Chapter Two The Cold Of The night from Caradoc:

 The start of Chapter two from the upcoming Caradoc.

Chapter Two: The Cold of the Night.

Jake was asleep that evening almost as soon as his young head hit the pillow, the combination of hard work and fresh cold air had now mixed with a full belly of warm Rabbit stew and potatoes and the lad was soon in the land of dreams. This in itself was a blessing for the new day would teach the young Jake much about the harsh realities of caring for livestock in such a harsh environment.

 It seemed like poor Jake had barely closed his eyes in fact when he heard the call from downstairs the following morning, it woke the lad with a start,

“Jake! C’mon boy your breakfast is ready!”

With that Jake leapt out of bed as he knew his father would bring the slipper up if he had to ask twice. Arriving downstairs Jake sensed something was not quite as it should be, he couldn’t explain it but the whole house seemed different, a strange frightening feeling came over him as he entered the kitchen, “Dad?” said Jake in a shallow almost feeble tone, “you alright?” he asked, Sam just sat at the table with his fresh buttered toast and told Jake to do the same as he softly spoke,

“Look Jake, we have had quite a bit more snow than we were expecting, in fact a lot more, you had better take a look out through the kitchen door, but don’t worry about it we will sort it out in a minute”

 Jake spun round in his chair and the sight he was greeted with took his breath away for a few seconds and a chill ran down his spine, for outside was no longer there, all Jake could see was snow against the windows and no dawn sky, no farm yard, just a wall of white as if the God’s had arrived in the middle of the night, taken the world away and left a blank canvas. The boy was horrified; he turned to his father for an explanation or at least a word or two of comfort,

“Aye I know son, it was a lot worse than we ever expected, seems we have to try and dig ourselves out this morning never mind the ewes…”

With that Sam turned and poured hot water from the stove to make the tea, trying not to worry his lad too much about the issues the family and the livestock now found themselves in.

“Can we get out Dad?” the most obvious question a seven year old would ask in such a situation,

“Oh of course son, when we open the door it will stay where it is as its compacted, but we may have a problem with where the snow goes at first, I will go upstairs in a moment and see how far it is off the bedroom window, it may be as easy to start digging from outside”

“You can lower me down Dad I will dig it for you, I can do it!” said Jake now brightening up to the fact that there was at least an outside left after all!

“We better hadn’t Jake, if it’s very soft snow it may swallow you up, I will jump down and dig for a while, you just be ready at the door when I shout you”.

With that the big man rose from his chair, he had huge leather bracers that crossed over his back that he flipped off when washing himself or sat at the table eating, he also used them to belt Jake if needed, as he stood he flicked them over his shoulders and reached for his thick jacket, his tweed like shirt collar had seen much better days, Jake watched as he got himself ready to do battle with whatever he found outside,  despite it never being the ‘done’ thing to tell him, Jake loved his father very much, he felt safe with him and always respected his way of working with animals and the local people, he was a big man not just in build but also in character.

Sam reached for his trilby style hat, a move that was guaranteed to always be followed by a huge rattle of legs from under the kitchen table as the dogs rushed to be the first to get outside, but this morning was different, there was no noise. The dogs had been tied up last night as they were being such a nuisance in the barn, a point that both Jake and Sam were now all too aware of and the worry, if it was there, was as yet unspoken.

Sam climbed the stairs of the old farmhouse and stood on the landing, he looked out of the window there for a better view of where the snow was thickest and which window would be the best to climb out of. In the end Sam entered Jakes bedroom and swung open the window to see how far the snow was away from the ledge, he climbed up and threw his shovel on to the snow drift about 6 ft. below him, before he jumped Sam looked out in to the yard as his eyes were now acclimatised to the darkness of the early dawn, it was a sight that would stick with Sam a lifetime, the farm was under the thickest drifts of snow he had seen in his 40 odd years of being on the hill side, his farm was almost unrecognisable, like a wilderness, a wasteland, as if frozen in time and seemingly devoid of life, it frightened the big man but he was never going to let that fact be known, least of all to a young seven year old patiently waiting in the kitchen below.

