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Restfulness; peace and tranquillity; Sun-scooped, sun-filled sand dunes sparkling, effervescent foam; two reclining girls, one, head held back, the other reading a book. A paperback thriller? A twopenny whodunit? A romance novel? It matters little - so long as the scene lasts and lasts like a picture in the memory pictorial playfulness and serenity like the slipping sands of time... |
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On the coast of Hunstanton, Sheringham and Cromer, crabs, slimy in rock pools, silt and shingle, marsh and marram binding in knots the fine grains of sand, bittern nests, shag and sea-wrack, flint pebbles and sea lavender, marsh-samphire clinging to mud banks. Far from the Broads the breakers, silvery-grey waves, cadence and rhythm of the sea, white dunes resplendent starfish wriggling near the pier, five-point windmill and Normandy church, carved carstone glinting in the sun, and at Wells, pine trees down to a rolling sea. |
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If you should venture, after dark one winter's eve, in Bradgate Park around the turning of the year you might just sense a touch of fear; you might hear screams and glance about - only peacocks...mumering trout nothing there but pollarded trees - yet still you sense a great unease the ghostly presence of Lady Jane among these ancient ruins remains - for this young girl was much abused by her own family cruelly used - she never had the will to power but that was forced on her by the hour so now she haunts her childhood home - they do say spirits like to roam! |
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Grey as ashes, or lead, clouded, dismal, sinister as a grey nurse as Djerassi says - the colour we use least in our metaphors is grey - we talk about the greens, the blacks, the reds but grey figures little... but all major problems are grey problems, politics is a grey area... solutions are not black or white, they are grey... 'we do not want to listen to grey questions... We do not want to hear grey answers...' but grey is realistic... grey is the truth... |
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I have many rings. Often a golden crown. My skin is hard. My trunk swings like an elephant's as I dance. A crackle on the wires makes me appealing. I am held tightly, caressed like a lover. You may make me work with silver. It's good to talk to me. (eerT A enohpeleT A) |
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Och ay me wee bonny bairns - it is Burns nicht. Mek ready te pipe in the haggis - dressed in kilt an' sporran. An' the candle lit o'er his grave for all the ghaisties an' goblin creed. Mek ready te address the haggis ready wi' th' iron brew, th' neeps an' oatcakes... Let us say the Selkirk Grace - for some hae meat an canna eat - sae let th' Lord be thank it - welcome tae today's poetry group - eh ope at ye will aw enjoy wa Burns nicht special! |
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Constable tea shops, homely as puns Constable paperweights, Constable pens Table mats, placemats, tins of boiled sweets 'Natural painture' - not overly neat Willy Lott's house on the rippling Stour - aggressively placid - Dedham church tower tiny boy fishing - lolling white sheep women at laundry while labourers reap Timeless as Titian - or Botticelli noticed by Blake and even Fuseli Constable country of natural skies natural history, natural joys. |
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Time's spacecraft, says Wendy Cope, all too soon will carry you away - and lo! the countdown has begun. Are you a wannabe astronaut? Then hit that crowded space tourist trail! Hitch a cosmic ride! You can see some real moon rock - maybe rocket off to Mars See Challenger, Apollo and the secrets of the stars! So book your starlab ticket and join the astro-race - just come to Leicester Space Centre - we'll blast you in to space converse with an astronaut in Skylab 17 join the ticket hotline for the space-trip of your dreams come to Leicester Space Centre, read Lonely Planet Guide join the cosmic countdown for your grand galactic ride! Join the portable planetarium play-sceme - fuel your imagination with real rockets - zoom to planet earth - go moon-munching or be a space hopper - join in the meteorite madness |
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