I'm so excited -

- today I am going to see my girls. It does involve quite a lot of travel - first by sea and then by train - and a little bit of me - just a smidgeon - feels slightly apprehensive, as it is quite a long time since I travelled alone. However I also feel quite excited by the prospect - I love sailing, it is years since I last went on the ferry and I do like travelling by train - it makes me think of the railways heyday - when steam was king. Nostalgia kicks in (not that I am old enough to have travelled on the railways in their  heyday I hasten to add) - random thoughts fill my head, scraps of poems like this one float to the surface of my mind -  I hear the rhythm of the wheels on the tracks and feel such a sense of anticipation which far outweighs my slight apprehension! I have laughed at myself though - because last Wednesday I was also talking about railways. But you see - I'm so excited! And I am going to see my girls!

From a Railway Carriage

FASTER than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle,

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

All of the sights of the hill and the plain

Fly as thick as driving rain;

And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles;

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And there is the green for stringing the daisies!

Here is a cart run away in the road

Lumping along with man and load;

And here is a mill and there is a river:

Each a glimpse and gone for ever! Until next time. Bannaghtyn J x