Leaping from the bedroom window was a very surreal moment for Sam, but thankfully the snow had frozen on the surface, he didn’t drop right through it so he started to dig feverishly to the door below, the light from the kitchen was lighting the snow up giving off a strange unearthly glow it seemed almost a comfort amongst the ever present peril of the huge drift. It wasn’t long before Sam had reached the door, an overjoyed Jake opened it to let his dad take the last few steps into the house, Jake immediately ran to get his hat and coat, his boots were already on, he had jumped into those the moment his Dad had left the table!

“Grab my hand son,” Sam said in a strong voice,

 “We will go and get those dogs loose, they will sure to want their bloody breakfast by now”

With that Jake grabbed his father’s hand and the two walked up the steep drift that had lent itself against the house overnight like some monster consuming its prey slowly but ever so surely.

Once away from the drift the snow was down to about four feet deep and less in places, still very deep but something the two had seen before on this barren hillside farm, so they both began to feel a little better about the situation, as they walked across the unlit farmyard they both glanced back at the farm house almost at the same time, it looked so tiny covered in a thick snow drift,

“Hell Jake, it must have been a bit rough out here last night, let’s hope the sheep have got in somewhere out of sight” Sam commented.

As the two walked through the deep snow in the farm yard they waited to hear the barking and rattling of chains that would follow the moment either one of their two voices was heard, but there was nothing, it was strange by its absence; Sam instinctively knew something wasn’t right.

“Strange we haven’t heard the two dogs Dad” said Jake in a quiet voice,

“Aaahh it is lad, they are probably asleep on the straw, lazy buggers” he quipped trying to reassure Jake.

But that reassurance was as ill-timed as it was misplaced, for as the two men rounded the corner of the barn they could see nothing of where the two dogs had been tied up overnight.

Without a word the two ran to where the small outbuilding had been and under which the dogs were tied up and started to dig through the mounds of snow that had enveloped the small building, but alas it was all too clear that it was a vain hope, the sheer weight of overnight snow had gathered on the old rickety shed and collapsed it on top of the two dog’s with a crushing weight that no  animal could hope to ever survive, both dogs lay stiff and frozen under the debris, huddled together side by side, they died as they had lived, always together, there was nothing either of the two men could do.

“Damn it!” Sam said as he dug deeper eventually pulling the two dogs from their frozen grave,

“This is going to make the day a damn sight harder, no bloody dogs!”  The big man muttered, trying to separate the grief of losing two of his best friends and remembering his boy was stood next to him, “get a sack from by the barn lad we will bury them later when we get back from bringing the ewes in, we can’t mess with it now”.

Jake did as he was told, he looked at the two dogs as his Dad pulled the sack up and put them in one by one, it was the first time Jake had seen an animal he loved dead, he was used to seeing sheep and cattle dead in the fields, he had grown up with seeing that, but the 8 and 9 year old dog’s had been there before even he had and the boy struggled to hold the tears back.

“Never mind piping your eye Jake, they are just bloody sheepdogs, we will get two more, these two were bloody useless anyway”  Sam spoke in a matter of fact way, while trying very hard not to show the sorrow that overwhelmed the big man at losing two damn good sheepdogs and even worse a couple of good friends.

“Right, let’s feed the ewes in the barn first me lad” Sam said almost as soon as the top of the sack was tied, “then we have a bit of work to do to fetch those other sheep in now we haven’t any dogs to do the legwork for us”

Jake was still trying to take it all in while having a secret cry as he went along the pens with fresh dry hay in bundles feeding expectant and now very noisy sheep, Jake seeing the two dog’s in that way was a harsh reality call for such a youngster but he was born to the land so he learned to adjust, it’s the only way the families survived on these hillsides and death was very much a part of life.

Sam was busy saddling the old mare as Jake finished feeding the sheep in the barn, luckily the stable block was on the other side of the yard so the entrance to it was almost devoid of snow, a strange phenomenon considering less than six feet away from the door the snow was almost three to four feet deep. Sam led the mare out and jumped on her back, he rode over to Jake and stretched out his huge fatherly hand towards the young lad, Jake grabbed it at once and Sam immediately swung the boy like a rag doll on to the back of the mare’s saddle, with that he dug his heels into the animal and they rode out of the yard in search of the ewes that were by now desperate for a warm dry barn and fresh hay.

