Daily Diversions (Web Log)

David’s Mental Meanderings
18th October 2001

I have written several versions of my thoughts following the attacks of 11th September and the ensuing world events. However, whilst I am polishing my words, those events move on rapidly and what I had to say has then been said too many times by much more eloquent wordsmiths. I suppose the only thing left to do is talk about subjects which haven’t been in the international press very much lately.

I’ve never been one for memorising poetry. Other than some of the Psalms, I can’t think of any poems I learned in childhood. That’s not to say I wasn’t familiar with poems, and I probably programmed some bit of verse into my short-term memory for a required regurgitation when I was in school. As an adult, I have only ever set to memory two fairly short pieces.

I was fond enough of the first to buy at least five or six different editions of “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. Some people collect baseball cards, others collect pigs or sheep (that would be Mrs Holford), and I collected various imprints of the same collection of poems. All because of those words, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. / I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach when feeling out of sight / For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.”

Not being a scholar of English literature, until yesterday I had no idea that Elizabeth Barrett Browning spent the first half of her life in Herefordshire. I was returning to my car seeing a client in the market town of Ledbury when I saw a plaque next to the door of the public library. Plaques on walls are not exactly in short supply around these parts, so it is not surprising that I have walked past this one many times before and never noticed it.

The building was originally the Barrett Browning Institute, opened in 1896 as a memorial to the district’s favourite daughter. It housed, amongst other facilities, a non-public library. The yearly subscription for a family was a substantial 15 shillings. That would have been approximately $3.60 in 1896 dollars. And $3.60 bought a lot more 105 years ago than it does today.

The Institute became a public library in 1938. The opening ceremony was performed by another native of Ledbury, who happens to have authored the only other poem I set to memory, which begins “I must go down to the seas again / to the lonely sea and sky / and all I ask is a tall ship / and a star to steer her by” -- the Poet Laureate, John Masefield. I already knew that Masefield was from Ledbury, because the local high school is named after him.

Whilst living in Indiana, what I never would have anticipated was that these two poets would be from the same small town, that I would one day work there regularly, and live in the same county, less than 15 miles away, and even on the Ledbury road. I just think that’s kinda nifty.

To briefly change the subject entirely, as some of you will want to know… Mrs Holford is increasing in girth daily, as the child seems to be growing at no less than the anticipated rate.

In recent days we have had our share of little blessings. We found the exact baby bed that Kelly wanted, used but in better condition than the store model, for a third of the price. She got the pram/stroller/car seat travel system she wanted, which does everything except changing the diapers, for an incredibly reduced price. And those expensive little shoes I moaned about last time? Not long after the previous Meandering was dispatched, a small box arrived in the post from friends in Texas.

If all things go to plan, we are 14 weeks away from constant crying, eating, and sleeping. And the baby will probably be doing that, too. I was anticipating peace and quiet by the year 2020, but the Mrs reminded me that this is only when the first one might leave home.

Apparently, in the immediate postpartum days, Mrs Holford is anticipating that she will not be preparing all of my meals nor regularly cleaning the house. I know how to operate the hoover and the washing machine, but now I have to save up extra money to afford all the KFC, fish & chips, and various ethnic takeaways required to sustain us for an indefinite period.

I’m not sure I’m ready for fatherhood. I don’t suppose we could put this off for a while...