A Day at the Races

We live within walking distance of Leicester Racecourse but I can count on one hand the number of times I've been there. I don't 'follow the horses' - is that even the correct terminology? But this weekend there was a charity event in aid of The Teenage Cancer Trust so I donned what I hoped would be a suitable outfit for the occasion, took my frilly white parasol for sun protection and headed off to the races.

It was a sponsored event and we were directed to the hospitality marquee. On the plus side, this meant we didn't have to work out the afternoon's races all by ourselves. There was a master of ceremonies and a local punter who gave tips and advice on each race. On the minus side, the temperature in the marquee must have been heading towards 40 degrees... but we survived it.

Our marquee was close to the parade ring, so we got a close up view of the horses before each race. I loved the way some of them had fancy plaits and  some even a bit of bling on their manes, such handsome animals. I tried taking photos of them as they paraded round but they were going so fast that...

Well you can't see a camera screen in full sunshine, now can you!!!

It was a lovely day out with food, friends and plenty of opportunities to donate to the charity. Near the end of the afternoon Rod even managed to choose a winner...

It wasn't my finest afternoon of photography. It was too hot for me, I'm afraid. This is the only time of year that I appreciate living in an old house with chilly rooms. Mind you, it’s a shame our two cats, Betty and Sophie, don’t take advantage of them. They insist on curling up outside in the full sun. I try carrying them in but they dash straight out again. I've had cats all my life and I still don't understand them. 

Anyway, back to the races, information about the Teenage Cancer Trust can be found here. It's a worthwhile charity, and well worth getting a bit overheated for.

Turning Precious Memories into Poems

With the best of intentions I restarted my blog posts in May of this year but then my sister died. She'd been ill for the last year but I always thought she'd be fine again, thought we'd go walking once more along the seafront near her home, a seaside town where she'd lived since her time on a nearby commune. I can't imagine what it would be like to live on a commune, or in a caravan on a cliff top field, which was another of her many exploits. How can siblings be so different? I was always the staid, sensible, quiet one. My sister was the bubbly, glamorous, adventurous one. 

It takes weeks, sometimes months, maybe even years, for precious memories to be turned into poems. For example, in 2023 Under the Radar published Herring Night which emerged out of a childhood memory of my Grandma and Great Aunts who came from Eastern Europe and loved nothing more than a supper of pickled herrings. The poem talks about the Polish celebration of Śledziówka when herrings are a special feast on the evening before Lent, and compares it with the poverty experienced in the early 1900s in Eastern Europe when herrings were considered a blessing when there was nothing else to eat. The final version was draft number 10. Numbers 1 to 9 had rambled through a myriad of forms.

Maybe one day I'll be able to write a poem about my sister. Before she died she'd requested a Humanist burial with a cardboard coffin, no eulogy, no prayers, just a peaceful meadow. The funeral director asked me for a piece of music reflecting her life, to be played after the coffin had been lowered. My sister loved dancing. Long ago she had been awarded medals for her ballroom dancing. Her jive routine would pull a crowd in a dance hall and she adored musical theatre. I selected 'Good Morning Good Morning' from 'Singing in the Rain' partly for the upbeat nature of the song and partly for the amazing dance routine that we used to watch together from the film - it's the scene where the three of them end the dance with a forward roll over the back of a settee. When the funeral director played the music, it created a certain incongruence in that peaceful meadow, but everyone there agreed that it reflected their memories of my sister. She did so enjoy her life. Rest in peace Big Sis xx

Changes

I’ve heard all the wise words… Nothing stays the same. We should embrace change but I’m not very good at it. New gadgets, new places to visit, even new clothes cause me stress. It takes me weeks before I will actually wear them. Maybe it’s a throwback from when I was little and new clothes were ‘kept for best’. 

Recently I went into the city centre on the bus, my first bus trip since Covid. The bus was fine, no changes there. I just missed one, had to wait an age for the next, the usual stuff… but the city centre was a shock! The huge Marks and Spencers store was gone, the building shuttered with darkened windows, creepy. The open market where Mum and Dad worked for most of their lives was gone, flattened by the council developers and cordoned off. Even the small shops that I used to wander round were gone. I suspect this is a change happening in many UK towns and cities but I found it difficult and upsetting.

Not everything has changed. Daughter is settled and living a few streets away which is a joy. My two cats, Betty and Sophie, are a constant source of amusement. Betty almost removed the vet’s arm last week and Sophie is a sweetie! And twenty years on I’m still doing the annual RSPB Garden Bird count but that has seen a major change too. My bird count was always something to be proud of, including numerous blackbirds, blackcaps, goldfinches, dunnocks, blue tits, robins, coal tits, great tits, pigeons, magpies, chaffinches and greenfinches. This year my bird count totalled four: a blackbird, two blue tits and a coal tit. 

I've read that there’s a national decline in wild birds and I wondered about wild birds in other countries… and this is the point where I come to the biggest and most difficult change of all. Last month my son and family left the UK to move near to his wife’s family. I’m struggling to come to terms with this mammoth change, especially as I'm a poor traveller and may never get to visit them. My only saviour is the communication available through the Internet and so, as my teenage grandson is an avid photographer, I called him and asked if he could have a look-out for birds in his new Mediterranean locality. To my surprise he said he had been taking photographs of local birds that very morning. After a brief discussion about how psychic he obviously is, he sent me some images and, with his permission, I've selected one to share with you.

© A. Kloos

It is a Common Myna, an angry-looking bird that is apparently quite argumentative, rather like our starlings. 

I shall continue doing the RSPB Bird Count even though my numbers have fallen because nothing stays the same. You just have to get used to the changes… even the one about a much-loved grandson who is now living over 3,000 miles away.