Caradoc. First paragraphs.

 Caradoc.

The candle snuffed out, the darkness smothered the light in a battle that was lost before it had even begun, Jake slid slowly under the goose down duvet and pulled it right up to his chin, he could barely see out as he rolled to one side, his one eye buried in the soft pillow and his other staring into the dark abyss.  Jake looked across the room at where he knew his window should be and slowly, his one sight adjusted and the huge window slowly took shape, he could just make out the hills and trees that surrounded the farm and beyond, appearing as if by magic across the moonlit countryside he knew so well.

As Jake lay there he could hear his parents talking in the kitchen below, he couldn’t make out what they were saying but it comforted the 7 year old to hear their low murmuring voices, his huge farmhouse bedroom was a very daunting place for such a youngster, not helped by the fact that down the hallway from his bedroom he had witnessed his great granddad pass away in a gasp of sudden breath and groans that would stick with this young farm boy for many years to come. Right now however, Jake was trying hard to not think about that, he needed sleep as sure as day follows night, for the next morning his father was expecting him downstairs at six sharp to help feed stock and fetch the sheep off the hills that surrounded the small remote farm he and his parents called home, in his father's words he had to earn his ‘keep’.

The darkness slowly transformed its evil stare into a warm maternal-like smile that welcomed Jake into that sub-conscious world of dreams and adventures our imagination holds safe for us, cast into dreams that run as wild as any thought or idea we would dare to think of.

Downstairs, as ever at this time in the evening, Jake’s mother Eileen stood up from where she was sat comfortably in her large wooden backed chair, she trudged to the hearth and picked up a huge log and placed it on the brightly glowing but slowly disappearing embers of the range fire, the embers flew up all around as she grabbed a metal poker and stirred the fire with a purpose.

“That should keep it going ‘till morning Sam”

She commented wearily as she dusted down her hands on her apron. Eileen always wore an apron, she was always working, her forehead glistened against the backdrop of the fire from cooking bread and scones for the last few hours, she was a loyal housewife first and foremost and though her hands were calloused and bleeding from the harsh cold and never ending workload, she never complained. Sam was her husband and she had to ensure she played her part in the running of the farm.

“Well, we can expect a tough time of it tomorrow lass, that sky was full of snow when I came in for supper” Sam said wearily.

He spoke in a deep, slow, matter of fact way. Sam only knew how to work, pray and eat and always in that order, he was a very straight honest man. He stood over six feet tall with wide shoulders and a square, chiseled-like face that was stern looking but in a strange way still welcoming.  Chapel raised and God fearing with a deep respect for life that would be so out of place as to be almost mythical in today’s rush to get to the grave. Sam had seen many things in a lifetime spent on the green Shropshire hill’s, it had been a harsh, rough and tumble, poverty stricken existence, but a sense of loyalty and duty ran through his veins like an army would march to battle. 

“They have talked snow all week in the village” Sam growled in his thick Shropshire accent.

“That being the case we are in a whole world of trouble with the lambs all due” he added.

“They always say it’s going to be a lot Sam, it rarely comes to much I shouldn’t worry too much if I were you” Eileen piped up.

“Well you didn’t look too hard mother! The sky was as red as a beetroot this morning, a sure sign we will get a hooking of snow”.

“Oh really Sam James! You know as well as me that snow is all part of living where we do, we have always coped!”

Eileen spoke out with a sternness that was meant to diffuse a clearly worried Sam and to reassure him that everything would be fine, but Sam was not quite so sure and the evidence was written clearly all over his face.

“It’s nigh on ten mother, it’s time I went to bed or that boy will be up before me and I shan’t hear the last on it”.

With that Sam got up from his chair by the range and walked across the kitchen to place his cap on the hook at the back of the kitchen door. In seconds there was a rustle of clawed feet upon the stone tiles from under the huge oak kitchen table that suddenly produced two scruffy mud covered Border Collie sheepdogs deperately trying to be the first to get to Sam. They almost ran over top of one another, such was their loyalty to the big man.

