(Not sure whether this is the appropriate sub-forum; mods, please move if wished.)
June 24th 1914 can be pinpointed as the date of an incident -- at a station, now closed, between Kingham and Moreton-in-Marsh -- which inspired Edward Thomas to write a poem now very greatly loved by British railway enthusiasts. While feeling a little apprehensive about being accused of blasphemy; one gathers that in his general attitudes and personal life, Edward T. was not a particularly happy bunny -- whence speculation on how if he'd happened to be be in a bad mood that afternoon, the poem might have been other than idyllic ...
The date concerned, is also somewhat overshadowed for me by an occurrence four days later, at the other end of Europe: whose date came in time, to be regarded as most inauspicious.
STROPPING ABOUT ADLE (with apologies to Edward Thomas)
Yes, I remember Adlestrop:
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat, the down express stopped there --
And sat, and sat -- it was late June;
A pain ! I asked the guard, "What's up?" --
The twit had not the faintest clue;
This really wasn't good enough:
Smug GWR, I challenge you --
Think you're hot stuff? Well, think again;
(I've an appointment with Bob Frost --
Bad-tempered Yank, he'll swear at me:
Verse-making time through my lateness, lost ...)
The bloody birds, full-blast they yelled:
Too numerous, those vermin -- Lord !
My head ached with their clamour -- hey,
V. Spencer, boss of G.W. Board* :
A letter unto you I'll pen;
Tell you my gripes, you useless man ...
Then Thing topped Whozis in South-Slav-Land,
And the whole damned world went down the pan.
*Victor Spencer, 1st Viscount Churchill: Chairman and Director of the Great Western Railway, 1908 -- 34
June 24th 1914 can be pinpointed as the date of an incident -- at a station, now closed, between Kingham and Moreton-in-Marsh -- which inspired Edward Thomas to write a poem now very greatly loved by British railway enthusiasts. While feeling a little apprehensive about being accused of blasphemy; one gathers that in his general attitudes and personal life, Edward T. was not a particularly happy bunny -- whence speculation on how if he'd happened to be be in a bad mood that afternoon, the poem might have been other than idyllic ...
The date concerned, is also somewhat overshadowed for me by an occurrence four days later, at the other end of Europe: whose date came in time, to be regarded as most inauspicious.
STROPPING ABOUT ADLE (with apologies to Edward Thomas)
Yes, I remember Adlestrop:
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat, the down express stopped there --
And sat, and sat -- it was late June;
A pain ! I asked the guard, "What's up?" --
The twit had not the faintest clue;
This really wasn't good enough:
Smug GWR, I challenge you --
Think you're hot stuff? Well, think again;
(I've an appointment with Bob Frost --
Bad-tempered Yank, he'll swear at me:
Verse-making time through my lateness, lost ...)
The bloody birds, full-blast they yelled:
Too numerous, those vermin -- Lord !
My head ached with their clamour -- hey,
V. Spencer, boss of G.W. Board* :
A letter unto you I'll pen;
Tell you my gripes, you useless man ...
Then Thing topped Whozis in South-Slav-Land,
And the whole damned world went down the pan.
*Victor Spencer, 1st Viscount Churchill: Chairman and Director of the Great Western Railway, 1908 -- 34
Last edited:
