TENEBROUS RATTLETRAP

TENEBROUS RATTLETRAP

The world of Old Tenebrous Rattletrap
Is a tale of loneliness and woe,
A story of lowness, dismal dismay
And of menacing, meandering melancholy.
Sat in the place he sits
At the end of yet another dismal day,
With unsmiling, unseeing and uncaring eyes
At the world's rumbustious, repugnant folly.
Every night in this worn leather seat
At the inn of quintessentially quiet parlour,
Stirring the steaming, dented silver bowl
He sips at his gruel deep in thought.
Another year is nearly at a close
He has little time for people's podsnappery,
And other puerile pifflings notwithstanding
Where his hard labours amount to nought.
The icy rime reaches crusted window panes
And the river fog curls his arms on the quay,
He nudged, niggled and nurdled through
Streets of fancy and fevered Christmas rush.
And although good cheer is all around
Dusty clock still posts it's mournful chime,
And hollow movement of ghostly hand
Calls silently in the rooms gloomy hush.
The noise of carousing and merrymaking
From the jostling and jocular, singular snug  Did Rattletrap tut, as the frippery unhindered
Did permeate, with a grinding grisly appeal.
One more sip, with a cursory reproach
For the metallic click of door latch
There stood a large dark coated gentleman
Whose face, hidden in shadow, unrevealed.
No words were spoken, not a drink taken
And Rattletrap did stare so, as the man sat,
No utterance, urgency and an unhealthy air
Without breath or any hearty sounds of life.
The stranger removed his hat, and scarf
Revealing a face of a workhouse wretch
His eyes were hollow and deathly cold
His colour grey, full of misery and strife.
The room was bathed in an unworldly glow
Tenebrous Rattletrap dropped his spoon
His voice wrenched from scrawny throat
"What do you want of me" he cried.
The other just sat and raised a wizened arm
Pointing to the revelry beyond the door,
And in a deep and haunting voice did speak
"I never had a Christmas, upto the day that I died"

As Tenebrous stared in horror and dread
The phantom silently stood once again,
Then floated toward the snug room door
Legs thin, dangled beneath him he spoke.
The wooden portal creaked and groaned
And a warmth flooded the dusty room,
Voices and music, a roaring, crackling fire
Rattletrap felt his misery begin to choke.
He looked upon the revelry and hearty cheer
And his lined, thin mouth started a quiver,
Hornpipes and reels, quadrilles singular
Ladies all bustle and lace and daring eye.
The men jostling, posturing in bold acclaim
Some fleet of foot and flashing manner so,
Dowagers, well upholstered and dowdy
With envy, looks as cold as the snow silently drifting from the sky.
Rattletrap was ushered into the melee
Wassail thrust upon his softening lips,
Laughter as with glazing eye and demeanour
He tripped into a faltering and flimsy jig.
The chagrin increased in intensity
Fiddles scraped and he was swept away
With ladies all powder and scented sweet
He danced, drank and shared dates and fig.
The years fell from once vacant visage
Frozen, forlorn and faltering frown,
Suddenly like a slate wiped clean away
His heart surged with sugary sweetness.
Seeking stolen kisses under the mistletoe
Tenebrous was a wonderful, winter king,
Cobwebs swept from his once dungeon heart
As unique as could be in uniqueness.
The men, of comfortable disposition
With glowing nose to match sturdy boot,
Did toast this fine, felicitous, fitting fellow
With twinkling glasses.of negus and Pineapple rum.
The one named Pickwick raised his pot and did espouse
"For Christmas cheer and merriment
Good friends I bid this salute to all
And prosperity in the new year to come."
All did cheer and back slap heartily
And the musicians roistered a galop,
With twirls, twinkle toes and tiaras
Sparkling, invigorating candlelit gems.
Elsewhere the parlour held its silence
With the ghosts of a long time past,
The glow returned to the cold ashen hearth
Champagne flutes again lifted from stems.
For the cloaken man had again returned
With others who had died in poverty,
They watched in silence as the living sang
Cold eyes, now aflame with invigorating glory.
Tenebrous saw the silent throng gathered
And he raised a hand to the cloaken man,
He'd realised that Christmas is for all to cherish
And for peace and happiness to be the recurring story.

Phil Hall December 2018
Copyright:Philthepoet61.blogspot.com Picture: Cruikshank (No Claim)

Swindon friendly

SWINDON 1 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 3

14/07/2018 Pre season friendly

West Brom took part in a friendly match at the County ground Swindon, which was unusual in the fact that it had two 60 minute halves. Darren Moore was happy to give his 22 man squad a longer run out, albeit in extremely hot weather.