“Steady! Ya daft buggers!”  Sam shouted, “you’ll break your bloody legs scratching out from that table, come here and get your supper and don’t get fighting over it”.
Sam scraped the remains of that night’s dinner in to an old chipped bowl on the floor from the saucepan filled by Eileen as she cleared up the table earlier, the left over potato’s veg and some rabbit meat were all mixed up in a thick gravy, the dogs dived into the pot with their snouts, growling at each other as they feverishly ate, the pot moved along the stone floor of the kitchen clanking and rattling and both dogs and the bowl soon ended up in the corner midst muted growls and slurping noises, which brought a broad smile to Sam’s face as he made his way up the stairs to bed.

Just Thinking...

The school bell calls to a playground thats bristling
The teachers shout orders but no-one is listening
Nurses take slaps from drunks after midnight
While pay cuts are threatened no chance of a respite

The Barman shouts time to a pub without drinkers
While libraries echo with thoughts of past thinkers
The keyboard replaces the art of plain talking
As people in gym's just go aimlessly walking

Our kids all have homework that goes on forever
According to OFSTED it makes them so clever
No thoughts of a childhood for this generation
Just SATS tests and figures the MP's creation

Just thinking why bother and why toe the line
Despite all our history its not worth a dime
We've not learned the lesson that shouts in our face
Its only us humans that think its a race.


The High Street is quiet except for protesters
While car parks are full at McDonalds and Tesco's
Money that fed all the butchers and bakers
Now lines greedy pockets of bankers, just takers.

The e-shop has taken the fun from our shopping
Our fingers get tired and our bank accounts dropping
The telephone rings when you answer its quiet
They've something to sell but you dont wan't to buy it

We cant go for a break if the room has no Wifi
You've not been away if you drive there and dont fly
Buy shopping and spend lots to get your cheap fuel
Burn it while queuing just who is the fool?

Just thinking why bother and why toe the line
Despite all our history its not worth a dime
We've not learned the lesson that shouts in our face
Its only us humans that think its a race.
  
Roads are all potholes they rattle our brains
The railways are packed and there's never no trains
But we find 60 billion to finance one track
So we can go quicker to London and back.

Our power is expensive we sold all our shares
So the foreigners charge what they like well who cares?
The hospital trust cant afford to get cleaners
So those super bugs just get meaner and meaner

Badgers get sympathy while cattle are shot
They look so damned cute its not TB they'e got
Don't dredge the rivers you'll kill all the selfish
So I live on a mountain just why am I selfish?.

Just thinking why bother and why toe the line
Despite all our history its not worth a dime
We've not learned the lesson that shouts in our face
Its only us humans that think its a race.

 


 

Don't think.

A wandering mind full of thoughts that don't help me
An unshaven face full of creases and misery
Life runs so fast but the pace I'm not keeping
I spend all my days either working or sleeping

People are talking demanding and wanting
Their faces in dreams they repeat like a haunting
Why cant they see life is not about hating?
For what special moment do they think they are waiting?

I carry some pictures of times that meant most to me
They capture my heart and the people so close to me
They remind me of life so I am not left alone
Perhaps I won't find that place they call home.

So keep all your nagging your bookwork and heartaches
Life never comes with instructions or park brakes
Work every day it's your life you are grieving,
It's not going to work if you don't start believing.

 

Fanfare for the common man

I don't drink Champagne from a cut crystal glass and my name does not have a hyphen
I don't have a Bidet to splash up my ass or have speeding fines I blame the wife on
I don't argue with cops in a Downing street tiff that cost more than Shropshire's whole budget
I don't get all excited if I'm offered a spliff and my expenses are paid I cant fudge it.

I have common sense that came with my birth, I cant speak with a plum in my mouth,
I watch older men with considerable girth, say we're poorer in North than in South.
But we don't have queues that go on for weeks and up here we talk to each other,
We chat in the pubs and laugh at the heroes you worship on fucking Big Brother.

You build a new railway that nobody wants with money you really don't have,
You think that its clever to splash all our cash, like a legalised bully or Chav.  
So #hs2 is coming our way... well not if you live in the West, one train a day, not going your way,
is still all you pray for at best.
Ignore all the voices that say "please don't do it"... remember how rich you can get?
Lining pockets of gentry with land they were given, by The Normans who ain't finished yet.

