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Monday 22 June 2009

The Battle of Hastings

One of my Mum's posts has got me thinking...what is my favorite poem?

It definitely has to be this one...

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS

By Marriott Edgar

I'll tell of the Battle of Hastings,
As happened in days long gone by,
When Duke William became King of England,
And 'Arold got shot in the eye.

It were this way - one day in October
The Duke, who were always a toff
Having no battles on at the moment,
Had given his lads a day off.

They'd all taken boats to go fishing,
When some chap in t' Conqueror's ear
Said 'Let's go and put breeze up the Saxons;'
Said Bill - 'By gum, that's an idea.'

Then turning around to his soldiers,
He lifted his big Norman voice,
Shouting - 'Hands up who's coming to England.'
That was swank 'cos they hadn't no choice.

They started away about tea-time -
The sea was so calm and so still,
And at quarter to ten the next morning
They arrived at a place called Bexhill.

King 'Arold came up as they landed -
His face full of venom and 'ate -
He said 'If you've come for Regatta
You've got here just six weeks too late.'

At this William rose, cool but 'aughty,
And said 'Give us none of your cheek;
You'd best have your throne re-upholstered,
I'll be wanting to use it next week.'

When 'Arold heard this 'ere defiance,
With rage he turned purple and blue,
And shouted some rude words in Saxon,
To which William answered - 'And you.'

'Twere a beautiful day for a battle;
The Normans set off with a will,
And when both sides was duly assembled,
They tossed for the top of the hill.

King 'Arold he won the advantage,
On the hill-top he took up his stand,
With his knaves and his cads all around him,
On his 'orse with his 'awk in his 'and.

The Normans had nowt in their favour,
Their chance of a victory seemed small,
For the slope of the field were against them,
And the wind in their faces an' all.

The kick-off were sharp at two-thirty,
And soon as the whistle had went
Both sides started banging each other
'Til the swineherds could hear them in Kent.

The Saxons had best line of forwards,
Well armed both with buckler and sword -
But the Normans had best combination,
And when half-time came neither had scored.

So the Duke called his cohorts together
And said - 'Let's pretend that we're beat,
Once we get Saxons down on the level
We'll cut off their means of retreat.'

So they ran - and the Saxons ran after,
Just exactly as William had planned,
Leaving 'Arold alone on the hill-top
On his 'orse with his 'awk in his 'and.

When the Conqueror saw what had happened,
A bow and an arrow he drew;
He went right up to 'Arold and shot him.
He were off-side, but what could they do?

The Normans turned round in a fury,
And gave back both parry and thrust,
Till the fight were all over bar shouting,
And you couldn't see Saxons for dust.

And after the battle were over
They found 'Arold so stately and grand,
Sitting there with an eye-full of arrow
On his 'orse with his 'awk in his 'and.

We had this on cassette performed by Fivepenny Piece, I loved listening to it, we had played it so often we ended up wearing the tape out! But even as I read it now I still hear it as Fivepenny Piece performed it.

Saturday 20 June 2009

Easily distracted

Well hello there, long time no see. I'm not really doing to well on the old blogging front am I! Every now & then I find myself sat in front of the computer starting a new post but then get I find I've let myself get distracted yet again...oops.


Here's a bit of an update on what I've been doing...

Have been working quite a lot, not that I'm grumbling, I'm still enjoying the job & feel very lucky to actually have one. In May Diane(one of my colleagues) & I took four of our residents on holiday. We stayed at a lovely farm in Whitwell, & we all had a great time doing all the tourist things; like visiting Flamingo Park, the island's Steam Railway, eating ice-creams on the sea-front & much more. Definitely no complaints from me, get paid to go on holiday. Vanessa, another of my colleagues, & I have also taken three of the ladies to Porstmouth shopping, again how can I complain a day off the island & shopping!

I've now booked all of my holiday for this year;

A week off in August, Elena & I are planning to go to Southampton shopping, any one wishes to join us then the more the merrier.

A week off in September, hopefully Matt & I are going to go to the Bestival at Robin Hill with Christian & Gina, but no definite plans on that yet.

And two weeks off in October, again some plans to maybe go on a late deal holiday for the first week, depending on money of course. Then spend some time with Elena for the second week(October half term) hopefully if it's OK with Auntie Claire & she hasn't got any plans to go away or anything for that week then visit them.

Matt, Elena & I have been spending quite a lot of time together, we've been out sailing & spending time at the yacht club as well as going to Robin Hill a couple of times. The first time we all stupidly wore flip flops, if any one is ever planning to visit Robin Hill I would suggest wearing trainers, much more sensible.

Matt & I have been to Porstmouth to meet some of his family. We had a great day shopping, going up the Spinnaker Tower & having an all you can eat Chinese at Water Margin in Gunwarf Quays, we were rather full by the end of it. Matt treated me to a new Fat Face t-shirt & a lovely black & white going out dress from M&S.

I have finally got round to buying myself a new car. A blue Vauxhall Astra, & its lovely to drive something with a quiet exhaust.

We've been spending a bit of time with Christian & Gina, we've had a BBQ, spent the day at the beach, gone to the pub a few times & played golf together. Next month we are planning on having a night out in Portsmouth, where I'll be able to wear my new dress. Hopefully Lisa & Liam are going to join us as well.