Once again Albions new keeper Sam Johnstone was missing and rookies Alex Palmer and Brad House took turns with the gloves. Of the regular first team squad Nacer Chadli and Ahmed Hegazi (both World Cup duty), Keiron Gibbs, Salomon Rondon, Allan Nyom and Sam Field (injured) were missing, with James MacClean and Craig Dawson unavailable for other reasons.

There was a welcome return to action for stalwart Jimmy Morrison, who though out of contract is still training with the squad. The three other players extra to the squad, Keiron Richardson, Martin Crainie and Nigel Reo Coker all featured.

The stand out performers in a well contested affair were Kyle Edwards and Jack Fitzwater, Edwards in particular showing great pace and skill on the ball.
Jake Livermore made a welcome return and Jay Rodriguez showed energy and desire, although linked with a move away from the Hawthorns.
For Swindon Elijah Adebayo gave our rookie centre backs a good work out, indeed he scored the equaliser after JRod had opened the scoring after great work by Edwards and Kane Wilson set him up. Edwards grabbed his goal with a burst of pace, latching on to a defence splitting pass from the elegant Rekeem Harper. Young centre back Kyle Jameson grabbed the third with a towering header from a corner to wrap up the win.

The Baggies eased through the rest of the game, though Swindon rattled the crossbar with a fine strike from distance late on.
Big Dave (Darren Moore) was very pleased with the application and togetherness of the whole squad, especially after a week of intense training in Scotland.

JORDĀO'S JOTTINGS VS Birmingham

JORDĀO'S JOTTINGS

MASTERMIND

BIRMINGHAM CITY 1
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1

EFL CHAMPIONSHIP 
Fri 14th September  Kick off 19:45

The theme for tonight's game was going to be a rather strained and tenuous link. It was all about road signs, I'd got it all worked out, puns, cliches, play on words..... all sorts, for example, Birmingham's pitch has always had an "Adverse Camber", The wind sock sign would have been employed if Dwight Gayle was running riot, of course if we'd lost it would've been "Keep right on to the end of the road, then turn left, stop at the lights, third left, across the roundabout and then follow the signs to the Hawthorns"

But, after witnessing the so called "Passing" game, I immediately thought of "Mastermind", the black chair, Magnus Magnusson (I know I'm going back a bit), but it was a chosen subject of ninety minutes, not two.

Magnus "Good evening and welcome to mastermind,  the four contestants tonight are"
Kyle Bartley "My name's Kyle Bartley, I'm a centre half and my chosen subject is passing"
Ahmed Hegazi "I'm Ahmed and my chosen subject is passing"
Chris Brunt " Hi, I'm Chris and I'm supposed to be a central midfielder, my specialist subject is passing"
Magnus "But first can Dwight Gayle please take the chair" "Dwight, your 90 minutes start now" "What was your aim for tonight?"
Dwight "To make runs into space and score goals"
Magnus "Correct" "And what didn't your midfielders do?"
Dwight "Pass"
Magnus "Correct" "The defenders instead of clearing their lines decided to do what?"
Dwight "Pass"
Magnus "Correct" "In the last few minutes Harvey Barnes hit the bar, what"
Beeep, beep beep, beep!!!
Magnus "I've started so I'll finish!", "What did you successfully do in order for him to have the chance?"
Dwight "Pass"
Magnus "Correct" "And at the end of that round Dwight you never got any chances."

The other three stay firmly in their seats, twiddling thumbs and looking sheepish.
Magnus "So that's the end of the game, the others made no passes"

In truth, the game was entertaining, in as much that it was an eye rubbing experience. How can a team who played with such skill and pace, energy and inventiveness against Stoke and QPR look so ordinary when pitted against a side who were industrious, but obviously limited in their capabilities? We were awful, plain and simple, apart from Phillips and Barnes who still carried a threat even after it was obvious Birmingham had a "kick lumps out of them two" policy from the first minute.

