by Mary Oliver born 1935, Cleveland, Ohio Have you ever seen anything in your life more wonderful than the way the sun, every evening, relaxed and easy, floats toward the horizon and into the clouds or the holls, or the rumpled sea, and is gone – and how it slides again out of the blackness,Continue reading “The Sun”
Durin
by JRR Tolkien 1892-1973 The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen, No word was lain on streams or stone When Durin woke and walked alone. He named the nameless hills and dells; He drank from yet untasted wells; He stooped and looked in Mirrormere, And saw aContinue reading “Durin”
Life
Charlotte Brönte 1816-1855 Life, believe, is not a dream So dark as sages say; Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day. Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, But these are transient all; If the shower will make the roses bloom, O why lament its fall? Rapidly, merrily, Life’s sunny hours flit by, Gratefully,Continue reading “Life”
Who needs to run away to the circus I found my place in a puppet show
My father was a good man. He didn’t lay down the law when I was growing up, instead he led by example. He was gentle and considerate, I never heard him swear and he only shouted at me once – I deserved it. There is one piece of advice he gave me in my teensContinue reading “Who needs to run away to the circus I found my place in a puppet show”
A Subaltern’s Love Song
John Betjeman 1906-1984 Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Furnish’d and burnish’d by Aldershot sun, What strenuous singles we played after tea, We in the tournament – you against me! Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy, The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy, With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won, IContinue reading “A Subaltern’s Love Song”
Britons retire into the west as the mercenaries fight each other
Britain was no longer British after Anglo Saxon mercenaries mutinied against their Romano British paymasters. They wanted the land to expand into as their homelands in Europe were not enough for a growing population. The Celts/Romano Britons, had withdrawn to the west (what is now Wales, Devon and Cornwall and a large portion of whatContinue reading “Britons retire into the west as the mercenaries fight each other”
Casualty
by Seamus Heaney 1939-2013 He would drink by himself And raise a weathered thumb Towards the high shelf, Calling another rum And blackcurrant, without Having to raise his voice, Or order a quick stout By a lifting of the eyes And a discreet dumb-show Of pulling off the top; At closing time would go InContinue reading “Casualty”
Robin's Nest 