Jackie – Page 5 – Forward To The Past

Post 27 Nature not Nurtured

A ‘Take’ on The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy THE RUINED LAND Oh nature, how changed you appear to my eyes Where once you were always a delightful surprise Now you’re polluted on land and in sea “Oh didn’t you know I’ve been ruined” said she You used to be verdant, productive and green But […]

Post 26 Jobs and Degrees of Experience

JOBS WORTH March 1994 I’ve been told things were bad in the past. No jobs; no help from the state. Men queued for hours to raise a crust; You had to fight to keep in line with life. I wonder if they got as bored as me Waiting for life to give me something […]

Post 25 Not Glamping but Slumping!

Our lifestyle has always been geared towards ‘Slumping’ Not for us this growing trend towards ‘Glamping’ We’ve lived in sheds and caravans too When hovels we’ve bought have had so much to do We’ve lived life to the full, without luxuries And learnt the true value of necessities When we moved to the wild and […]

Post 24 Swallows, Sun and Daisy Lawns

A DAISY LAWN May 2020 Some gardeners like an all green lawn So neat and flat and closely shorn But, what a stunning sight to see Is a daisy lawn; where bird and bee And myriad insects feed for free We sit among the sea of white Enjoying fading evening light And, as the […]

Post 23 Global Hope

GLOBAL HOPE Hope is still global and has an effect Despite all the news of chaos unchecked Of pollution of oceans and habitats wrecked All over the globe there are people now seeing The effects of past excess on our very being The wastage of war always causes division The results of old rulers, hard […]

POST 22 Computer says “Oh No”!

OAP TECHNOLOGY (New Year 2017) As yet our appliances aren’t very bright And don’t chat to each other during the night The phone is just landline and cannot bestow Anything more than basic info The washing machine only knows how to clean And the boiler still needs us to press stop and go But we’re […]

Post 21 distracting democracy

Distraction and democracy May ‘22 Tabloids do ‘Distraction’ tactics Of headline shout and shock Which divert the enquiring reader Enraged by the latest ‘exclusive’ leader Appealing to prurience, sleaze and sensation Encouraging voluble high indignation Meanwhile, where our laws are shaped Our suffrage is routinely raped Cohorts of the right wing crew Make sure new […]

Post 20 all about birds

As Spring takes hold we take pleasure in our garden birds. GARDEN BIRDS March to April 2022 (adapted from Bird Life April 2013) After gales and lashing rain Our garden soaks in weak Spring sun And birds return to sing again The mating rituals begun Two mistles flutter in the elms Their chirring calls clearly […]

Post 19 Mothers, midwives and management

This is my first ‘ode free’ blog, due to no suitable historic verse. Normal service to be resumed with the next post! I little thought that this next blog would be such a glaring example of Forward to the Past realities; then and now. But, with the disturbing Ockenden report of deaths and cover ups […]

Post 18 local meets global

COWS Why do cows have four stomachs Because they mainly eat grass Their digestive tracts Can cope with the facts That they’ll eat what humans can’t ‘pass’! And when we corral them inside And feed them ‘fast food’ from a sack Maybe it’s time to decide That they belch and they poo Much more than […]