The beautiful harbour used in the flim of Under Milk Wood
Fishguard is a pretty place, though it was more of a harbour near the cottage than a playing-on beach. So I haven’t had my beach fix for this year yet. But there is always Whitby. It was lovely to join Fishguard Writers Club on Monday night, read a poem, take part in a workshop, lead one and meet like-minded people.
A few nice pieces of jewellery found their way into my possession, as did some books and some knitting wool – still it is good to support local businesses. We also went to St David’s, where I was annoyed in a pub by a very loud posh man who thought we were all entitled to his opinions. And he did not mince words. He called mayonnaise ‘slime’ (with a string of negative adjectives I forget now), so I hope no-one near by was eating it. He was pontificating to his children about writers and artists, and I thought: there’s one right here and you are pissing her off’. None of it was even interesting enough for Bugged, a fantastic project Jo Bell and David Calcutt are involved with, which is about writing based on overhearings.
Picton Castle was an interesting place. I particularly liked the perfectly round library, which had quite a lot of poetry in it. If I could only get my own study tidier, particularly would love to keep a more or less empty desk, so it is inviting, instead of the strata of paperwork usually found there, which has to be excavated. Doing one project at a time might help.
Also enjoyed The Museum of Childhood. My fascination with dolls is unchecked. There was definitely something special about the 1950s. Lost innocence perhaps. We also had a bone-shaking ride on a narrow gauge steam train. When I was small there were still steam trains, big black hissing monsters that fascinated me, and yes, we used to wave to trains in those days.
Museum of Childhood
So now, back to tackling some of the many projects that await the attention of my typing fingers and butterfly brain. I will be writing my John Clare book, finishing some bits and pieces, writing a few teaching resources, going to a meeting on Tuesday night and hosting an open mic for The Poetry Cure at Macclesfield Heritage Centre on Friday (23rd). That’s with Peter Street and is for Cheshire East. I firmly believe that poetry, both writing it and reading it, is something everyone benefits from and particularly at those difficult times we all suffer. So many poets had mental problems: Sylvia Plath, John Clare, Charlotte Mew, Gerard Manley Hopkins are just a sprinkling of names.
Angela Topping 