If our "Chosen Subject" of passing was bad, then the "General knowledge" section was dreadful, with some players not knowing what colour kit they were playing in. Birmingham scored through the Baggies losing comfortable possession in the wrong area, then allowing the Blues time and acres of space to basically do what they want. Another piece of suicidal passing gave the opposition chance to make it 2-0, but for the second time this season, young Sam Johnstone saved the resultant penalty, after a few minutes of near Kamikaze defending. I'm certainly no prophet, or top class coach, but, I warned in the pre match notes that Birmingham would press our defence and be a threat out wide. They did both, because our midfield two are being overrun or just outfought on occasion. We are where we are because our firepower can salvage and even snatch victory or at least a point in the blink of an eye. Matty Phillips did just that, with individual persistence and quality to wrestle back the match when it looked like we'd go into the break losing. On the balance of play Birmingham, (if they had our strikers) would've been out of sight.

Ht 1-1

The stats stated that the Baggies enjoyed 63% possession, it certainly didn't feel like it. The second half didn't match the first in pace or energy and with Birmingham not showing much creativity it offered the Baggies chance to dictate the play. But,  once again the decision making and execution of pass was inept. Hegazi and Bartley continued to try and give Blues a clear scoring opportunity, luckily their strikers were either too shocked to be allowed in on goal so easy, or more likely they're just not up to much.
On this showing the Baggies have a lot of work to do to even reach the play offs, even then it'd be a rabid optimist who'd think we'd survive in the premier league. Barnes hit the bar late on, as Albion finished the stronger, though it would have been extremely harsh on Birmingham if it had gone in.

Verdict.
Some of our players are really struggling with the system and the playing philosophy being asked of them. The playing out from the back is all well and good against sides who set up to sit back and hit on the break, but against high tempo in your face opposition we look very, very average and at times embarrassing. We could and possibly should have been hammered tonight.
There's no honeymoon period in this division, there's certainly no respect for ex premier league teams, it's blood and thunder football and some of our players tonight were found very wanting. Such is the nature of this league the Baggies will most likely tear Bristol City apart on Tuesday, but to most observers tonight, we might need to have a new "Chosen Subject" and bring in one or two new contestants.

JORDĀO'S JOTTINGS V DERBY quotes

Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what the hell you're doing.

Peyton Manning

In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Oscar Wilde

One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork. 

Edward Abbey

Slow motion goes one of two ways. It either makes it look really, really cool, or it makes it look really, really bad. 

Blake Griffin

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. 

Henry Ward Beecher

The only thing that we cannot control is our supporters. 

Jose Mourinho 

I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.

Haruki Murakami 

PHOENIX IN THE SKY

If I pray hard enough
Will you come back?
Without you the sun's gone
The skies have turned black.
The rivers have ceased flowing
All lakes have dried up,
The bread has gone stale
No wine in my cup.
The birds have ceased singing
No bees left to hum,
My heart has stopped beating
My mind has gone numb.

I miss you so much
Why did you have to die?
In life you were a butterfly
Now a phoenix in the sky.

I think of you always
I've still a tear in my eye,
I kiss the remaining picture of you
And that's when I cry.
The times we held hands
Walked by the sea on powdery sand,
And all of a sudden
The Lord made his demand.
He wanted a new Angel
To sit by his side,
And he called out to you
The almighty cannot be denied.

But, I miss you so much

WAR BOW

WAR BOW

Bowyers fashioned and carved
A warbow made of the finest yew,
From which a deadly arrow
The bodkin flew.
French Knights in finest armour
In their thousands slew,
By English archers at Agincourt.

The heavy destrier horses
Tried to dash,
Across the mud,
Henrys line to smash.
Into the storm
Flying arrows of ash,
Sent by the English archers at Agincourt.

The deadly war bow
Had won the day,
The common man
Now held sway.
A killing machine
What made King Charles pay,
Destroyed by the English archers at Agincourt.

Hempen string
Woven for power,
In thousands could send
A hail shower.
French men at arms
Could only cower,
Under the barrage from the English archers at Agincourt.

Henry V made
His famous ‘Band of Brothers’,
Train at the ‘Butts’,
Gaining power like no other.
Accuracy which snatched
A son from his mother,
The skilful English archer at Agincourt.

The war bow a symbol
Of the archers might,
The goose feathered darts
An awesome sight.
Piercing armour clad warrior
And mounted knight.
Slain by the English archer at Agincourt.

Today in churchyards
Yews shadows are cast,
Bowyer and Archer are just
Names from the past.
The war bow its place in history
Will always last,
Made legend by the English archer at Agincourt.

“We few, we happy few
We band of brothers
He who sheds blood on the field
With me today,
Shall be my brother”

From Henry V
By
William Shakespeare
Battle of Agincourt 1415.

Phil Hall  March 2103
Copyright:Philthepoet61.blogspot.com
Picture:Phil Hall Crapart 2017 (Dead of Knight)