The committees you form to pour lots of scorn on how the last government failed,
Cost in excess of the budgets you set, for the whole of Scotland and Wales.
Your schools are failing, the kids are just fucked, so tired their childhood is missed,
While the rest of the services suffer from meddling, I swear I'd do better half pissed.

But look at our people, we shout from each steeple its always the government's doing,
Then we moan at the rules that are made by these fools, but its only ourselves we are screwing
So stop all the moaning and looking for blame, its a terrible American culture
Those scavenging lawyers that sue you for breathing, are a bunch of scavenging vultures.

Will this story of mine that I put into rhyme make a difference? I hardly think not,
For those Southern bred toffs will laugh and they'll scoff, while the rest of us simply just rot.
So fuck all the manners, the nice smiles and spammers, who pester us all night and day,
I will do like you all, just sit moaning and call you all bastards while taking my pay.

All kids are equal, but some ARE more equal than others.

• I honestly believe the Tories have lost the plot... keeping kids in school for 9 hours is not going to solve a single problem. The kids are already doing an hour of homework when they get home and the bright ones are being given work to copy to one side while the ones interrupting lessons are given a TA and additional teaching, the world isnt fair and it isnt perfect, we cant tailor schools for everyone, some kids are naturally adept at manual work others at mental work, thats nature not selective education, I think Grammar Schools should be brought back where those who can achieve are allowed to be tested and those who want to arse around and be a class idiot can do so but not at the expense of the bright kids, the argument of fairness can be turned on its head, its unfair on bright kids to de-value their education because of some numpty who is happy to stack shelves all their lives, this country is becoming a cluster fuck of stupid ass politicians who have been inter-breeding so long they have lost the plot and do-goody lefties who think we are all born equal... I think Mother Nature could put them right on that one, sad but true. It's time we realised it.

Time To Go.

Cameron calls for more love from us all, as if we just don't give a fuck,
About loving and hating, those that are grating, or simply just down on their luck.
In glass houses of old, they would do as they're told and never throw stones while inside,
But being MP's, they think every thing's free, as behind their expenses they hide.

Our diverse society, begs notoriety, from the press and the public a lot,
Nothing is easier, to get a visa here, just breathing means you have a shot.
Reality dawns, most migrants are pawns, to the Oligarchs holding the reins,
For six pounds a day, they will make you a slave, no guessing the wankers who gain.

Our Hospital Trusts are a laugh it's a must, to watch budgets get screwed with such ease,
They change office decor, no better than before, while the nurses are all on their knees,
We are saving the whale, but there-in lies a tale, our pensioners are dying from cold,
They don't have cute faces and we don't have the places, for them to simply grow old.

The badger is thriving, the hedgehog is hiding, as meddling celebs hits a high,
I don't give a fuck, for the badgers bad luck, but its not just the cattle that die...
The High Street has ended, will never be mended, as superstores hold all the aces,
Your new foreign car, or strange fruit from afar, while the cash goes to all the same places

I hate smug faced bankers, the inter-bred wankers with names such as Farquharson-Grovett,
Hold the Country to ransom, ain't that fucking handsome, just take all your money, they love it,
We sold our Electricity, in one act of simplicity, the Germans and French now hold court,
While prices are huge, they act worse than scrooge, with the ill-gotten gains they have bought.

We can't make a truck, no-one gives a fuck and the Far East is doing us over,
But we have money markets, no cars and no parking, while China is selling us Rovers,
To say what is wrong, would take far too long, lots of pages and nowhere to file 'em,
So lets get on a boat, try and keep it afloat and let Europe give us all asylum.
 

Take Whats Given.

You know that old feeling when life throws you a curve,
Like hearing The Nolans when you asked for The Verve,
Your best mate's not coming but your neighbour is here,
You know he ain't friends he just wants the free beer.

Your girlfriend just dumped you in a long drawn out text,
She explains all the reasons but you'll just miss the sex,
Your Dad finally figures what your 'net history means,
And the next time he sees you he ain't full of beans.

