Friday and I wake up sluggishly but need to get going as today I am going for coffee with a friend. I get up and do toast and a quick coffee before driving off to Ashby to meet my friend. When I arrive I get the nice surprise of being told I am going to Calke Abbey for coffee. On arrival I put on my walking shoes and we go off to explore the gardens and parts of the house. The first thing that is obvious is the profusion of snow drops everywhere. They are quite stunning and in the walled garden there is a display of all the types of snowdrops that can be found in the gardens.
We walk down to the ice house and look around the gardens. There are so many good ideas for herbs and plants. It is somewhere I must come again in the summer. Having looked around for a while we found the restaurant but also the second hand book shop next to it. I could not resist a browse and neither could I resist buying a slim volume of poetry. It turned out to be a gem. As an aside I will just say that this was a very interesting and talented young man that died aged 21 on active duty. Below is the inside first pages and the last section of his last poem written just a couple of months before he was killed on patrol.
The Solomon Eagle referred to in the poem was a Quaker who appeared as a prophet during the Great Plague, calling on the city to repent. The early poems were written when he was sixteen and reflect a huge ability and knowledge of the contemporary poets and the poetic traditions. I had never heard of him or come across his work so this is a real pleasure. I shall be reading the full collection while I continue to read Fragile Things. It would appear that I have a lot of brain food to keep me going at the moment.
We continued to explore the house and the rooms that were open for viewing. There was a fascinating array of things in the family home that went back to the 12th century. There was a woman doing embroidery in one of the room who had created some really brilliant pieces. I get thirsty and we go for another coffee and talk about how I am and what I’m doing. We chat until its time to go as my friend has an appointment with one of her students. She drives me back to her house where I pick up my car and drive home with my new poetry book tucked into my pocket.
Once home I settle down to read my new little book of poetry. It is probably the best £2:50 I’ve spent for years. What a 21 years this guy had and what poetry he produced. It both inspires me and scares me. But as he wrote in a letter to a friend he thought he was out on his own as his poetry was not conforming to the fashion that was prevalent. My partner cooks tea and we sit and eat it to a background of TV before I start to draft the blog and my partner goes off to have a bath before we get to dance to the Death in Paradise introduction music. I shall eventually take my night meds go to bed and read and hope the weekend works out, but today has been a good day.
Lots to do this weekend but my major concern at the moment is whether the chemist will have my injection for me tomorrow. I managed to mismanage my medicines management this week and put my prescription in late. So Monday could be a scrabble as I’ve got to get a visit to the dentist fitted in as well. Hopefully things will go my way and I will get to watch the first Six Nations games and order a new sofa and chair. So I’ll roll the dice and see what happens.