For back in his day there was Playboy and Knave,
Not Milf's dressed in leather, wanting you as their slave, 
He is pissed that his mags seemed like pages of suffering,
And he comes in his hand as the page is still buffering.

Mother stands sighing at the large washing basket,
As she wistfully looks down at her Mum in a casket,
An urn that says Pyrex and some handfuls of dust,
Marks the end of an era and a lifetime of trust.

She gathers her thoughts as she picks up her undies,
From a basket of wash that will last till next Monday,
She sorts out the whites from the dark coloured jumpers
While dreading the school run its bumper to bumper.

In the lounge Grandads stunned, sitting in silence,
At the loss of his wife, life's heartless and violent,
Staring at pictures all faded and grey,
Black and white shadows of a past wedding day.

As a tear slowly falls down a cheek aged and furrowed,
He now knows his time, like his heart, was just borrowed,
On the mat at his feet the new baby cries,
As this craggy old man slowly lays back and dies.

And some place somewhere as Grandad slips away,
A new baby's cries mark the dawn of a day,
So let the dead do their dying while we do the living,
Spend your life as you want it and share what your given.

1984 and all that jazz...

If you were so-minded you would suspect a conspiracy, words you will no doubt have heard before but the sight of this countries law makers bringing a family to court over a holiday taken while out of school hours is a step too far.
For a start the family have not had a holiday for six years and secondly it was booked well before the law came to book. On top of that ask yourself just WHY they need to take a holiday in school time?
Could it be something to do with the prices being trebled by greedy holiday companies during half term and end of term periods? I suspect it has a lot to do with it.
Why the conspiracy theory you ask? Well if one slimy greasy palmed toff that owns a company offering family holidays gets the ear of enough of the Westminster idiots he is going to get what he wants, parents FORCED to take their expensive holidays. If the holiday companies didn't rip off parents at certain times of the year this case would never have hit the headlines or even have come about.
So, rather than the government hounding decent tax paying law abiding families with yet another stealth tax how about chasing the cigar smoking, tax dodging, company owning in-bred who has 4 off-shore accounts and a luxury yacht for his MP buddies to use as when and get him to pay HIS share and if he doesn't send HIM to court, I seriously believe governments have lost the plot, if this family is found guilty its the thin end of the wedge, after all what democracy was ever built on the premise of "no appeal"?
 I suggest the lawmakers go look the word up and come back with a different plan of action, as they have obviously misunderstood the whole process this country spent two world wars fighting for.
 I am starting to feel embarrassed to be British such is the stupidity of this countries unfair pathetic money driven petty minded laws, for Gods sake you bunch of Westminster in-breeds get your fingers out of your arses and sort this country out before the people do it for you.

Shards.

Hospital beds sit in Threadneedle coffers
Patients with patience are bankrupt to offers
Ambulance staff parking outside the doors
No beds are available only the floors
An MP is coming perhaps things will change
But he can't stay long with so much to arrange
His expenses need sorting his snout's in the trough
He gets so much money though he says not enough.

Policemen cling longingly to a yesterday world
Where justice was justice not a white flag unfurled
The ASBO's ain't working the drugs they are rife
The law on the street is the blade of a knife
Judges that live in a world from reality
Pass sentences down that destroy our humanity
Rapists and robbers shrug off their convictions
While watching Sky Channel in palatial prisons

Teachers can't teach we all should be equal
No-one can win and there's never a sequel
The brightest and best must use their imagination
While the drop-outs get a T.A and all the attention
Classroom disruption is always on the table
If they do it enough they get a ADHD label
Funding from central government and a free taxi home
While bright kids who listen are left on their own

A lesson was learned when I was so young
The consequences harsh if I did something wrong
But here and now kids just have all the cards
Discipline gone in a million shards
Liberal thinking and fairness for all people
It's turned full circle now its anything but equal
Our leaders aren't leaders they can't flex their muscles
They are held to account by unaudited Brussels.

Shout "Human Rights" and your case is dismissed
Common sense lost in the Lawyers abyss
Its all for the money no pride now remains
We sue for the fun regardless of blame
So light one small candle and pray for humanity
Before it is lost on a wave of insanity
For even our leaders crave money not choice
But when all's said and done it's the peoples own choice.